32 replies to this topic

[Bevan-L]

i dont know why but i keep getting uti's..
no matter what i do i get them.
I self cath and evertime i do i make f*@kin sure everything is clean but its still not enough....

what am i supposed to do????? i use a cliney cath and im beginning to wonder if i should rather use single use ones....

i really gt down with this sorta thing..
is there any other solution???????

[JesseB]

I got the same problem Bevan. I was on anti-biotics for like 3 months striaght when i was in/got out of the hospital, then after that I had to take more for one of my teeth when I was having work done at the dentist. and dont really wanna get back on them..

so, I'm just dealing with them at the moment... they never seem to go away though, and if they doo a few days later, boom! more cloudy urin, I don't know what i'm doing wrong...

[Slowlegs]

Bevan-L, on May 7 2009, 06:25 AM, said:

i dont know why but i keep getting uti's..
no matter what i do i get them.
I self cath and evertime i do i make f*@kin sure everything is clean but its still not enough....

what am i supposed to do????? i use a cliney cath and im beginning to wonder if i should rather use single use ones....

i really gt down with this sorta thing..
is there any other solution???????

Hi Bevan,
I get them all the time too. I don't self cath because of internal physical changes and scar tissue means that if I try to it aggravates me too much and it just causes them.

I do know that there are three main things that cause them.

One is not drinking enough.
Two is leaving residue urine in your bladder
Three is introduced bacteria from using dirty catheters.
There are also some others such as stones and physical defects and exercise which I won't go into.

Obviously number one is easy - drink more. The purer the better so if you can drink pure water it is better than other things. I find coffee, sugar or sugary drinks affect me severely. Even things like orange juice can cause increased sugar levels in the bladder which can be a haven for the little buggers. I was told by my urologist your urine should be the colour of a good chardonnay. Not sure how you sneak a wine glass into the toilet though. Aim to drink 2.4 to 3 litres (4 to 5 pints) per day. Always having a good supply of water nearby helps, perhaps get a bottle holder on your chair. I tend to get in the zone at work so set my computer to remind me every half an hour and fill enough water bottles in the morning so even if I can't leave my desk I always have a supply.

Two, make sure you try and empty your bladder fully, if you leave urine you leave bugs. Just like it is hard to find a girlfriend in the Arizona desert, removing as many bugs from your bladder means that they will be less concentrated and they have to work that much harder to build up their population once all that sugar free (see number one above) water comes to flush them away. I think they may even be asexual but the less of them there are the easier it is to kill them off. I know there are various ways you can remove more urine when cathing (such as sitting up or changing position of yourself and the catheter if possible), if your function is good you may want to try "tapping" your bladder to try and get it to spasm too.

As I have an inoperable hernia and the bones at the front of my pelvis were removed my bladder pushes out through my abdomen wall and I use the gentle pressure of a closed fist to push it in and create pressure, you could perhaps try pressing in on your abdominal muscles in front of your bladder to see if you can get more out, just check with your doc first. Natural medicines can help as well as ural or citravescent. Cranberry (sugarless) is reputed to work as well as parsley and ural or citravescent sachets. Fresh or frozen blueberries or cranberries are supposedly good and if you like the odd drink - I find Vodka and cranberry is nice, does the job and there is not much sugar. For a while I thought the odd vodka actually improved bladder function for me and I am still not convinced it doesn't. One of the best natural remedies I find is as follows.

Parsley tea: 20g (3/4 oz) coarsley chopped parsley and 2.5 litres (4 pints) of water. Simmer the parsley and water for 5 minutes and steep for 15 minutes. Drink it over three hours (a lot of drinking I know) and it may help. Also get into a habit of taking acidophilus pills or acidophilus yoghurt when you are having antibiotics because antibiotics are notorious at killing off all of the bugs, not just the bad ones and acidophilus/bifidus help restore those bugs so when you come off the antibiotics the bad bugs don't just overpopulate again. Funnily enough I feel (and I have never heard this anywhere else) that green tea seems to help.

As for keeping yourself clean when cathing, you probably know more about it than me but obviously taking all of the necessary procedures with regard to sterilising will help and trying to cath in as clean an environment as possible.

One last thing, I always drink a glass of water with a citravescent or ural sachet before any sexual activity and urinate afterwards if possible. The alkaliniser helps reduce the chances of bugs developing and the peeing flushes out the urethra and empties out the bladder.

Hope some of that helped, no doubt others will have methods they use to help prevent infections.

[edlee]

There are as many remedies as there are people to tell about them,,, some work, others not so much. Even between doctors in the same urology group there are differences.

A year ago my first doctor put me on mandelamine/ methanamine, and vitamin C,, I had already been taking cranberry supplimants. He poo pooed the cranberry, but I continued it anyway, as it also causes the urine to be more acidic,, which is the main reason for the Vit C anyway(his reason not mine). A year later three more infections, and a decision on my own part to try colonization, I return to that practice for a routine test, only to find that I am, indeed, infected again ( or still).

This time I am assigned to a different doctor ( my old one moved to La.),, He promptly prescibed Microbid, on cap every two days, and told me that the regimen I was on was old school and didn't really work because the amounts needed to change the ph of my urine enough to make the Mandelanine work at all, were too large to consider ( tenfold increase at least).

I've been on the antibiotic for about a week now, and the pee is still cloudy...???? Oh well, I was doing ok with the colonization thing before I went to see him, so unless I get a fever or the flu like symptoms , I guess I'll wait and see.

I wish you better luck than I've had.
ed

[Tim13]

I used to get them constantly, seemed like one would end and a week later, there i was back at the dr. getting treated for another one.
After about a dozen of them-my dr. said look, we can keep giving you antibiotics forever but you're healthy-just let your body fight them off and you'll build up immunity to them. Thought the next couple UTIs were going to kill me but after four or five more, I haven't had one since. That was in 1993.

Talk it over with your dr. maybe doing nothing at all will work for you as well.

Edited by Tim13, 07 May 2009 - 10:20 PM.

[ButterflyInAmbr]

When I first got out of the hospital I kept getting UTIs. I was cleaning and reusing catheters because they told me in the hospital that it was best to do it that way. However, I decided to stop reusing them after the second time I got a UTI. Haven't had one since. You might try that if your insurance/Medicaid will pay for it.

[twisted_ophelia]

Reusing caths is a really easy way to get recurring UTIs. Maybe try the single use for a while and see if things improve. Mine are one-time use and I rarely get UTIs. I still occasionally get them but it's very infrequent. Also, I take cranberry pills, a probiotic, and lots of vitamin C which are all supposed to help ward off UTIs. Plus I get plenty of fluids on a daily basis. And make sure you're getting all your pee out when you cath.

Edited by twisted_ophelia, 08 May 2009 - 04:11 PM.

[Trinity]

I would definitely go down the single use cath line, I use single use and I very rarely get an UTI, maybe 3 times in 2 years and I don't drink nearly enough, I am paranoid about cleanliness though!

[Jackiefff]

edlee, on May 7 2009, 03:03 PM, said:

There are as many remedies as there are people to tell about them,,, some work, others not so much. Even between doctors in the same urology group there are differences.

A year ago my first doctor put me on mandelamine/ methanamine, and vitamin C,, I had already been taking cranberry supplimants. He poo pooed the cranberry, but I continued it anyway, as it also causes the urine to be more acidic,, which is the main reason for the Vit C anyway(his reason not mine). A year later three more infections, and a decision on my own part to try colonization, I return to that practice for a routine test, only to find that I am, indeed, infected again ( or still).

This time I am assigned to a different doctor ( my old one moved to La.),, He promptly prescibed Microbid, on cap every two days, and told me that the regimen I was on was old school and didn't really work because the amounts needed to change the ph of my urine enough to make the Mandelanine work at all, were too large to consider ( tenfold increase at least).

I've been on the antibiotic for about a week now, and the pee is still cloudy...???? Oh well, I was doing ok with the colonization thing before I went to see him, so unless I get a fever or the flu like symptoms , I guess I'll wait and see.

I wish you better luck than I've had.
ed

how much are you on? i also take macrobid, but every day. i believe im on 150 mg daily but not for sure. but i still get them constantly as well BUT i hope this will work for you. it seems like there is no end to these things. and it takes forever for them to clear up, im allergic to two of the antibiotics that treat them, ive been take amoxicillan already for years, to treat acne. so the only other option is ampicillian which takes forever to clear them up
:/
sorry not much help but i needed to vent!

[Slowlegs]

edlee, on May 7 2009, 08:03 PM, said:

He poo pooed the cranberry, but I continued it anyway, as it also causes the urine to be more acidic,, which is the main reason for the Vit C anyway(his reason not mine). ed

If your doctor says that the only reason cranberry works is because of vitamin C he perhaps hasn't researched it that well. Cranberry also has a sugar in it called Mannose-D. Some bacteria (particularly E-Coli) cling to it instead of the bladder lining. Net result is that when you empty, the bacteria all go out with the urine. Ocean Spray refuse to import the unsweetened Cranberry into New Zealand and never answer emails on the subject so their cranberry juice does nothing for me but cost money. The sugars added, in my opinion, actually cause infection which makes sweetened cranberry useless for infection and it can actually help prolong it.

When you are using the drugs that acidify your urine you should also have a urinary ph test because it can take a lot more drug to acidify your urine depending on your diet.

[Chris]

Slowlegs, on May 10 2009, 08:47 PM, said:

edlee, on May 7 2009, 08:03 PM, said:

He poo pooed the cranberry, but I continued it anyway, as it also causes the urine to be more acidic,, which is the main reason for the Vit C anyway(his reason not mine). ed

If your doctor says that the only reason cranberry works is because of vitamin C he perhaps hasn't researched it that well. Cranberry also has a sugar in it called Mannose-D. Some bacteria (particularly E-Coli) cling to it instead of the bladder lining. Net result is that when you empty, the bacteria all go out with the urine. Ocean Spray refuse to import the unsweetened Cranberry into New Zealand and never answer emails on the subject so their cranberry juice does nothing for me but cost money. The sugars added, in my opinion, actually cause infection which makes sweetened cranberry useless for infection and it can actually help prolong it.

When you are using the drugs that acidify your urine you should also have a urinary ph test because it can take a lot more drug to acidify your urine depending on your diet.

I'm a T7 and haven't had a UTI in over two years. I drink a few Corona's a couple times a week and i feel fabulous. Of course you'll have to cath more often but i cath after every two beers...

Just my two sence..

CHEERS!

[nomis]

I had trouble for years then I got put on a maintenance/prophylactic dose of 100mg of Trimethoprim a night. I just recently got the first infection in six or seven years so it's been very successful for me.

It's not popular nowadays to put a reliance on antibiotics because of the problem of resistance. This concerns me but I have to admit that it's worked for me. Also, of course, the type of antibiotic depends on whatever infection you're susceptible to.

[E-DOG]

I'm having a hard time understanding all this UTI stuff.
I go see me doc. He looks at Stanley. Maybe sees a little pus like substance at the end and says it's some kind of colonization and that it happens to most of us and it's nothing to worry about.

Many times I've changed catheters in a hurry, with total disregard for sanitation, sterile fields, etc. Dirty hands, no gloves. Dang cath falls on the floor, I pick it up and wipe it off with a tissue, bang zoom, in she goes and off I go. Yet I've never had a UTI that I could tell. No fever, chills, weakness. Some days my urine is cloudy as hell. Next day, clear as a bell.

Maybe someone could tell me. If I DO in fact get a UTI, what the hell does it feel like? Shit, the way everyone talks, it's a big deal.
Am I simply living a charmed life? I kinda frigging doubt it.

E-dog, hoping Stanley doesn't get pissed off, fall off, 'n roll away in search of better care. come on lil' buddy, daddy still needs ya.

[edlee]

Microbid 100 mg, every other day,,, Didn't notice the infection before trip to Dr. except for color,,, color hasn't changed after two weeks,, so???

As for the Mannose D, actually, he ( the urologist) told me,, when I asked about it, that, and these are his words, " there are NO studies, not paid for by the marketers, that show ANY benefit whatsoever" ( capitalization was HIS emphasis) with using this suppliment or even cranberry juice.

Don't take it out on me,,, I asked because I was hoping it would work. He said to me that he hears the same thing from many patients, but has seen nothing to in his practice or in his studies to make him consider it as worth using.

He is not too keen on the colonization thing either,,,, but why would he be,, if it works,, I won't need him.
ed

[Jackiefff]

E-DOG, on May 10 2009, 10:17 PM, said:

I'm having a hard time understanding all this UTI stuff.
I go see me doc. He looks at Stanley. Maybe sees a little pus like substance at the end and says it's some kind of colonization and that it happens to most of us and it's nothing to worry about.

Many times I've changed catheters in a hurry, with total disregard for sanitation, sterile fields, etc. Dirty hands, no gloves. Dang cath falls on the floor, I pick it up and wipe it off with a tissue, bang zoom, in she goes and off I go. Yet I've never had a UTI that I could tell. No fever, chills, weakness. Some days my urine is cloudy as hell. Next day, clear as a bell.

Maybe someone could tell me. If I DO in fact get a UTI, what the hell does it feel like? Shit, the way everyone talks, it's a big deal.
Am I simply living a charmed life? I kinda frigging doubt it.

E-dog, hoping Stanley doesn't get pissed off, fall off, 'n roll away in search of better care. come on lil' buddy, daddy still needs ya.

when i have them my urine isnt cloudy all the time, the way i know is usually increased muscle spasums and then cloudy urine..

[leafybug01]

me personally i had one everything 3 or 4 months but lately i been doing good. i started getting my catheters everything month now so i dont worry about boiling them and reusing them so im hoping this will completely stop the infections.

if u didnt know medicaid will pay for monthly catheters and lube. i get 540 catheters and lube a month. i hate takin them damn pills for infections in fact i jus hate taking pills.

[Slowlegs]

edlee, on May 11 2009, 03:28 AM, said:

Microbid 100 mg, every other day,,, Didn't notice the infection before trip to Dr. except for color,,, color hasn't changed after two weeks,, so???

As for the Mannose D, actually, he ( the urologist) told me,, when I asked about it, that, and these are his words, " there are NO studies, not paid for by the marketers, that show ANY benefit whatsoever" ( capitalization was HIS emphasis) with using this suppliment or even cranberry juice.

Don't take it out on me,,, I asked because I was hoping it would work. He said to me that he hears the same thing from many patients, but has seen nothing to in his practice or in his studies to make him consider it as worth using.

He is not too keen on the colonization thing either,,,, but why would he be,, if it works,, I won't need him.
ed

I have heard they were doing some tests at a university but presume they weren't scientific. You can get pure mannose - d but it is quite expensive and I don't often get E-Coli so have only used it once and it does seem to keep E-Coli at bay anyway. A company in New Zealand makes it, check out http://www.clinician...uctdetails.html If you are interested. It also gives some general info on bladder infections and causes. I know where you are coming from with UTI's and doctors. Some seem to be perfectly happy dishing out the antibiotics and taking the money but the good ones will try to find the cause and not just treat the symptoms.

[fatdave]

I've had UTI's that made me feel like I'd been kicked in the junk, had them that turned my urine strange new colors. Even had one and didn't know it.

I drink a full gallon of water during the day, 16 ounces of pure,organic, unsweetened cranberry juice and still have them....

[Ches]

Do you use gloves or wash your hands when u cath? Maybe its a simple change like that.. Or maybe ur allergic to latex and dont know it...

No telling, and fyi I skipped through all the replies.. forgive me if someone already suggested this.

[Courtney]

My husband uses the single use catheters. Here is our routine...

wash hands (obvious, but still)
dry hands on a separate towel for IC use only--don't use the hand towel that everyone uses....
use a "wet wipe" (the ones in the red and white container) to clean the head of your penis
put germ X on your hands AND the head of your penis......

It's been nearly a year and only 2 UTI since being released from the hospital....

[keidra]

my fiance gets them all the time and he is allergic to alot of antibiotics so that doesnt help his situation !!! he drinks water all day and at night cranberry juice!! he has a supra pubic cath that the nurses cahnge every 2 weeks!!! last time he went to hospital , he didnt have ine and dr changed cath while there and he got one while he was in hospital !!! anyone that knows of anything that will help please let me know !! thanks

[tessa]

My bro has some probs with UTIs too.
He'll get one every three months or so. Usually, his urine is cloudy one day and he'll just ignore it. Next day, it's all fine again and he doesn't have any problems with his bladder. Just more spasms in his legs and he needs to cath much more often than he usually does (~up to 12 times a day!!!!).
It usually gets better after a couple of days and if it doesn't he takes antibiotics. So far, he's always taken the same antibiotics and we were wondering whether he should change antibiotics or not. Do you always use the same ones or do you vary between different ones because of bacterial resistances?
thanks!!

[marxlong]

I get them sometime too. I used Cipro for my UTI. It does the job for me. I do cath about 4-6 times a day. I also use single use cath.

tessa, on Jun 11 2009, 05:59 PM, said:

My bro has some probs with UTIs too.
He'll get one every three months or so. Usually, his urine is cloudy one day and he'll just ignore it. Next day, it's all fine again and he doesn't have any problems with his bladder. Just more spasms in his legs and he needs to cath much more often than he usually does (~up to 12 times a day!!!!).
It usually gets better after a couple of days and if it doesn't he takes antibiotics. So far, he's always taken the same antibiotics and we were wondering whether he should change antibiotics or not. Do you always use the same ones or do you vary between different ones because of bacterial resistances?
thanks!!

[john S.]

Bevan-L, on May 7 2009, 02:25 AM, said:

i dont know why but i keep getting uti's..
no matter what i do i get them.
I self cath and evertime i do i make f*@kin sure everything is clean but its still not enough....

what am i supposed to do????? i use a cliney cath and im beginning to wonder if i should rather use single use ones....

i really gt down with this sorta thing..
is there any other solution???????

Yes, use the single use catheters. Ask your doctor about taking anti infectives, like mandelamine. You must get your urine pH acidic to use it. You can take vitamin C to get your urine to 6.5. If you take probiotics along with this it will help keep your system balanced. If you still have trouble then check for stones.

BW,
john

[wheels71]

I applaud you people who caths, i had a urostomy about 7-9 months after my accident. I use to keep UTI's constantly. I have taken the macrobid, the cipro etc, and they worked as far as reliefing any chills and fever. I keep a small UTI, which my urologist says is normal, he says i will always have one, but as i long as i dont have complications, such as fever or chills..i should be fine. I drink plenty of fluids, esp beer..lol..the beer really flushes my kidneys. All ultrasounds shows my kidneys as normal...size and all. Unless you guys are have chills or fever, i would'nt worry too much about a uti. We never will get totally rid of it.

[popsune]

wheels71, on Jun 25 2009, 10:01 AM, said:

I applaud you people who caths, i had a urostomy about 7-9 months after my accident. I use to keep UTI's constantly. I have taken the macrobid, the cipro etc, and they worked as far as reliefing any chills and fever. I keep a small UTI, which my urologist says is normal, he says i will always have one, but as i long as i dont have complications, such as fever or chills..i should be fine. I drink plenty of fluids, esp beer..lol..the beer really flushes my kidneys. All ultrasounds shows my kidneys as normal...size and all. Unless you guys are have chills or fever, i would'nt worry too much about a uti. We never will get totally rid of it.

how is the urostomy procedure like and what does it do to help drain urine?

[wheels71]

popsune, on Jun 25 2009, 02:19 AM, said:

wheels71, on Jun 25 2009, 10:01 AM, said:

I applaud you people who caths, i had a urostomy about 7-9 months after my accident. I use to keep UTI's constantly. I have taken the macrobid, the cipro etc, and they worked as far as reliefing any chills and fever. I keep a small UTI, which my urologist says is normal, he says i will always have one, but as i long as i dont have complications, such as fever or chills..i should be fine. I drink plenty of fluids, esp beer..lol..the beer really flushes my kidneys. All ultrasounds shows my kidneys as normal...size and all. Unless you guys are have chills or fever, i would'nt worry too much about a uti. We never will get totally rid of it.

how is the urostomy procedure like and what does it do to help drain urine?

Hi popsune, I really dont remember the procedure. I do know that my bladder was removed and somehow using the intestine to create a opening ( a stoma) for my urine to drain out. I do wear a bag on my right side that catches my urine and i just empty the bag when it gets full. I do have to dialate the stoma on periodicaly, but no big deal. At night i just simply attach a bed side drainage bag to my bag. But back to the procedure, I have a long scar from my belly button to my privates.. I do remember having blood clots coming out of my stoma alot, i was told by the docs to just keep drinking plenty of fluids. I was young when I had this done, not really sure if age would affect the outcome.

[popsune]

wheels71, on Jun 26 2009, 11:13 AM, said:

popsune, on Jun 25 2009, 02:19 AM, said:

wheels71, on Jun 25 2009, 10:01 AM, said:

I applaud you people who caths, i had a urostomy about 7-9 months after my accident. I use to keep UTI's constantly. I have taken the macrobid, the cipro etc, and they worked as far as reliefing any chills and fever. I keep a small UTI, which my urologist says is normal, he says i will always have one, but as i long as i dont have complications, such as fever or chills..i should be fine. I drink plenty of fluids, esp beer..lol..the beer really flushes my kidneys. All ultrasounds shows my kidneys as normal...size and all. Unless you guys are have chills or fever, i would'nt worry too much about a uti. We never will get totally rid of it.

how is the urostomy procedure like and what does it do to help drain urine?

Hi popsune, I really dont remember the procedure. I do know that my bladder was removed and somehow using the intestine to create a opening ( a stoma) for my urine to drain out. I do wear a bag on my right side that catches my urine and i just empty the bag when it gets full. I do have to dialate the stoma on periodicaly, but no big deal. At night i just simply attach a bed side drainage bag to my bag. But back to the procedure, I have a long scar from my belly button to my privates.. I do remember having blood clots coming out of my stoma alot, i was told by the docs to just keep drinking plenty of fluids. I was young when I had this done, not really sure if age would affect the outcome.

Thanks for the explanation!

[skinnymedic]

Courtney, on May 14 2009, 10:28 PM, said:

My husband uses the single use catheters. Here is our routine...

wash hands (obvious, but still)
dry hands on a separate towel for IC use only--don't use the hand towel that everyone uses....
use a "wet wipe" (the ones in the red and white container) to clean the head of your penis
put germ X on your hands AND the head of your penis......

It's been nearly a year and only 2 UTI since being released from the hospital....

thats exactly what i do and it definitely works. uti's suckssss. just find the antibacterial wipes at walmart or target. it does the trick.

[T0P]

I could write a book on UTIs as many times as I have had them in the past..

When I was first released from the hospital they gave me 30 straight caths for a month. They then gave me enough a month to cath once every 4 hours because having to re-use caths was causing me to many UTI's. Even then being able to use a new cath every time I cathed I was still getting bad UTIs. They had been sending me 10 of the sterile cath kits every month to use while out on a trip (they called them Trip kits). I had not been using them so I had several saved up. One day after coming out of the hospital (again) for a UTI I decided to start using the sterile kits instead of the straight caths.

What finally saved me from getting UTIs was switching to the sterile cath kits. I talked with my doctor and they prescribed the sterile kits full time. I started out with the Rusch/MMG and now use the Bard. Only because that's what the VA sends me. I am happy with either one.



Bard Touchless Plus Unisex Intermittent Catheter, it is a sterile closed system cath kit that comes with the Povidone-iodine swab sticks, gloves, a large paper towel and instructions... not that we the instructions.



Rusch/MMG Sterile field urinary catheter, it is a sterile closed system cath kit that comes with the Povidone-iodine swab sticks and a small gauze pad.

Since I have been using these sterile kits I have only had one UTI (Just a couple months ago) and that was my own fault. I was careless and I knew it was going to happen, sure enough, but I'm OK now and won't be as careless again.

I also now take Cranberry pills from Spring Valley. You can find them most anywhere they sell health products or health foods or get them from the Internet. Price is about the same.


Spring Valley Super Strength Cranberry 500 mg Urinary Tract Health