Calling people who've ever had a kidney infection?

[JudyOha]

I've had ongoing nausea (without vomiting), diarrhea and back pain for the last few weeks - most GP tests on blood and stool came back fairly clear..

I'm guessing it might be kidney infection as those symptoms (nausea, diarrhea, back pain, and had some pain during urination a few weeks ago, not now though) are listed as for that.. not quite sure whether we'd definitely need to do a urine sample or if it can be determined from bloods but anyway I wanted to ask, have you had my symptoms for a confirmed kidney infection and did you have to medications (if so, what medication?) or can it be cured with over the counter stuff or on its own?

Hi, if it is a kidney infection you'll need antibiotics & painkillers. Sounds though if you might have kidney stones as well. (I've lot's of experience of this!). I should def get it checked out with a Dr.

Sounds kidneyish to me - I've had my share of trouble plus two rounds of stones.

No, you can't sort it yourself or with OTC anythings. Take it to a GP for checking, and if it is then it'll be antibiotics and perhaps a scan.

A kidney infection is very painful and you will most likely have a temperature. It's pretty unsafe to leave it if it is that so definitely best to get checked out. You will need antibiotics. Should be fairly clear from a quick urine test if you have a UTI/kidney infection and they can then also send to the lab to see what bugs grow. Did your bloods show any signs of infection? You'd likely get that with a kidney infection.

I’ve had two kidney infections. Minimal pain, but I think that’s unusual. Both times I developed sepsis very suddenly so my advice would be to get your urine tested ASAP in case antibiotics are needed.

Hi, I had a kidney infection last year (April time) after having had a bad stint of back to back UTI's.

I went to the walk in clinic at around 5/6pm that day and they checked my urine, saw a doctor & they confirmed UTI & gave me a 3 day course of antibiotics.

2hrs later had severe back & stomach pain & felt really unwell generally (hot/lethargic etc) so I called 111 & they got me in to see an OOH doctor at 1am, I then threw up on the OOH doctor (sorry!) from panicking and he diagnosed a kidney infection and sent me to A&E for an IV antibiotic.

I was back in my own bed by 6am thankfully but it took a few days of being in bed & antibiotics to feel better!

Haven't had a UTI since funnily enough

Thank you so much everyone. Can I just ask whether you all had nausea and diarrhea as part of your symptoms?
@zigzag12 @SpoonBlender @berkshirecat @thaegumathteth @LittleMissEngineer saturdayhelpme

@JudyOha I was nauseas but not overly so. No diarrhoea.

No I didn't have nausea or diarrhoea with mine.
For me the pain made it really obvious it was a kidney infection. If I even touched the skin in the area, let alone pressed it, I nearly hit the ceiling.

I had no diarrhoea with my kidney infection but did have severe nausea and vomiting. I literally couldn't keep anything down including painkillers and antibiotics. I ended up being given ondansetron which is a miracle drug and stopped the sickness entirely. I also had severe pain in my back and side and a high temperature, shivers and was generally really unwell with it. My gp wanted to send me to the hospital and was going to if the ondansetron hadn't helped.

Hi Op, I had nausea and vomiting as part of my symptoms and the most excruciating pain in my side ( worse than child birth!) pain...... I had shivers but no temp and lead up to it was frequent urination.

Mine only started yesterday morning but as I’m pregnant I went to maternity yesterday to get checked out. Mine is a severe UTI rather than kidney as my bloods came back clear but slightly high.

I like the previous OP couldn’t keep meds down either , was given a fantastic anti sickness medication yesterday then some strong painkillers to get rid of the pain, then a course of antibiotics as well.

It was the worst pain of my life. Worse than child birth. Plus fever and delirium. Absolutely awful. I think your symptoms sound quite mild? Your urine will be cloudy, that might be something you can check at home.

I was pretty ill with pyelonephritis and had to be admitted to hospital for IV antibiotics and was delirious at one point.

I have a kidney stone at the moment.
Getting intermittent back and abdominal pain but I don't have an infection so I just have to wait for it to pass.
When I had an infection last year, I had very bad pain and it hurt like hell when I peed. I had a course of nitrofurantoin but it was a few weeks after before the pain went away.

Nausea yes though no actual vomiting, diarrhoea no. Thankfully! Get well soon.

Nausea , back pain and frequent peeing but no diarrhoea. Diagnosed with a dye injection and x-ray .Sorted quickly by antibiotics.

Thank you all for your helpful comments.

@SpoonBlender - how did you remedy the nausea and all the other symptoms? antibiotics?

@SpeckledyHen - that's really reassuring to hear - my symptoms are very similar to yours but I've had it now for 5 weeks :( did the nausea stop for you once you had the antibiotics?

I didn't have diahorrea (sp?) or nausea but I had the most excruciating back pain.

I spend half my life with kidney infections. They're pretty easy to diagnose though. Usually a urine dip test at my GP does it. I've been admitted to hospital several times and have needed antibiotics, fluids & blood transfusions. I've never had diarrhoea or vomiting though. A temperature is quite common. I've to check my temperature several times a day if I have an infection and if it's high its sign I need A&E

Oh & it can be diagnosed with blood tests. Any time I've ended up in hospital they do blood not urine tests

I had one a few years ago. Agree with the pps, I had no nausea or diarrhoea either, just high fever and awful, awful localised back pain (I knew it was my kidneys before the doctor said). The pain was quite a lot worse than childbirth for me and I felt more acutely poorly than I have done with flu or pneumonia. I wanted to drink lots of just boiled water. So weird. Mine was treated with ABX and painkillers too. I’d definitely go to the doctor if you are concerned about that OP. It’s serious.

I also get burning when peeing. At the vomiting stage, I need hospitalisation. The constant need to drink but the output isn't as much.
Then there's the high fever which also requires an instant trip to a&e (I have other health issues though).

For nausea, I get given a number of meds.

And the pain, omg I go from nothing to pain from front, side and back. Avoid ibuprofen (although this could just be me as my stomach lining is also damaged).

Antibiotics brought the kidney infection down. The other symptoms abated too, as you'd expect.

I had a kidney infection when pregnant

I did have backache and felt sick for a few days but put this down to pregnancy. Then the pain got worse and my pee was very cloudy and smelt just wrong

Had strong antibiotics that knocked me out and was fine after a few days