recurring UTIs

[Thorn]

I question the efficacy of the cranberry pills. They did not work for me. When I tried to do some research as to whether they are supposed to, the only medical studies I found said they were not effective. On the other hand juice does work and has been shown to work.

As Michael Pollan would suggest--eat food. Stay as close to the cranberry as you can get--IvonaDestroi probably has the best approach, although since blueberries also qualify I like to justify a big piece of blueberry pie. Hey, if nothing else, as comfort food, it also does its job

[alpinerabbit]

A friend had reccurrent bladder infections and her doctor advised her to not go to the toilet too often, instead train your bladder go be able to get full before you need to go.

And then give it a "good flush".

may be another approach.

[Duck on Wheels]

I think the point of both Vit C and cranberry juice is that there will be lots of excess that gets flushed out via the kidneys, bladder and down the urethra. In other words, your pee will be acidic. This combats infection quite effectively! So in mho, and with the usual warning that I am not a doctor nor have I ever played one on tv, I second those suggestions. If you don't like cranberry juice, there are several types of herbal tea reputed to help. Here in Norway the one most recommended is from a plant called "kjerringrokk". I'm not sure what that plant is called in English. Doesn't really matter, though. The main point is lots of acidic liquids. Any tea or fruit juice will probably do.

Also, do you use any body glide or chamois butter? Avoiding chafing should help, and that's what those do. You may think you don't need it for a 50 minute class, but I sweat more in a 50 minute spin class than in 3 hours on the road, and sweaty shorts can chafe. So maybe try some glider?

Back in my student days when I was having multiple UTIs per year a doc at the uni clinic once asked me was I sexually active. I wasn't at the time, though I had been some months earlier, so she really freaked me out! Was she suggesting I had an STI all those months later? As in, syph? Nope. She wasn't (whew!). She was suggesting a mechanical cause -- lots of juices flowing, the usual bacteria that're always on the body surface (and mostly for good reasons!) and then the mechanics of having s*x sorta pumping them into the bladder where they didn't belong and were causing trouble. Not that her theory was right just then, but it did help to know when I was next in a relationship: It helps to pee after. So I also second that suggestion: Drink enough that you really need to pee after that spin class.

Use only a very mild soap down there. Don't dry your skin out! Yes, you want to get rid of sweat, and you don't want pee droplets going stinky. But pee is actually somewhat disinfectant (as opposed to poo ... which is why we're taught to wipe from front to back), so you don't need to overwash.

And if none of these simple tricks help, then get thee to a doctor. You don't want those UTIs turning into some sort of chronic thing like kidney trouble.

[Mistie]

I have had recurrent ones since I was in the 1st grade. They could never tell me why I had them. I was also on a preventitive antibiotic for one year (yes, a full year). It helped a lot. When I got pregnant, they came back and so I was on another one for the duration. During my delivery, I was catheterized for the whole thing. I think the catheter might have dilated the urethra and I didn't get one for 6 months (was I one happy girl). I have since gotten one and seen a naturopath. Her advice: stick with cranberry or blueberry juice, not pills, wash nether regions often, especially AFTER sex and bowel movement; drink water and juice and nothing else (I do tea too); get a sitz bottle and rinse the area after urinating; and finally, eat a balanced diet without much sugar as the sugar is excreted in urine and provides plenty of "food" for e.coli, the most often offender. Wipe front to back, always wear cotton undies, give it an air-out often. That sort of stuff. I had to cut out sugar recently and have found, to my pleasure, that it worked. I haven't had anything in a year or more now.
Also, the chamois has once irritated the area and I thought I had one. But after drinking LOTS and peeing often that day, it went away. First few pees, not so great. Hope it helps!
Mistie

[PamNY]

Does the spin bike have a different saddle? The irritation I got from the wrong saddle felt very much like a UTI.

In other cases, when it really was UTI, I had good luck with cranberry (oh, I wish they'd had those pills when I was younger). For whatever reason, Vitamin C never seemed to work for me, but that's not scientific. I know lots of women swear by it.

Pam

[Pip]

I saw a urologist years ago about my recurrent UTIs. He explained to me that my constant infections had changed the shape of my uretha, and that it was now easier for bacteria to collect there. I had a cystoscopy, which solved it for a few years but then I started getting them again. I've taken a prophylactic antiobiotic ever since. I don't like being dependent on antibiotics either, but (possibly too much TMI here) unless I stop having sex I'm unlikely to be able to stop taking them any time soon!

[ZenSojourner]

I saw a urologist years ago about my recurrent UTIs. He explained to me that my constant infections had changed the shape of my uretha, and that it was now easier for bacteria to collect there. I had a cystoscopy, which solved it for a few years but then I started getting them again. I've taken a prophylactic antiobiotic ever since. I don't like being dependent on antibiotics either, but (possibly too much TMI here) unless I stop having sex I'm unlikely to be able to stop taking them any time soon!

I was told the same thing (about the shape of the urethra). This is what my doc saved me from when he put me on the Vit C regimen. Another doc wanted to do the surgery, put me on the antibiotics forever. I was a college student who didn't have that kind of money. So I went back to the clinic when my doc was there (this was back in the good old days when student health services actually provided health services to students) and told him what was up. He explained to me that the surgery was at best a temporary fix, explained the problems of permanent antibiotic therapy, and then he put me on the Vit C, and that was the end of it.

Even if I'd had to take the Vit C forever, I'd have been much happier than going through what you've gone through.

[indysteel]

A friend had reccurrent bladder infections and her doctor advised her to not go to the toilet too often, instead train your bladder go be able to get full before you need to go.

And then give it a "good flush".

may be another approach.

Interesting. I've heard that advice with respect to an overactive bladder and to nocturia (nighttime urination) but that's a different problem from recurring UTIs. If you suffer from recurring UTIs, you should urinate when you feel the urge; it's not good to hold it. No if you feel a constant urge to urinate and/or feel the urge but don't have much volume or a strong stream, those are possible signs of infection.

[ZenSojourner]

Interesting. I've heard that advice with respect to an overactive bladder and to nocturia (nighttime urination) but that's a different problem from recurring UTIs. If you suffer from recurring UTIs, you should urinate when you feel the urge; it's not good to hold it. No if you feel a constant urge to urinate and/or feel the urge but don't have much volume or a strong stream, those are possible signs of infection.

In point of fact apparently what set off my round of continual bladder infections was summer camp when I was 9 or 10. I was used to outhouses - I had relatives who still didn't have indoor plumbing, after all - but THOSE outhouses were CLEAN. These stank of pine cleaner all the time, and since they had little kids "cleaning" them (it was part of camp chores) who were grossed out by the whole experience, they weren't really clean, and they were full of spiders (when you're 3' tall and weigh maybe 40 lbs you're not going to be going after the spider webs over your head).

They also had a habit of dumping lime down the holes, which they THOUGHT would cut down on smells, but what it REALLY did was stop the normal composting process dead in its tracks, thereby increasing manifold the smell generating potential of the contents.

End result being - frantic efforts to avoid having to go in there = urinary retention = bladder infection = frantic efforts to avoid going in there even more = more urinary retention = another bladder infection = entry into the fellowship of continual UTIs.

So no, that sounds like extraordinarily bad advice to me too.

Doctors aren't always as sharp as we would hope. They can have the same kinds of funny ideas other people have, that aren't so funny in real life. When my sister, who is gay, came down with a serious precancerous condition that required immediate full hysterectomy before it blossomed into full cancer, her doc actually had the balls to tell her it was because she'd never had sex with a man.

I guess the man hadn't heard about HPV and its link to Cervical cancer, which you get via intercourse with a man.

[msincredible]

When my sister, who is gay, came down with a serious precancerous condition that required immediate full hysterectomy before it blossomed into full cancer, her doc actually had the balls to tell her it was because she'd never had sex with a man.

I hope she found a new doctor!

[ZenSojourner]

My sister unfortunately has Borderline Personality Disorder, which means she sees everything in black and white, love/hate, good/bad, etc etc etc. And she switches at the drop of a hat.

So when she likes you you're Indiana Jones, the Dalai Lama, and Stephen Hawkings all rolled into one.

When she DOESN'T like you, you're a kitten torturing devil

At the time (don't know how she feels now as she hasn't spoken to me since I stopped her from bullying my father into giving her all his money) she was convinced this guy was The Only Doctor Who Ever Cared About Her and Saved Her Life Because Nobody Else Ever Cared About Her EVER.

So no complaint was filed. At least he wasn't actually her doctor, he was just the one that got assigned by the hospital to do the surgery.

[fidlfreek]

Ok I'm not sure this will help (and I've posted this multiple times on TE already) but it might solve some of the general irritation. I had a revolving door of yeast infections - like 6 a year - and tests never showed any reason. After a doc suggested I move to free and clear (and biodegradable) laundry detergent my yeast infections have become something that happens only if I take antibiotics. The new detergent halted it in its tracks. YEAH!

So, if you're trying to cut down on irritation (which is maybe partially caused by a chamois, which you wash in detergent) eliminating the dies/perfumes/mcnasties might just help. Ya never know, but it definitely has changed my life.

[indysteel]

My sister unfortunately has Borderline Personality Disorder, which means she sees everything in black and white, love/hate, good/bad, etc etc etc. And she switches at the drop of a hat.

So when she likes you you're Indiana Jones, the Dalai Lama, and Stephen Hawkings all rolled into one.

When she DOESN'T like you, you're a kitten torturing devil

At the time (don't know how she feels now as she hasn't spoken to me since I stopped her from bullying my father into giving her all his money) she was convinced this guy was The Only Doctor Who Ever Cared About Her and Saved Her Life Because Nobody Else Ever Cared About Her EVER.

So no complaint was filed. At least he wasn't actually her doctor, he was just the one that got assigned by the hospital to do the surgery.

Ha! My sister has BPD, too. All that sounds WAY too familiar. What "fun" Borderlines are! I don't have a relationship with my sis either--by choice. As sad as this sounds, it was one of the best decisions I ever made.

Anyway, sorry to hijack the thread. Back to UTIs now....

[badger]

I'm really surprised that nobody here has mentioned D-Mannose.

For a time, I used to get UTI even if I just thought about it. It was both painful and frustrating. I tried nearly everything to keep it at bay, from homeopathy to cranberry, to unfortunately when it got bad, antibiotics (which sucked because then it usually meant I got an yeast infection afterwards). I even got the procedure to widen my urethra which was more painful than it was effective. Along the way, I found out about D-mannose.

It's a type of sugar, and say what you will, it works immensely well. Cranberry works, but if you're full-blown into an infection, it doesn't work so well. D-mannose does. The only drawback is that it's not cheap. The cheapest I found was on iherb.com.

Until you can get your bladder/urethra to settle down, you can take d-mannose every day and then you can have some before a workout if you know that's a trigger.

Good luck!

[Melalvai]

I despise the taste of cranberry juice but I had success with cranberry pills. At least, taking cranberry pills coincided with the end of a 10-month string of UTIs, whether it was a cause and effect or mere correlation I can't say.