wondering:

[leelah.livejournal.com]

i've recently discovered i'm prone to get UTI's. as most of you probably know, these are quite inconveniencing, painful, and just plain annoying. but i was wondering if any of you who have had them before had any tips on how to prevent them, how to deal with them, etc. anything besides the run of the mill cranberry juice prevention and whatnot. thanks so much.

Comments

[starzz.livejournal.com]

you can actually take cranberry supliments!! also, make sure you wash good and if you are having sex, urinate right after!

[leelah.livejournal.com]

yeah, i think i'm definetely going to be buying those cranberry supplements. and you're the third person who has specifically said to urinate right after having sex, and i hadn't heard this until a week ago! i've been following that advice quite strictly. thanks so much.

[grrln2grrl.livejournal.com]

i used to get them ALL the time. it got really bad because my doctor had to keep giving me the medication for it which would either give me a yeast infection or i would take the sulfur stuff and that's supposedly really bad for you. the only way i got them to stop is peeing immediately after sex. since i started doing that, i haven't had one since. hope this helps

[rusty-sunshine.livejournal.com]

I have had the same issue. Some of the things that have helped me:

-drink a glass of water before you have sex. Make sure you pee afterwards. This has helped me tremendously.
-lower your intakes of caffeine and sugar, as well as alcohol.
-I drink a glass of cranberry juice before I go to bed. I don't drink it all day unless I actually HAVE a UTI, but my doctor suggested a glass before bedtime, so that in the morning it could sort of "clean out" my bladder and urethra the first time I used the bathroom.
-if you use condoms, avoid the spermicidally lubricated brands. The extra spermicide isn't enough to really protect you from anything, and it can irritate both your vaginal tissue and your urethra.
-I do drink cranberry juice like crazy at the first sign of a UTI. Sometimes this is enough to make it go away. If not, it can usually hold things off until you get to the doctor.
-I've found that nothing has helped me more than antibiotics. Usually after I take the first pill I feel better. It's just a matter of getting Kaiser to see me that's the issue *rolls eyes* but you may have a different health care provider.

I hope this helps you...

[leelah.livejournal.com]

-lower your intakes of caffeine and sugar, as well as alcohol. --- that is bad news. haha.

every time i've had a UTI, i've hauled my ass over to kaiser without an appointment, because waiting is just too hard for me. i walk into the harbor/macarthur kaiser and tell the receptionist that i couldn't see my doctor for days and i wasn't willing to deal with this pain and inconvenience that long, and usually they just saying something like "oh you do know this isn't a walk-in, right?" and proceed to sign me in, and i'm with my doctor an hour later. anyhow, every time i've had one, the antibiotics work perfectly, but this last time, the antibiotics stopped the painful urination, but a little bit of urgency to urinate is still there, and just a little bit of pain. but NONE when i actually urinate. i'm done with my antibiotics now, and this is all still lingering. should i wait it out or talk to my doctor again?

anyways, thanks steph!

[rusty-sunshine.livejournal.com]

yeah, the whole caffeine and alcohol thing is bad for me too :) but my BC raised my blood pressure so I really needed to anyhow.

Mine was totally fine after three days (out of a 10 days course) of antibiotics. You may have a particularly resistant infection, I'd see the doctor again.

No problem. :D

[leelah.livejournal.com]

oh, ALSO, the pharmacist told me that the antibiotics will decrease the potency of the birth control.. and i hadn't been told this any time before. maybe it's just the type of antibiotics i was prescribed or have you heard this too?

[rusty-sunshine.livejournal.com]

I think it depends on the type of antibiotics and the type of birth control. Not all antibiotics will affect birth control pills, and not all birth control pills are affected by antibiotics (someone correct me if I'm wrong, please). I was told that in my case (taking Keflex and Macrobid for 10 days), my birth control pills (Zovia) would be affected and that I would need to use backup protection.

You can look here (http://www.drugstore.com/pharmacy/drugchecker/) to check and see about interactions for your particular medications.

[leelah.livejournal.com]

that is soo helpful. thanks so much.

[the-lissa.livejournal.com]

My good friend used to get UTI's almost once a month. She had to go through all kinds of test to figure out what was wrong. After that, she had to get an operation to fix whatever was wrong. If it keeps going, see what your doctor says. Good luck.

[synapsepi.livejournal.com]

For a while per my dr's request, I took Macrobid(an anti biotic) everytime I had sex. Before that I tried everything, I peed before sex, I peed after sex, I showed. It was crazy, i got them any way. So that is my suggestion, anti biotics arn't the best for you, but talk to your dr about that possiblitity

[jenbys.livejournal.com]

I used to get UTI's constantly, every time I turned around I had one. Well my doctor kept prescribing me Cipro....which seemed to work but then inevitably I'd have another UTI in days. I finally went to a urologist that put me on Macrobid for 6 weeks....then for a few months I took Macrobid every time I had sex, after that I never had another one again (last one was about a year ago). However, I still do everything that everyone here posted....including guzzling cranberry juice if I start to feel one coming on. Also I quit drinking soda and started drinking TONS of water. All of those things together improved the situation tremendously....so if you continue having problems you might want to go see a urologist, it helped me :o). Oh yeah and like everyone already said pee after sex. That can push bacteria into your urethra, causing a UTI.

[starkewpie.livejournal.com]

I agree with all the advice above! Unfortunately I'm another member of the Frequently Visiting Uninvited Bladder Beasties Club.

When you start having symptoms, don't put it off. I tend to do this because I get them frequently and going to the doctor is a pain... but if you get cloudy urine, bad smelling urine, pain for more than a couple days... see a doctor soon. I am so bad at this, last week my boyfriend had to drag me to the ER because I was urinating blood. I'm sure glad he did because I feel better. Take better care of yourself than I do, please!!

After your finish your first course of antibiotics, schedule a visit with a doctor to make sure your urine is sterile. Many UTI's (especially in women who get them often) are resistant to Bactrim, which is the first pill they usually give you. I feel better but I am still having symptoms, so I know that they're not all being killed and Bactrim alone didn't work for me last time. They usually move you up to Macrobid or Cipro after you finish the Bactrim. I would have asked the doctor specifically for Macrobid last week but I couldn't remember its name in the ER.

Urinating after sex is critical, it's a pain to get up and do but very important, that was the #1 thing my urologist stressed.

I have read that you shouldn't hold your urine in too long, because stretching your bladder out weakens the muscles and then your bladder may not fully empty when you urinate, making you more prone to infection. I've been guilty my whole life of this bad habit.

Also my urologist recommended taking Acidophilus pills or eating yogurt often. The "good" bacteria in yogurt reduces the amount of E. Coli in your body, and E. Coli is usually what causes bladder infections. Acidophilus will help yeast infections, too. I nearly always get a yeast infection when I take antibiotics, so I have made a habit of mentioning this to my doctor when they prescribe antibiotics and they never have had a problem prescribing me a pill of Diflucan to take when my antibiotics are done. Diflucan is so much better than the messy Monistat cream.

I hope you feel better soon

[angelrain.livejournal.com]

Antibiotics may cure, but are bad for us poor ladies...


Triple yuor intake of water and NEVER hold it when youhave to go
The pee after sex thing is so important.
Vitamin C supplements help
Don't take bath's, shower and scrub it up down there.
Wear comfortable, breathy cotton panties. Just keep it from becoming a bacteria breeding ground

[crankygirlie.livejournal.com]

I apply plain yogurt to my vulva every day and it's cleared it up altogether! :)

yet another possibility

[innocentlonging.livejournal.com]

after I had 5 UTIs in a 4 month period my doctor suggested 2 things.

1) (everyone has said this already) pee after sex..
2) within 12 hours after having sex (the sooner the better) drink a full glass of water and take a combination of cranberry suppliments and echinacea suppliments (I usually end up taking 3 pills..2 cran and one ech.)

I haven't had a UTI for 6 months now..