I'm terrified of these urinary issues I'm having - what could this be?!

Buy a pot of test sticks and use several until one shows positive. They’re so inaccurate but one will usually show correctly.

I'm feeling worse by the hour and now it's too late to see the GP today - all the appointments are full.

@Persianpuss thanks for your reply.
Can I ask which antibiotic you usually take and how many days for?

Thanks

It makes me so angry that yet again women's health is at the bottom of the pile. Doctors KNOW that these tests are only 50% accurate and if they don't then they SHOULD know. So many women being left in pain, sometimes leading to chronic pain, because UTIs are not treated properly.

My very experienced urologist said to me that if I have symptoms of a UTI (and I've had enough and know my body well enough) then I have a UTI and need a full course of antibiotics. Thankfully after his strongly worded letter to my GP I just have to call my GP and he prescribes me the antibiotics that work for me. It makes me so angry that doctors and pharmacists are relying on these really inaccurate tests to tell women with UTI symptoms that they don't have a UTI.

@hippospot I got AB's from an online pharmacy, no problem. They didn't ask about a dip test I don't think. Won't help today but mine arrived the next day pretty quickly.

This thread is suddenly very relevant to me today - sorry to hijack the thread everyone, but my experience doesn't seem to be unique.

I have had UTI symptoms for 48 hours and I did the usual drink lots of water, rest, paracetamol, hoping it might resolve itself. It hasn't. Tried to get a GP appointment today, the GP surgery instead referred me to the local pharmacy because "the pharmacy can now prescribe antibiotics" - which I learned yesterday from this thread! The only problem is that the dip test comes out clear so the pharmacist won't give me ABs.

Now what?

I have three intense days ahead at work, I was really counting on getting ABs this morning, resting all day, and being able to manage the next three days.

I already take D-mannose and use vaginal oestrogen 3 x a week because last year I had three UTIs with identical symptoms to the ones I have now.

You really ARE an angel, thank you thank you THANK YOU! 💐

Once you get this sorted, maybe pay attention when weeing to see if you can fully empty or if you could actually squeeze a bit more. My grandma was prone to UTIs and a new doctor told her that her bladder was a bit tipped and that she might not be emptying fully on a regular basis. That build up of older, more concentrated urine was causing her problem.

I found that now I'm 40 and have had a baby I'm the same and if I don't pay attention and make an actual effort to empty I would have some remaining.

That said, you don't want to force it either because that causes different problems! So it's a listening to your body thing.

This is what she told me to do (my exercises were given in Dutch so had to translate/write them down)

Lie on back with knees up and feet flat on floor.
Tense pf muscle then as you release breath in deeply and out deeply. Repeat 8-10 times for one set.

When I first went to see her I did 3 sets morning, 3 sets lunchtime and 3 sets evening for 2 weeks (I was in such a state I couldn't walk/stand for more than 5-10 minutes without pelvic pain).
This gradually reduced to morning and night 3 sets each, and then one set morning and night. 2 years on I still try and do a set every evening and if I feel myself getting stressed I do them in the morning as well.

When my pf was really stressed I would clench and it wouldn't relax fully and then subsequent clenches became weaker as the muscle was tired. I already felt some improvement after 1-2 weeks. This was combined with some physio (internal massage) as the muscle was so knotted. I then got problems with my piriformis (probably from sudden lack of walking/movement) and did exercises for that as well (lie on back, left foot flat on floor, place right ankle on left thigh, capture left thigh with and pull towards you. repeat on other side. can rock to left for deeper stretch).

Other yoga positions which are good are extended child's pose with knees wide and happy baby, both accompany by deep breathing.

Long term any yoga or stretching that works on hips is good or deep breathing that promotes relaxation.

I really like these two YWA videos:

Can you please link to the exercises or post a screen capture of any printouts you have? Thank you.

@EmoIsntDead this was my problem as well (posted up thread) though it was caught fairly quickly (pf suggested by GP assistant after 3x negative UTI tests and saw a pf physio a week later).

It may not be a UTI but more that your bladder isn't emptying, have they examined your abdomen?

Some of the ideas on this thread by people who know nothing about this are just deluded. A GUM clinic is not the expert on this - it's not a STD and you can get it being celibate. You can't pass it on to somebody either. A urologist is the appropriate specialist. This is not like what they used to call honeymoon cystitis where bacteria got transferred into the bladder and a bacterial infection developed which could be stopped almost instantly with a few antibiotic tablets. A GUM clinic could probably handle that.

Oh, by the way I am sure I don't have an infection. If I did, I am sure it would have made its way to my kidneys by now and killed me since it started 30 something odd years ago. And the pain was very real. I have had orthopaedic surgery where they sawed by bones and rearranged and screwed them together with a metal screw and that was less painful than my uninfected bladder.

I was you a long time ago. I saw a urologist who ruefully admitted they didn't know much about what caused because it didn't kill people. All my tests were clear and to make absolutely sure I had a bladder biopsy and I hadn't quite progressed to a interstitial cystitis. I found relief by following a very low acid diet -no coffee, no tea, no wine, no fruit juice and very limited fruit, no tomatoes etc and stopping the low dose antibiotics I had been taking for a long time for acne. (I took isotretinoin for the acne eventually.) It sounds very restrictive but it's easy to follow because if you break it you'll soon know.

Over time I was able to go back to a normal diet. I just have to be careful not to overdo the acid food and these days at the first sign of twinging I take antiacids - you could try ural sachets (which taste vile to me) or these days I pop a Prelief tablet which is specifically for interstitial cystitis and reduces acidity. I used to rush around to try to get things done before the attack really hit but now I know I should rest and let the antiacids work instead of dashing round. Plenty of bland fluids - think milk, or water or an Earl Grey teabag dunked once and plenty of milk. Nothing carbonated - I was felled by champagne in the early days and of all the wines this is the one that is most problematical for me.

I've had two children and I didn't have any problems during pregnancy - no wine and no coffee probably helped.

I recently consulted a urologist about something and he did say that most people in my situation make lifestyle changes to cope. This is the man who told me diet was totally irrelevant all those years but diet is nowadays recognised as being significant. I realise I will always have this weakness but 99.0% of the time I am absolutely fine. I hope this helps because I remember how desperate I felt all those years ago.

You are WRONG!!!!

The great work of one professor????

Like the professor who linked autism and the MMR

I have painful bladder syndrome

It is not a UTI

Bloods, scans, internal cameras catheters, and a painkiller inserted into the bladder 6 weekly tells me you are talking rubbish

I wish someone had told me about the risks of Nitrofuarantin, there are other antibiotics available, had I known, I would have asked to be prescribed something else. It's better to know & be able to question than to end up like me.

You do know that the OP has health anxiety don't you? Honestly some of these responses are extremely unhelpful for the OP who is now getting confused and panicky.

I'm the same as @Persianpuss.I've had many UTIs throughout my life and never had a temperature, not even as a child.

A fever with a UTI is rare. My best friend is diabetic so is prone to them, she only ever knows when her white blood cells are up.

Nitrofuarantin can cause neurological problems, I had repeated courses for chronic infection over the space of 9 months, I lost the feeling in my legs & feet, I'm now in a wheelchair. It causes neurotoxicity which damages peripheral nerves, mine is irreversible, my medical records now have do not prescribe Nitrofuarantin on them.

How old are you? Is there a chance you could me menopausal? If there is, ask if there is a chance you could have vaginal atrophy, it can cause urinary symptoms, I use vagifem pessaries & take 1500mg of Dmannose every day, the pessaries get oestrogen where it is needed & help to protect everything down there from thinning & getting sore as well as helping reduce the chances of uti's & incontinence. I was having a uti every 6 weeks & was incontinent, wetting myself 6-8 times a day, after using vagifem for 3 months I'm nearly completely dry & can hold my urine, I'm no longer terrified of having a drink because I would wet myself.

Likewise this changed my life. Turns out I have severe bladder irritation after years of UTIs as a kid / early 20s and I was taking antibiotics even when no infection. But last year dr recommended d-mannose and when I feel any pain coming on, I take it everyday for a week or so and it vanishes. It neutralises the urine so stops irritation. Highly recommend

Just a FYI - once you start taking antibiotics your urine tests won’t be reliable. Some doctors are stupid enough to still test your urine after you’ve taken antibiotics, and if it tests negative they will say you don’t have an infection. In reality, even a single dose of antibiotics will skew the results and make you test clear even if you still have an infection.

Also a second FYI - I tested negative for thrush but my problem was later cured by thrush meds. Swab tests aren’t reliable either.

I know you've had lots of good advice on here about plenty of things this could be but honestly I think it's not helping you as it's much, much more likely that you have a simple and treatable UTI than anything else. Your GP is useless unfortunately.

Either try another GP and just tell them that it burns when you wee and you want a full course or antibiotics, or take 2 of the 3 day courses from the pharmacy.

I have health anxiety and I really think that this thread is not helping you as while people are genuinely trying to help they are putting all sorts of ideas and worries into your head that you are panicking about and getting confused about. Your problem is not that there is anything serious wrong with you, the problem is that you have a UTI and the GP is going by outdated information and rules and not giving you proper treatment.