Another UTI!

[biowham]

The weird thing is, I don't have the usual symptoms. I've had UTIs before--one each time I was cathed during childbirth, six years apart (duh). And you can TELL when you've got one, usually, because...well, it hurts, it burns.

Well, with these two, I haven't been able to tell much of anything. Only at the end of the first one, when I was actually seeing bright red blood did I know for sure. I'd sort of suspected for some time before that because of frequency/urgency...but no pain. I did have this HUGE back inflammation episode right at that time where my entire back just felt like it was completely inflamed.

And now, I've got another one. I suspected again b/c of urgency, but again...no pain, no burning. Just high leukocytes and nitrites (home test strip). REALLY HIGH leukocytes, actually. I finished the entire course of Cipro for the first one. Don't know what's up.

Anyway...this is new for me. I'm not a "recurrent UTI" kinda of gal (until now). And I'm just totally unaware that I even have the infx. This concerns me.

Any thoughts? I ain't taking Cipro again. I had the worst nightmare I've ever had, in addition to interrupted sleep and strange mood, while I was taking that stuff. It was freaky.

Bio

[biowham]

Lu--Yes, I guess we do, but if we've made it as far as you and I have, that means we didn't have some of the usual pediatric problems, such as ureteral reflux. Also, fun things like hypospadias, undescended testes, urethral valves, etc., are best treated in the very young, so the pedi urols get to deal with a lot of that. Grownups have a whole 'nother set of issues, I guess. Also, grownups probably don't scream and holler as much when they're getting kidney scans. ;-)

Ess, thanks. I'd almost rather lose a kidney than take Cipro again, so I'm definitely asking for something else. I'm going to make my appt tomorrow. Even though the stick is deep purple (high high high leukocytes), I'm not feeling a thing, so I haven't been to the doc yet.

Bio

[Lulu54]

Bio,
I'mlaughing that you already know all this urology stuff thanks to your education.  Now tell me, what is different about pediatric urological functions and adult ones?  don't we all pee the same?

[essdipity]

Hi. Just seconding Lulu's comments. I'm not the UTI type at all, had maybe one or two in my lifetime before a few months ago. I was already under the care of a urogynecolgist because of retention problems she attributes to MS.

Anyway, I recently had what I call a schizoid UTI. No normal symptoms, but burning here or there that disappeared again for a few days to a week, then 'Surprise, I'm baack.' Always worse on weekends, of course. Saw my urogyn and she did her dipstick thing, then told me I didn't have an infection. But something prompted her to send it to a lab regardless, and back came the finding of infection from proteus.

I was already cathing periodically at the time, and now I'm doing more of it. I also was given a prescription for some cheapo sulfa drug often given for UTIs, and as far as I can tell I'm now fine. I'm with you, I'm not taking Cipro, ever. I took it eons ago, against my better judgment, when it was brand new and I was being tested for sinus stuff. They wanted to make sure it wasn't an infection so they bombarded me with Cipro. Horrible reaction, so never again.

There are loads of other antibiotics out there, for you and for me. If I were you I'd see a urogyn post haste and get followed regularly. If he or she decides your problem is neurogenic, that could help foster some kind of overall diagnosis for you.

Hang in there,
ess

[biowham]

Lulu, you dear lady, thanks for the reply. Ironically, I did a postdoc in urology and some of my best friends are urologists....bada-bing! Sorry. Actually, they're pediatric urologists, so that doesn't help me much. But a further irony is that two of my three sons have significant urological problems, as it turns out, so it's good to know the pediatric folks.

First, I'm going to ask my PCP about what to do next. I'm not comfortable about a persistent infection anywhere, of course, and I think this is making me tired!

Bio

[Lulu54]

Hi Bio,
I had an unknown to me UTI that had the nurse almost shrieking  because it was so bad and I had not a clue.  I not only have the urgency/frequency, I was also retaining and hesitating.  Basically, if a bladder could do it mine did!  

My urologist is 100% sure I have a neurogenic bladder and cleared up the UTI with antibiotics.  But that didn't help the other problems.  So we went to my self-cathing, which is helping immensely, but reintroduced another UTI of some sort.  Self-cath is a clean procedure but not sterile and is easy to introduce bacteria into the bladder.  


Do you have a really good urologist you can work with and determine the cause of your problems?  Bladder and bowel complications are extremely common with MS and you don't want to let the problem linger becuase you can do damage to your kidneys.  

as always, Lulu