To ask about urine infections

Hi @whoamitodisabrie . I know your post is old but I'm sat up at 2am going through a very similar thing to you. Had a UTI for weeks now. I just wondered how it worked out for you in the end. I really hope you got better.
Xxxc

How are you feeling OP?
Did you get any more answers at all?

£250 for initial appointment £200 for follow up. Email queries are £50.00 but there are support groups of Facebook where you can get somebqueations answered which can save money.

Cost of prescriptions vary depending on what is prescribed and which pharmacy you use. It is worth shopping round supermarket pharmacies tend to be less expensive.

To be fair it is not cheap and I resent that spending all this money is the only way I can get treatment. But worth it to try and get my life back. The LUTS clinic is nhs so if you can get a referral to here will be cheaper but referral needs to be by a consultant and a believe the waiting list is long. Some people have started at Harley Street and then moved to LUTS they follow the same protocol.

I can see we're all doing the same thing!

As I understand it, Harley Street believes that the bacteria themselves can become embedded in the bladder wall so there's no record of them on a test, but they test for evidence that bacteria are there (I can't remember anything but the words shedding and epithelial!). At this point I think you've exhausted your NHS options and it's time to get an appointment for HS as you will have to wait for one anyway. Once you have an apt you can often end up getting an earlier cancellation. This is seriously affecting your life and I don't think it's likely that you'll continue to be prescribed antibiotics on the NHS now. You need a tough game plan.

In the meantime, please get Hiprex. Some people find it fixes everything even without antibiotics and HS will probably prescribe it. You can also get expensive analysis of your urine privately to check what the infection is susceptible to. And you can get private chemists to prescribe long term antibiotics so there are options during the wait period for HS. I have been down this road and you have to bite the bullet at some point.

I guess another possibility is that there's a lag time between infection clearing and inflammation dying down. Symptoms are the last thing to go. If you want to do nothing but wait and see, I would at least take Hiprex in the meantime. Good luck.

I emailed them and asked what appointments they had a available. Booked an appointment for August, but asked to go on cancellation list and was contacted with cancellation in early May which I took. They regularly have cancellations so worth asking for.

Fill in online forms with your details and gp details. And they email a confirmation of appt letter.

Went to appointment, they advise you don't drink to much prior to giving sample as can dilute the results. In fact they recommend drinking when thirsty rather than drinking loads as you have a uti especially if you are on antibiotics as it will just dilute the antibiotics in your bladder.

Went to appointment, I saw Dr Harvey who was lovely bit I have heard all the doctors there are great. You provide a urine sample not msu but start of urination catch. They look at your urine under a microscope and count the pyuria (pus) and epithelial cells which are markers for infection. In your consultation they will go through results and take a history of symptoms. They will then prescribe antibiotics if needed and likely hiprex as well.

After appointment they will send you and your gp a copy of your results and outcome of consultation. Invoice followed a couple of days later. If you can get your GP to prescribe based on there advice it will be cheaper. Some will some won't. Mine won't I have to buy medication separately. Follow up appointments will be approx 3 months later when they will check urine again and see if symptoms have improved. They can be contacted by email in between appointments but there is a charge for this.

If you can't get to Harley Street you could see if you could get hiprex prescribed. It is a bladder antiseptic rather than and antibiotic and people have had good results on it.

No it doesn't even the NHS website states that tests may not pick up a infectio, but good luck getting health care professionals to believe you. My cultures and dipsticks came back negative, but I knew from symptoms I had a uti. I broke down and I had arguments with GP's but I couldn't get treatment.

Went to Harley Street they do a different kind of urine test where they look at fresh urine samples under the microscope.....lo and behold they found I had a urine infection. Such a relief having been gaslit by GP and urology. I got treatment a finally symptoms are starting to improve. The longer it takes to get treatment the longer it takes to clear the infection.

My experience was so traumatic but I thanks God that other women who were suffering shared their experiences and urged me to go to Harley Street.

My urine test was clear but when it was sent off, it did show signs of infection.

Unfortunately a negative urine test does not mean no uti. If you have symptoms you likely have a uti. The NHS guidelines for uti's are not fit for purpose dont let them fob you off. Loads of people suffer chronic utis as they rely on tests that even the NHS admit produce false negatives. cutic.co.uk/what-is-chronic-uti/a-chronic-uti-explained/ this link provides more information but you need to be pro active and assertive to access treatment. I second a previous poster to try and get seen at Harley Street or get a urologist to refer you to LUTS. Good luck.

@whoamitodisabrie could be anything from a few hours to three days depends on the antibiotic and the infection.

You feel like the urine is sat there because your urethra is inflamed with the infection. At this stage you just need to keep going with the antibiotics- other treatments- mannose, cranberry juice, drinking a ton can help- but it’s not going to shift an infection this established. The antibiotics are probably making you feel rubbish too. Get some probiotics to help your gut settle down and watch out for thrush.

Believe it or not drinking decaf things and cranberry juice helps.

🤞 OP

I’m having specialist care from the bowel and bladder team at the hospital. They refer to hiprex as ‘bleach for the bladder’. Been an absolute game changer for me.

I hope you feel better OP. UTIs are ghastly.

Sometimes thrush feels like a UTI, the antibiotics may have caused thrush, take some canesten to be on the safe side and to rule it out.