Teenager with recurring severe uti?!
Question: please help my daughter has severe recurring uti's. These are so bad that she has side pain, painful urination and for at least 24hrs during the first 24-48hrs of the infection she will have blood in her urine. she has had 8 in a 12mo period. We have had a cath. done to check her bladder functions and those are normal. She has had xrays done and nothing was found. They have put her on antibiotics to take and she has been on these for 4mo. and still seems to have one about every 4-6 wks. I dont see where being on antibiotics all the time can be good for someone. A doctor told us she has ecoli in her blood but never explained this to us. Please help and let me know where I can go from here. After 3 doctors I am at a loss. She always drinks water and may only drink 1-2 cokes a month. She will also drink a few glasses of cranberry juice a month.
Answers: please help my daughter has severe recurring uti's. These are so bad that she has side pain, painful urination and for at least 24hrs during the first 24-48hrs of the infection she will have blood in her urine. she has had 8 in a 12mo period. We have had a cath. done to check her bladder functions and those are normal. She has had xrays done and nothing was found. They have put her on antibiotics to take and she has been on these for 4mo. and still seems to have one about every 4-6 wks. I dont see where being on antibiotics all the time can be good for someone. A doctor told us she has ecoli in her blood but never explained this to us. Please help and let me know where I can go from here. After 3 doctors I am at a loss. She always drinks water and may only drink 1-2 cokes a month. She will also drink a few glasses of cranberry juice a month.
Poor you. And poor daughter!
It must be very painful for her.
Some things you can do:
after a poo, wipe front to back.
this may sound logical but some people don't think about it.
You do not want poo to go into your urethra (tube from bladder downwards) as poo contains e-coli. E-coli is a name of bacteria that are particularly nasty outside of your poo and can cause major infections.
I doubt that she has e-coli in her blood because she would be severely sick if she did. She could have e-coli in her urine samples though. Anyway. Wiping and keeping anal and vaginal area clean after each poo is essential.
Cranberry juice is effective for making urine more acid so bacteria cannot grow there so quickly. It is only effective if you drink a few glasses a DAY, not a month.
It is not nice to drink so you should buy cranberry capsules and follow the guideline on the pot. This is a preventative measure so you need to take several capsules EACH day for it to have effect.
I would recommend that the next time you see a doctor (preferably today! as soon as possible) you INSIST on further investigations. Kidneystones for example do not always show up very well on an xray so she should have other imaging done. You MUST advocate for your daughter. This includes ASKING questions when you are with your doctor. If you don't understand something you need to say 'I don't follow, please explain so I can understand' and you need to say this several times UNTIL you completely understand it front to back inside and out. Doctors do not know if you have not understood if you do not tell them that you have not.
Also a very very good idea is to go see the SAME doctor for your daughters care because this doctor then knows more about your daughter and is more inclined to further investigate if first port-of-call antibiotics do not work.
Good luck..
PS have your daughters blood tested for glucose, as well. One symptom of undetected diabetes mellitus is recurring UTIs
Persistent/ recurrent E Coli infection raises the doubt if the perineal hygiene is maintained in a correct manner. Wiping front to back must have been taught, just wanted to make sure.
Urinary tract infection are often very obstinate. You mention that she is taking all the precautions. There are some herbal preparations that may be given along with the antibiotic therapy. Apart from that a gyno check up will also help.
Something in the diet like spinach or others containing oxalate may predispose to UTI by causing crystalluria. Please check these points and stick to the doctor's advice sincerely.
All the best for your daughter.