4+ UTIS and on my 3rd Kidney Infection since June.

Hi Gabriella

I stopped eating cheap chicken and only bought free range or organic after seeing a scientific program on tv about the antibiotics and hormones fed to chickens which was causing a lot women to have recurring UTI's. My recurring UTI's eased up straight away. I then started taking a probiotic every day and haven't had an episode for over a year. I don't know where you are located, I am in Australia, but when I felt even an inkling that I might get an UTI I took Hiprex which helped a lot. I don't know if this will work for you but it is certainly worth giving a try. Good luck. Maz

Hi Gabriella, I've only just seen your post so you may have other news by now, but I was just wondering if your doctor sent off your urine samples to be cultured?  Your hospital visit confimed you had one, but you need to make sure your doctor sends off a sample before he gives you an antibiotic as he could be giving you the wrong thing.  Monistat is (I think) just an antifungal for yeast infections of the vagina (usually thrush).  Giving up sugar is a great idea if this is your problem, but if you've got a urine infection I can't see that it will help.  The two can be confused but the urine infection will feel more like burning when you pee while thrush is more of a constant itching.  It's not good practice for a doctor to hand out antibiotics to 'nip it in the bud'.  This is how AB resistance starts!

Also, try to find out what antibiotics you've been given already - your doctor will have had a letter from the hospital telling him what they gave you.  If you hear the name Ciprofloxacin be very sure you find out how much you have been given and ask the doctor to put on your notes that you never want to be given it again.  I'm not joking, this is one of a group of very powerful broad spectrum ABs called the Quinolones.  They work by preventing bacterial DNA from duplicating, sadly but also prevent our DNA from duplicating - and we kind of need it!  Many people have been badly affected from taking too many (or even just one or two) of these ABs - many of them have taken Cipro for urine infections.  My husband took one course then the second course a year later made him very ill.

I don't want to scare you but I'm sure they will give you more ABs as whatever you had hasn't cleared up yet.  There is a discussion on this forum called Fluroquinolone Toxicity Syndrome where you can find out more, with some website information.  I know you're very young, but don't forget that your doctor doesn't know everything.  Don't let him prescribe stuff without finding out what the problem is - tell him you want to know as so many infections in such a short time clearly isn't right. 

Finally, cranberry juice is good but you could try to get hold of D-Mannose powder, which is the active ingredient of cranberry, and take one teaspoon in water as per the instructions.  If you can only get cranberry juice make sure it's Ocean Spray or Lidl (which are about 25% juice), most others are only 10% (and cheaper than Ocean Spray) - read the labels!

Ok hon, first of all why in the world are you using monistat to help with a kidney infection? I feel bad for you because you have been getting some really bad advice if your doctor did not tell you to immediately stop! That is for yeast infections in your vagina and has nothing to do with your urinary tract, bladder or kidneys. Let me try to help you. Ok, when i was pregnant with my now 10 year old son, i had a very serious condition called placenta increda. Basically instead of the embryo attaching to the lining thats it was suppose to my lining was not there so it attached directly to uterine wall. So the placenta grew thru my uterus and latched its blood sucking self to anything and everything it could. My bladder colon ect... I had to have a 6 hour surgery to deliver him. I had to have bladder reconstruction because the had to cut the placenta away from my bladder. After healing my bladder was scarred and my urethra kinked. When i would pee a little of urin would stay in my urethra. So basically i started getting uti's all the time. My doc gave me antibiotics just like you and sent me on my way. This kept happining.

It started going up into my kidneys and i was getting them back to back also like you. The antibiotics caused yeast infections so i would use Monistat to treat them. The Monistat itself would get into my uretha and cause another uti that ended up in another kidney infection.

Also the doctor was not giving me the right antibiotics so the infection was never clearing up all the way. I had to see a urologist to help.

He prescribed me Cefadroxil 500 mg twice a day for 14 days. It worked! My pcp did not even know about it. I think you have never got rid of the first kidney infection . lots of things can cause uti,s that then develope into kidney infections. Never use Monistat unless you have a yeast infection. And i dont at all. There is perscription one pill that gets rid of them. Putting bath products in your bathwater, using babywipes, any of the feminine deodorant sprays. Not getting all your urine out when you pee, if your not sexually active i guess you dont need to know to always pee after. And dont use lotions or lubercates.

You should call your doctor tell him you want this antibiotic. If you have used it already. Then you have another infection from using Monistat to treat your uti. Antibiotics treat uti's. It only takes a day for a the infection to go to bladder and then to kidneys. Drinking fluids and cranberry juice will prevent them but will not treat them.

I know.this is long but trust me i know what im talking about. I hope it helps you. chronic kidney infections or ones that are left untreated can cause irreversible KIDNEY DAMAGE. You are young dont let that happen. Then first hint of a uti get to doctor or er clinic for antibiotics. Good luck

Apologizes for the messiness of this update! I'm going on 48 hours no sleep (very unhealthy, I know! Insomnia is a bully and I got midterms) so please bare with me.

I went to the hospital two weeks ago after my mom decided that I couldn't wait until Monday to see my doctors. I got an IV in one stick (Amazing, right? Too bad they didn't use it for anything other than regular fluids) and I got a CT scan done with no contrast dye. The trip was rather uneventful and was more irritating than anything, but it needed to be done. I peed in a cup and a couple hours later they were certain I had an infection and they gave me generic Bactrim in 160mlg to take for five days, 2 times daily. I couldn't get it until the morning after because the time we left it was past midnight and everything was closed. They said they did a culture and perscribe me the antibiotic that would kill it, but I still have pain in my back - though I can't tell if its the same or not because I've been given Urinary Track pain relief. It's two little pills and it makes me pee a reddish-orange. First time I peed after taking them, I was so scared haha, it looked like Sunny-D!

A week after my hospital visit I had a check up with my doctor (Last Friday) and after we went over my medications and perscribed what he believed would help (diflucan 150mlg for seven days, yikes) and when he examined my back, I was super tender down my spine and across my flanks, so I had x-rays done. My spine is straight at the bottom where is supposed to be curved, but mine is straight. He then pressed on my stomach and I had pain near my right ovary. I thought I was just getting my period but he told me the CT scan showed that there was a mass on my ovary. And now that I think about it, I haven't had my period since November-ish; but I've been having cramps like nobodies business on top of all of these UTI's! I do not know if an ovarian cyst can do anything with UTIs, but I just wanted to add this just in case. I do not have any appointment for an ultrasound yet, nor one for a urologist. They're supposed to be calling sometime this week, so lets hope!

I am just simply tired of the constant UTI's and antibiotics, but I hope that with all of this advice and these specalist appointments that I have coming up - I will soon be UTI free.