Any one who self cath's ever been prescribed levofloxacin?

Posted , 5 users are following.

I have been self cathing for a few years now. Last April began to notice I had a bit of an infection when checking with the test strips (nitrates and leukocytes high) but wasn't particularly concerned. Just increased fluid intake and catheterized more often.

So I had appointment with the uro's in July, they thought it might be a good idea to give me some macrobid for a week to see if that would knock it out. Said they don't like to give antibiotics to someone self cathing but sometimes a quick coarse of antibiotics will nip any future problems in the bud.

Well things were good again for a couple of weeks but I began to notice it came back, but this time it got fairly bad pretty quickly, including bloody urine, so they did another urine-analysis with a culture about a week ago.

So the results came back today, they called and said they were overnighting me the levofloxacin as they were concerned I was at risk for a systemic infection. Supposed to take 750mg daily which seems close to the recommended maximum daily dose. I notice this drug can have some fairly significant side effects but a systemic infection would not be much fun...

Wondering if anyone who is self cathing has had a similar experience with either the drug or developing a fairly significant infection after going a few years virtually problem free....

0 likes, 9 replies

9 Replies

  • Posted

    no experience with what you've stated but it seems highly likely introducing a foreign object into your urethra over and over for 3 years you'd eventually contract infection - no matter how hygienic and careful you are.

    can I ask why you'd even go through that so long rather than try to fix the problem?

    • Posted

      Short answer...The problem is not fixable. Much like people with spinal chord injuries my bladder does not work because of nerve damage

  • Posted

    jwrhn1951,

    Levofloxacin is in the same class as Ciprofloxin. This class of drugs can have bad side effects, such as tendonitis, and even ruptured tendons. I have heard that it can also affect the nervous system. It is classified as a drug of last resort.

    There are other antibiotics that work well for Urinary infections, like Bactrim, Doxicycline, and many others. Ask your doctor about alternate antibiotics. Your doctor should do a culture of your urine that will tell them the best antibiotic to use. I had one urologist who cultured my sperm, obtained by catching it on a microscope slide, while doing a prostate massage.

    The blood in your urine may have been caused by the catheter tearing the urethra . Once that happens an infection will progress rapidly.

    You can try some natural remedies, not in place of the antibiotics but along with them. The bacteria may have formed a colony with a biofilm protecting them from antibiotics. When you stop taking the antibiotic the bacteria multiply again. Look up biofilm disruptors on the internet. They are enzymes that dissolve the biofilms. I used one that was recommended by some articles on the internet, and it worked well for me. The name starts with a "K". I posted the name before on this site but the moderators did not allow it. If you PM me I will send it to you.

    Another supplement that can help is Dmannose. It is a type of sugar that the bad bacteria cling to and get eliminated with the urine. It works similar to cranberry juice.

    Good luck,

    Thomas

  • Posted

    They did a culture, the results came back today.

    People that self cath develop bacterial "colonization" and it is usually not a problem. I lived symptom free with colonization for more than three years, but something changed last April and colonization changed to infection.

    The culture showed use of this drug is a case of "last resort" as it is one of the few drugs that is effective against the bacteria showing up in the culture.

  • Posted

    Levofloxacin may have very bad side effects , I was prescribed it for 28 days due to a very ugly UTI after urinary retention , I began felling pain in my feets , could no sleep at night , tendons in legs were hurting , it was back in August and still feel some pain but has gone almost all , I new about side effects but infection was so bad that I took the risk .

    • Posted

      I'm thinking I need to take the risk also. Hopefully I'll have few side effects from the drug seems like it cleared your UTI and at this point that's what I need to have happen..

  • Posted

    I've been CICing for over 3 years now due to severe BPH. Once in a while I get your condition and then take Amoxicilin which clears it up quickly with no side effects. I stay away from Cipro and any other drugs in that family. Good luck.

  • Posted

    Just wanted to update, finished up the antibiotic and it worked with no side effects.

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