I have my 30th Ty infusion next week. In the past few months I've been getting UTI's every couple months. I know it's a known side effect but my neuro doesn't give antibiotics to treat it and I'm tired of having to make an appt with my family dr. or going to urgent care to get meds. I take cranberry pills but now I have another one. Is there anything else I can do to prevent this that anyone knows of?
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Jenn-- Proud mom to 2 boys. The teen who drives me up the wall and the 1st Grader who makes me laugh every day.
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Ty/UTI
I have the same problem with the UTIs & have tried everything that I can find to try and keep from developing them. This includes all the tips of family and friends about how not to get them...from not drinking tea to drinking tons of lemonade (yep I have heard it all).
I do take the cranberry pills daily and drink more cranberry juice when I have one but I don't know if this even really helps.
My neuro does check me and treat me for the infections though. He wants to always try and keep me infection free...no matter how small or great, so thankfully all I have to do is give them a call. As a matter of fact I hardly ever see my PCP any more.
Wish I could be of more help,
Jeannie -
Bummer i can't think of the term
i'm rather pleased that your neuro won't treat outside ms too...not happy that you have to deal with that but my neuro won't either which makes me frustrated and incredibly jealous when i read post of people reporting their neuro treated something outside of ms.
to become a neuro, a neuro doc has to get a general medical degree & then get specialized training in neurology...well i have to see her every 6 months for her specialized training in neurology but i would also like her to use her general medical training for other things that come up...but she won't, just directs me to my gp. actually i didn't have a gp when i started seeing her she gave me a recommendation for a few and made sure i got one
then i get jealous when i read posts that neuro's treated something other than ms because it made ms symptoms worse--mine doesn't and what doesn't make ms symptoms worse? she should just treat everything at that 6 month appointment.
to get back to that term i can't remember, your gp can prescribe a med "prophalatic"(?) to help prevent uti's from happening for those that get uti's often....maybe someone can chime in with their experience of it---i'll goggle it to see if i can find out some meds that are used for that...
in this site it has a section about reoccur-ant uti's recommending a patient be given meds to be available to use when they have uti symptoms
http://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/436592_6
and this site has a link to preventative meds for reoccurant infections....
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC274058/
there is a link to a table 1 that lists the meds...for
Antimicrobial regimens for prevention and treatment of recurrent urinary tract infections
The copyrighted table lists....
Antimicrobial agents &
dosage for treatment &
dosage for prevention....
so put some pressure on your gp to get on prevention medication or to have medication available at home to start using at the first symptoms of uti....xxxxxxxxxxxComment
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My gp gave me a prescription for low dose Macrobid (generic drug called nitrofurentoin) that I have taken every day for the last 3 years to keep me from getting a UTI, which I had been getting often. So far so good.Comment
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Just wanted to comment on the frustration of your neuro not working with you with anything other than MS stuff. Not only is my neruo like that also, my PCP won't touch me if he thinks it is MS related.
I have gone back and forth with "it's MS call your neruo - it's not MS call your PCP" so many times that at my physical last summer I told my PCP that I was never going to play that game again and I would not be calling his office again except for my yearly physical. In fact have looked into changing doctors, but the two I felt I might want to switch to, have closed practices. I will keep checking in to see if they start taking new patients.
My neuro barely handles MS stuff. So I wouldn't look to her to handle anything else.
I have had UTI's since dx, but it isn't really a problem. I hope you can find a solution to your problem.
Just sort of needed to vent a little about doctors. I find their years and years of schooling pretty worthless. Sometimes. Sorry to lump all doctors together. "In my experience" I find their years and years of schooling pretty worthless.Comment
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Thanks, everyone, for the replies. It IS very frustrating that the neuro won't prescribed an antibiotic to treat this when it's coming from my MS treatment! I just saw my pcp not very long ago, so maybe if I call he'll give me something to treat it or to prevent them. I'll try everyone tomorrow.
I got an at home test to see if I do indeed have an infection and I do! I hope someone will help me, I have a fun day of calling dr.s tomorrow and try to get one of them to do something. It wouldn't be so bad if I could drive but I'm in the process of getting hand controls due to my numb right foot and my husband goes to work early.
Thanks for all the link, I will definitely be checking them out!
Jenn-- Proud mom to 2 boys. The teen who drives me up the wall and the 1st Grader who makes me laugh every day.
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I ended up switching to Tysabri every 8 weeks because I kept getting repeat UTIs. The fever, pain, etc. which led to down time was a pain. Now if I take cranberry tablets every day and stay on the every 8 week cycle I am fine.Comment
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I am sorry to hear about your uti's. I had alot of uti's also until my pcp sent me to a urologist and he put me on macrobid a low dose antibotic and I take 2 cranberry pills in the morn. and 2 at night. I have been doing this for about two years or more. It has worked wonders!God Bless Us AllComment
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I keep going to the gynecologist insisting that I have a UTI. Nothing turns up other then some "crystals" according to her. She suggested I go to a urologist in case I have a kidney infection. Nothing. I guess I will bring it up to my neuro next
Whenever I’m about to do something, I think, “Would an idiot do that?” And if they would, I do not do that thing.Comment
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I have to mention...
The NP who does women's health at my primary care clinic advised, as a uti prevention measure, to make sure you're wiping the right way after urinating to avoid fecal contamination. [they always say "front to back" but I think "top to bottom" makes more sense. Sorry-I know we're not in the Women's Room right now, but the request for uti advice was urgent!]
After I started following this advice my uti's became much less frequent, until after I started Ty.Comment
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my pcp wants to refer me to...
She wants to refer me to a urologist. I'm wondering if I can see one through the hospital the NYU MS care center is affiliated with, as I have MS & am taking Ty once a month.Comment
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gyn visit today
It turns out I didn't really have uti's after all. The tests they did were negative. They gave me antibiotics because i was complaining of discomfort. It's not easy for me to tell the difference between "normal" ms urinary frequency & a uti, so it's hard for me to describe my symptoms accurately.
I think the answer is to make sure I drink cranberry juice & insane amounts of water to keep the system flowing, & not worry so much.
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