Ooh clinic or wait for GP tomorrow?

[theunrivalledjoysofparenting]

Posting here for traffic.

Dd was stung by an insect yesterday and has reacted badly to the sting. Overnight she has also developed symptoms of a urine infection.

This happened 2 weeks ago too: stung by a wasp, them got a urine infection. She had antibiotics for the wasp sting then two lots of ABs for the UTI.

Now it’s back. Would you take her to ooh clinic today instead of waiting? She’s so fed up of feeling crappy. She’s 15.

And surely there’s no link between the sting and the uti? That’s a coincidence? Very odd.

Thanks.

It might be that the first lot of antibiotics didn’t completely kill off the urine infection and now it’s fact - I’ve had that before and needed something stronger.

Either way I wouldn’t wait until tomorrow because she could be peeing blood within hours (I’ve had that too).

It’s fact? IT’S BACK.

DYAC.

She had two lots of ABs. Has been off them ten days. Is this classed as the uti coming back, or a new one?

Take her to the ooh. Poor girl. UTI are horrible.

Impossible to tell unless they cultured the bacteria from ten days ago and again for this reoccurrence to see whether it’s the same bacteria or a different strain. But I’d be inclined to say it’s the same infection - if it wasn’t, how come she has another infection so soon?

Has she been drinking plenty, weeing often, and knows about good toilet hygiene?

I’d definitely go today - I waited til Monday morning with a UTI recently and it got much much worse. Have you read about biofilms in relation to UTIs? Unfortunately these can shield some of the bacteria from treatment so they’re still hanging about even when symptoms seem to have gone.

Yes, they tested her wee last time to find out what kind of infection it was, and it responded to the second lot of ABs, so that info should be on her notes.

Yes to drinking, wiping correctly, good hygiene, no perfumed shower gels etc.

No idea about biofilms! Will take her now. Poor girl.

I hadn’t heard of them either until I had one recently that would seemingly clear up and then I’d get another, etc etc.

Apparently some bacteria can create these biofilms - in very simple terms you get a cluster of bacteria against the bladder wall with basically a shield over it. The antibiotics clear all the bacteria that’s accsssible and the symptoms vanish, but then the biofilm goes and the infection is active again.

How they deal with this, I don’t know. It did say that the earlier you treat with antibiotics, the better.

There’s some in-depth info here liveutifree.com/chronic-urinary-tract-infection/#biofilms

Back now. She has ABs for another week and they're going to send a sample off to be tested.

The doctor said if it continues dd may need further investigation to check her bladder is emptying properly. She's in bed now.

Thanks for the advice. I didn't want to waste NHS resources but I think taking her was the best thing to do.

I’m glad the doctor took it seriously.