Son reoccurring UTI

[cosietea]

My son had 2 UTI's last year and so was referred for an ultrasound as they are apparently uncommon in males

He had the US in January this year and his kidneys were fine but they noted lots of low level echoes and also his bladder didn't fully empty after he went to the toilet

I asked the radiologist if it's anything sinister and they said no, but we didn't come away with any explanation, just told to come back if further symptoms

Well last month he ended up with another UTI and another course of antibiotics. He took them religiously and today he has yet another symptom ( extremely foul smelling urine like before)

He is 16, not sexually active, very good at keeping hydrated and otherwise healthy

How much longer can this go on? What should I expect from the GP tomorrow? Could this be symptomatic of something else?

Thank you

So the cefalexin did not work and he still has an infection!

We now have Pivmecillinam which is the strongest antibiotic that my GP can prescribe

We will see how we get on with it whilst we wait referral

I have raised an official complaint with PALS now. Paediatrics have cancelled his December appointment with no given reason and he still has an infection with no follow up plan on how to resolve this or any tests/investigations ordered.

Completely unacceptable to leave it this long without proper care and attention. I have lost many nights sleep over this and my son is understandably angry and anxious about what's happening to him

Has anyone had any luck with a complaint to the NHS? I don't want money or an apology we just want action taken

Sorry I know this is an old thread but just wondering how your son is now and did you get a resolution to his infections? Hope he is better now. My daughter is suffering from something similar.

Cephalexin daily for 3 months on a low dose did the trick for me.

After almost 18 months of continuous UTI and multiple courses of antibiotics he finally got rid of it at Xmas with Ciprofloxacin. It’s a pretty hefty antibiotic which they don’t seem to give out without some pressure ( in my case, read back over my posts)

a week later and he was fine and has been ever since. No side effects and he had a follow up this year to check his kidneys for long term damage and all good there too

Would recommend probiotics. Friends son had a similar issue and was repeatedly taking antibiotics. one of the GPs recommended taking probiotics 4-6 hours after the antibiotics and that was his last UTI.

So pleased to hear that your son has recovered and been free of further infections this year @cosietea . Thanks for the recommendations/advice @Fullofpudding and @Autumnsprings . My daughter has thankfully cleared her latest infection and I got some probiotics the other day and have ordered some D-mannose to see if this helps prevent recurrence.

My DD had recurrent UTIs from chronic constipation (the enlarged bowel pressing on the bladder and preventing it from emptying properly)

@Puddock1 has your daughter’s urine been sent to the lab to check what’s causing the infections? My son had e-coli which is the main cause of UTI’s and can only be treated with antibiotics. He tried probiotics and the d-mannose, tried emptying bladder ‘extra’ but none of this worked, only the strong antibiotic treatment

Look up embedded UTI and seek a private specialist.

@Perfectmixofcute This was the next step in the plan for us, had these antibiotics not worked. Unfortunately, the NHS either don’t take reoccurring/embedded UTI’s seriously or they are grossly under resourced with at least a 2 year waiting list for a UTI specialist to see him. I very much looked in to London clinics and was willing to pay whatever to get it resolved. I was worried about long term damage to bladder and kidneys, sadly the NHS were not concerned.

PALS were not great either, the hospital’s response to my complaint consisted of a letter that just detailed every appointment and conversation we had had with them. No accountability, no apology, no accepting that changes could be made. Utterly useless.

I have now put my whole family on private medical cover as I can’t honestly believe we’d get the appropriate care under the NHS

Yes you have to do it privately. I’m now on a long course of high dose antibiotics and hiprex after a year of hell being messed about and given short courses of antibiotics. It’s worth every penny.

@cosietea yes it’s always e.coli that caused the infection. Like your son, she doesn’t have the classic signs of a uti (pain and urgency) but will wet the bed and have cloudy/smelly urine. I think when she had her first UTI it might have been missed for a while as she wasn’t in any pain. She’s had a number of tests at the hospital and no apparent structural abnormalities and is never constipated either. She was also put on low dose antibiotics for 6 months and was free of infection for 6 months after that which was great but the infections have been recurring for the last few months. The GP has referred her back to the hospital because of this.
I’ve done a bit of reading on embedded UTIs and have heard that high dose antibiotics switching to hiprex is what the private clinics often recommend. I’ll look into this further - thanks everyone for your advice.

Isn't e-coli from poo? It sounds like somehow, poo is getting into his urethra. My first thought is wanking with dirty hands.