Cystitis, Bladder & UTI's

 I am 41, and had a UTI when I was 24. I haven't had one since then. I started having symptoms (feeling like you need to pee all the time, but when you try only a tablespoon of urine passes; achy bladder, smelly urine, tingling after urination...the same symptoms as the other UTI I had before.) Because it was a holiday week end, and I was not at home,  I went to an urgent care center. They said my dip stick showed no infection, but they would give me antibiotics and send for a culture. The doctor told me that based on my symptoms, usually "1 +1=2." He did suggest that I try drinking a lot of water, and if I didn't feel better the next day, start the meds. (I should say that in general, I drink at least 8x8 oz galsses of water a day.)

I started the meds (Trimethoprin -Sulfameth -something) and the first 24-36 hours I felt better. But I started feeling the strong urge to urinate and burining again, usually moreso after I would take my meds. I called my OB/Gyn's office and the nurse told me to continue with the meds for the full 5 days, and gave me a prescription for Pyridium (a blessing!). So I took the meds to completion, and felt better (although not 100%) for about 48 hours. Now my symptoms appear to be back with a vengeance.

I called the Urgent Care place for the result of my culture and it took like a week to get results, because they didn't send it out until two days after my visit. They said the culture was negative - but honestly I don't know that I 100% trust this place. When I put my sample in the little cupboard, there was another one still in there...that the nurse was totally unaware of. Since I got there right when they opened, it had to have been from the previous day.

So my questions:

Is it possible that I've messed myself up by taking anti-biotics when I didn't have a UTI? Or could I have a UTI in spite of the negative culture?  

Welcome to our board....interesting situation you present here.

The medication that they gave you goes by a short name of Bactrim and no you did not mess yourself up taking it.  Since the pyridium made you more comfortable, my hunch is that you did indeed have a UTI, but that the culture got messed up.  You had all of the signs and symptoms that you would need to lead one to believe that you had a UTI and you responded like one would expect to both the antibiotics and the pyridium.

So the question now is what is going on now?  How you had a repeat urine analysis done?  If so did it show any white cells and was the leukocyte esterase positive?  These could be indicators of past infection and if they are positive it would confirm that your previous infection had been treated.  It would have been nice to know what you were growing to make sure that you were on the correct antibiotics.  Since it has been such a long time since you last UTI, it is unlikely that your bacteria would be resistant to any antibiotics given today.  You may need to get a new culture to see if you are " growing" something now and what it is sensitive to and you may need a new course of antibiotics.

It is too early to presume that you have anything going on beside UTIs, but in the future if this continues you may need a referral to a urologist for a work-up to examine the interior of your bladder to see if it shows any signs of other possibilities.

You are doing well with your water, although you are drinking a bit more than is suggested now.  You may want to cut this back to 4 - 6 8oz glasses a day.  This will allow your bladder to rest a bit during the day and may make you more comfortable.

Hope this helps

Quick update: Went to my OB today. My initial reading on my urine showed leukocytes and nitrites. Since I had already taken the Bactrim, she did not want to give me new meds until the culture results came back. So as I am driving home, the doctor who treated me at the urgent care calls me. He has the culture and it DOES show bacteria. (I guess the nurse gave me the incorrect results when I called yesterday.)

Then he asked how I am feeling. The bacteria I have tends to be resistant to Bactrim, so he wanted me to take Levaquin. Hooray - I am not crazy imagining UTIs. Let's hope the Levaquin does the trick. I verified with my own doctor that this is an appropriate choice, so am optimistic.

Thanks for your support on this board!!

They use a lot of non-licensed folks to work these "doc in the box" clinics and with the number of patients they see it is no wonder they make mistakes.  I'm glad that they straightened this out for you.  Levaquin is a good medication but it does have some serious side effects.  So keep up your water intake!  That is a big preventor of the side effects from this medication.

Hope you feel better real soon.  If you need more of the pyridium you can get it in an over the counter format called Uristat.  Same instructions as the prescription format.

thanks for the update

gentle hugs