Six lots of antibiotics in six weeks?!

[williamallama]

My mum (in her 80s) has been suffering from recurrent urinary tract infections for a while now. Antibiotics prescribed and it seems to settle and then pop up a while later. She started on a D-mannose supplement which seemed to really help reduce their frequency and she was doing much better for ages.
then she went for a hospital appt to check her bladder and kidneys etc and since then shes had to have six lots of antibiotics in the space of six weeks trying to get the subsequent infection sorted. I’m worried she’s going to develop a resistance to antibiotics and want to help her find additional ways to reduce this recurrence. She’s absolutely on top of hygiene and fluids. What further actions, supplements or whatever can she try?

She needs to get her GP to prescribe vaginal estrogen cream.
In older women (over 50) this is the treatment to prevent infections because it helps prevent the bugs getting hold and travelling to the bladder.
Google it for more info. It's mainstream treatment.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31232721/

It's safe to use and I've known women in their 80s and older use it.
She also needs to be sure that there is an infection too and it's not just irritation.

When my MiL had a UTI she was given a single dose antibiotic and was fine within a few days..

They need to make sure the bacteria in the uti is not resistant to the antibiotics they’re prescribing. I’ve just had one which they prescribed Trimethoprim for, however unbeknown to me the sample came back as resistant to that, When my uti came back with a vengeance a couple of weeks later, which made me really unwell, it was difficult to treat because I have a lot of allergies, and the GP was really apologetic because they should have flagged that it wasn’t going to get better with what they were giving me.

She might need a longer course to zap it, and she needs to make sure she’s drinking plenty. I find a cranberry supplement helps on top of the D-Mannose, and as a PP said, an oestrogen cream would be beneficial.

Not really a helpful or relevant comment 🤦‍♀️

Is an infection showing when they test her at the doctors/hospital?

Eh? How’s that a useful post?

I have to take a continuous dose of AB and have vaginal oestrogen tablets and that’s finally sorted it. I saw a urogynaecologist who was excellent.

Estriol cream. Its local estrogen.

Get her a good prebiotic when she's finished her antibiotics .... give her I.mune system a much needed boost.
Try and get her moving about (if possible) ... UTIs are linked to sedentary lifestyle

Could it be that she could benefit from some IV antibiotics? What are her symptoms of a UTI? My friend's Dad had a lot of UTI's and they made him go totally loopy (his own words!) - literally talking gibberish. Getting him into hospital onto IV antibiotics really helped.

I also tend to find that the older people are, the less water they drink. My DP's are in their 70s and are making a real conscious effort to drink more water now and have switched to decaf tea (they have a teapot on the go all day long!).

How is your DM at drinking?

(Clearly I'm not a healthcare professional, so do take everything I say with a massive pinch of salt!)

they test her urine each time and have changed the meds according to results. But still not getting on top of it.
She drinks a lot of water and is relatively active (even though her mobility is pretty poor) walks dog every day and busies herself about the house a lot.
she can’t have the vaginal oestrogen due to her health history. They’ve discounted prophylactic antibiotics and never mentioned IV. She is not massively ill with these infections, just grumpy and feeling under the weather, I worry most about her becoming resistant and/or getting much more ill next time she has one. She was taking probiotics, I I’ll check she is still having them.

Please get her referred to a clinic so they can scan her to check for anything else that’s more difficult. I say that because my DM’s recurrent UTI turned out in fact to be bladder cancer and by the time they realised, it was much too late. I believe it was preventable to some extent had anyone bothered to check. Please get them to check.

Chronic UTI can mean you need treated with long term antibiotics - up to 2 years potentially. However sometimes docs dont agree with long term antibiotic treatment for some reason.

have a read of this
https://cutic.co.uk/what-is-chronic-uti/

And your contribution to this thread is?? …..fuck all 🙄

There is also the worry of c diff with all these antibiotics ….. especially given her age……ask gp for Hiprex prescription for her…..not an anti biotic…it’s an antiseptic uti preventative…..and a good daily probiotic

@Theoscargoesto the tests she went to hospital for we’re checking for bladder cancer and they’ve said no action needed. The tests tho were the catalyst for this series of infections unfortunately!
I have read about hiprex so will ask dr about that.

She needs treatment that prevents infection.
If you've not read about the use of vaginal estrogen to prevent infections, please do. And tell her to discuss it with her GP.

www.theguardian.com/society/2023/dec/17/millions-of-women-are-suffering-who-dont-have-to-why-its-time-to-end-the-misery-of-utis

I had reoccurring infections a few years ago and antibiotics weren't getting on top of them. I then investigated and it turned out that I had interstitial cystitis and what I was drinking was contributing to the infection by altering the pH in the bladder so that any embedded infection was then growing.

I had to stop drinking black tea, coffee, acidic drinks - Mainly fresh orange - and alcohol. I only drank redbush tea, milk and water. Eating tomatoes also affected me. In addition to this I started taking Uva Ursi drops, which is a urinary antiseptic and anti inflammatory. This cleared the infection up very quickly and prevented it returning by avoiding problematic drinks.

A few years on and the bacteria are still there in the bladder lining because if I drink tea or fresh orange, the cystitis returns and I end up with an infection. I can now drink one cup of coffee a day and the odd glass of wine. Also, cloudy apple juice is okay in moderation.

If you want to get your mum any Uva Ursi, get the Vogel drops as they're a decent quality product and work quickly. Don't take long term as it can affect the liver. Get her onto Evian mineral water only for about a week then non irritating fluids thereafter. Avoid black tea and fruit teas and coffee.

These things might help and are easy to do. You can order the Uva Ursi drops online.

It's also worth noting which way she wipes. So many women wipe the wrong way and know no different... i was one of these women, and so was my mum and probably my grandmother before her. There could be a chance she keeps "wiping" germs from the back to the front and reinfecting. It's also worth speaking to the Dr about a longer dose, quite often 3 days isn't enough and 7-10 days is required to get on top of it.