Them UTI Blues

[SlickTony]

Dammit, I've done nothing to deserve this! I've observed, faithfully and as a matter of course, all the hygienic protocol you're supposed to observe to avoid UTIs. Drink lots of liquids? Check. Wipe from front to back? Check. Wash before sex? Check. Lurch out of bed to pee immediately after? Check. Keep the kitty well-aired by wearing underwear only made of cotton, and sleeping in my birthday suit? Check.

This thing first started on the 20th of June--on my last day at my old job, I had to go to the doctor to see about it. Actually, I thought it was yeast because I'd had it last summer, but the doctor said it was a UTI. She prescribed generic bactrim, and told me to take cranberry extract capsules, which I am taking.

It seemed to start clearing up that weekend, and by the next week, I was feeling OK enough to have sex again. Then, after I had been at my new job for a week, it started to come back. My doctor practices at one of these annoying clinics where you can't talk to a human being on the phone; you automatically get thrown into one voice mail after another. I wanted more antibiotics. So I ended up going to the acute care clinic (one of these places I call McClinics) and saw there a doctor I'd seen before. He gave me three Cipro and some phenazopyridines.

Again, I seemed to get better. Then we went to see his aunt in north Louisiana over the July 4 weekend. On Sunday night, I could tell it was trying to come back, and on Monday, I was sure of it. We got back to town about 8:00, just in time to be seen at the McClinic again. The doctor gave me more Cipro and more Phenazopyridine, and recommended I see a urologist. I suppose I should, but I just began my present job (on 6/23) and don't want to start using up sick time before I'm even out of training.

So far, the damn thing isn't budging. I feel OK as long as I don't have to pee. It doesn't hurt while I'm peeing, fortunately. However, I can't get aroused without it hurting. I am currently trying to write a new story. When you're working on an erotic story, there is one reliable way of knowing if a scene works or not, and I do not want to know that a scene is working by the feeling of a hot needle in my urethra. I am halfway through the Cipros and more than halfway through the phenazopyridines, which are supposed to help the burning feeling but mostly turn my pee an amazing shade of orange, and right now I'm feeling like I'm never going to feel quite right or ever have sex again.

Who else has suffered from this, and is there anything I can do that I'm not already doing?

 

[PinkOrchid]

 

[SlickTony]

Oddly enough, my first doctor seemed to think that taking cranberry capsules was better than drinking cranberry juice. I do know that you can load on a hell of a lot of calories through fruit juice.

 

[bobsgirl]

SlickTony, I feel your pain, I surely do. Right after I became sexually active, around the age of 19, I suffered from repeated UTI's, one right after another, until my doctor prescribed antibiotics on a longterm basis. I had to take one every time my husband and I had sex. Those infections were a real mood killer.
Anyhow, I finally had to have kidney surgery to cut away the scar tissue that had built up. That seemed to clear up the problem and it's been many years since I had one. But I remember well the way those suckers feel.

You seem to be doing all that you can, at least all I was ever told to do: water, cranberry juice, pee before and after sex. They can be the very devil to get rid of. Good luck to you, hope you're feeling better soon!

 

[Guest]

It's best to take the cranberry pills as it isn't diluted like the cranberry juice. And drink LOTS of water .. yes I know you don't wish to pee ( Sorry!) but it helps to flush it! But take 3-4 cranberry capsules three times aday .... it will help keep the tract hyperacidic , killing the bacteria .. sorry you're hurting.

 

[Lili]

Hi Slicktony,

You seemed to imply in your post that you had sex once you thought the UTI was going away. I'm sure your doctor would tell you not to do it at all until you're completly cured, but if you do, make sure your man wears a condom.

If he doesn't, you'll just pass the bacteria back and forth between you and you'll never get over the infection. (Has he had any symptoms?)

Acidophillus capsules may also help - they contain the same cultures as yogurt. You can get them for between $4 and $6 a bottle.

HTH,
Lili

 

[pw27]

I'm sorry for your pain. I've had UTI's since childhood and they are no fun at all. Keep drinking lots of water, do the cranberry thing and all that and the peeing before and after sex is important too. You really should see a urologist if this doesn't clear up.

 

[jenlovesamy]

Even though I love Pink Orchid to death, I have to disagree with her on this one. I've had 8, yes, count them, 8 kidney stones, and I've seen a urologist and he told me to stay away from the cranberry and showed me studies backing it up. The acid in the juice will irritate your bladder lining even worse. It may be things you don't even think about. I get a bladder infection every month before my period, almost without fail, til I started realizing the mistakes I made.

1. As you have a weakened urinary tract, like myself, you have to pay very special attention to your body because of it. Like, for instance, I bet no one told you caffeine will bother your system. When I know my period is coming I cut down on the Pepsi and drink WAY more water than I normally do. This is a huge help, more than you realize. I don't drink coffee or tea, so Pepsi is my caffeine intake. Watch the coffee!

2. I got those premoistened wipes, like Cottonelle and those, and use those during my period especially, but pretty much always. You don't realize, even wiping front to back, you still get alot of bacteria floating around.

3. When I feel especially sensitive, I stay away from tampons. They will irritate you too, even though you don't realize it.

4. Yogurt is great, the active cultures keep your urinary tract functioning well, believe it or not. If you get the kind with fruit at the bottom, if you shake it before you open it, it makes it like custard, it mixes it perfect. I love raspberry myself.

Good luck, fellow pain sufferer!

 

[y=mx+b]

antibiotics make sure you use up the full perscription

cranberry juice (If you have it around get Northlands brand cranberry juice, its all natural and not dilluted like Ocean Spray)

Cran. Caplets work too.

Water, ect...

I know you have been told all this before.

I really hope the best for you and for a speedy recovery.

also, stay away from dairy.

 

[morninggirl5]

Once you're completely cured and think about having sex again, make sure you go to the bathroom before and immediately after having sex. It might spoil the mood, but it's better than another infection.

 

[jenlovesamy]

antibiotics make sure you use up the full perscription

cranberry juice (If you have it around get Northlands brand cranberry juice, its all natural and not dilluted like Ocean Spray)

Cran. Caplets work too.

Water, ect...

I know you have been told all this before.

I really hope the best for you and for a speedy recovery.

also, stay away from dairy.

Wow. Ok. Nevermind.

 

[PinkOrchid]

 

[jenlovesamy]

Alright, but can we be naked while we're doing it? Angry sex is GOOD sex.

 

[autymn]

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi sometimes refered to as bearberry ...can be bought at GNC or similar stores ...works wonders on persistant UTI's Good Luck !!!

http://www.botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/b/bearbe22.html

 

[SlickTony]

Thanks, everybody, for all the advice. I'd like to comment on some of it:

WRT periods, I haven't had any of those for a few years, the egg factory having gone off line. At least I don't have to worry about periods entering into it and tampons and stuff like that. It's true that I drink a lot of coffee, but I've drunk lots of coffee all my life.

I had wondered if my husband and I could bounce the infection back and forth between us, but none of the info I looked up on UTIs on the Internet seemed to indicate this would happen with them, although I do seem to recall reading that it could happen with yeast. He has not had any symptoms.

I didn't get a chance to ask my doctor. The last time I saw a doctor was at the same McClinic that I went to the second time, when it came back. However, the circumstances were kind of crazy and mixed up. My son had had an ingrown toenail for some time which he had been soaking in epsom salts and stuff like that, but over the weekend it kind of blew up and it was obvious that something had to be done about it quickly. By the time we got back into town, it was about 8:15, and the clinic stops taking people at 9:00, even though they are open until 10:00. So he was being seen at the same time, by the same doctor, that I was seeing, so this doctor was talking to me about my UTI and cutting a chunk out of my son's anesthetized toenail at the same time. I did have some questions about sex, the possibility that we were passing the bug back and forth, what effect sex was having on the condition, and did I have to wait until it was all gone, but I could hardly go into all of that with my 14YO son in the room. And neither of the doctors I had consulted about the problem gave me any advice in that regard.

Actually, over the last hour or so, I've started to feel better. The last time I felt like I had to go to the bathroom, I just felt an ordinary urge to pee, and not the needle-up-the-urethra feeling I was experiencing before. Naturally I'm going to finish the antibiotics.

As far as peeing before and after, like I said, I was already doing that; that's why it seems to unfair that I should get this, when, with the possible exception of drinking a lot of coffee, which I've done all my life, I'd done all that preventive shit before.

Right now consulting with either of my doctors has special problems attending it:

• If I see my regular doctor, I'll have to take off time from work. I just started this job. I don't want to take off sick time when I'm basically still in training.
• If I go to the McClinic, they charge for follow-up care. Recently the guy we bought our house from, who privately financed the mtg, sat on three of our house note checks and deposited them all at once. So we have less than no money until Monday and right now we are living on my husband's birthday check that he cashed at one of these check cashing places (if we'd taken it to the bank, they'd have insisted on sticking it in our account, which would have put us back in the black, but then we'd have no cash) until my paycheck deposits on Monday. And we're going to have to live on that until next Monday.

On top of everything else, we're sending my son to north Louisiana to my MIL's memorial service and we have to buy him a suit Monday night. So you see, I'm being nibbled to death by ducks.

 

[tigerjen]

Keep up w/ the cranberry intake and drinking lots and
lots of water! Those antibiotics can only work for so
long............good luck!


tigerjen

 

[PinkOrchid]

 

[jenlovesamy]

Can you phone your regular doctor, explain the work and financial situation, and ask him or her to at least find out if it can be passed from your husband to you during sex or any other ideas on why it is recurring? It sounds like you are starting to get this particular infection under control, so perhaps your doctor might be willing to give you a minute or two on the phone for preventative advice.

Yeah, what she said!

And please, for the love of God, stop with the cranberry...

 

[Native Alien]

I have two words for ya Slick.

Z-pack.

I don't get them very often but that is the only thing that is strong enough to get rid of a UTI when I do get them. Lay off the cranberry anything. It really isn't helping the problem.

If you are having recurrent UTI's there is a reason, and you need to be finding out why. The most likely reason is that the antibiotics that you are taking are either not strong enough, or not of long enough duration. So what you are experiencing is not a recurrence of a new UTI but a flare up of the same one.

 

[SlickTony]

It is very hard to connect with my regular primary by phone; in fact, the whole damn clinic is set up so that you can't. They don't take anybody's phone calls. They just put you in voice mail. When I called to see about getting my original prescription refilled, I didn't hear from them for a week; in the meanwhile, I'd gone to another doctor, the McClinic we deal with on the weekends and after hours. They recommended I see a urologist.

 

[Mstrskey]

Darlin I sympathize...

when I got my first UTI I was dealing with Military clinics. T

 

[SlickTony]

Ooh, ick, military clinics! I never had to deal with them myself, since my dad turned down the chance for a military career and my husband ditto, but I knew a girl who lost a kidney at 13 that way.

 

[Mstrskey]

Darlin I sympathize...

when I got my first UTI I was dealing with Military clinics. Talk about never being able to get ahold of anyone!! I would have to take the day off work, sit in the damn clinic all day to have some schmuck medic tell me it was a kidney infection and give me amoxicillan with advice to drink cranberry juice. Not to suprisingly I suffered through my first UTI for nearly three months before it produced my first-of many- kidney stone and then went away.

For my next one I was poor and uninsured- in other words very low on the medical care food chain- and spent several days off work waiting in clinics all day to try and decipher what some East Indian doctor who spoke very poor English and was 3 seconds out of med school was saying. The thing hung around for so long I ended up loosing my job because of the return trips to the clinic and the pain that sent me running to the bathroom every five minutes.

Now that I'm insured and working I went to see a specialist when I got my last one and he put me on Z-pac which absolutley kicked the infection in the ass. He advised me to take in lots of live yogurt cultures while I was recovering and all the usual sanitary stuff but didn't give me a single suggestion to take in cranberry saying it can actually make the infection worse. He did however warn me to drastically reduce my caffiene intake if I didn't want surgery for the kidney stones the UTI's were producing. (FYI I didn't listen and ended up having it about a year later) He did tell me not to have sex with my hubby until I was totally healed as all we would do would be hand off the infection to each other.

I wish you a speedy recovery girl...these things are ass kickers!

 

[y=mx+b]

Wow. Ok. Nevermind

Nevermind what?

 

[jenlovesamy]

See? Other people know about cranberry besides me, yay!

Is Z-Pak that antibiotic you take for like 3 days? Like Zithromax or something?