My 4yo DD has been having recurrent bouts of stinging wees since last October. Each time one comes on she runs a high temperature, complains of stomach/flank pain and wets herself frequently. The last time it happened she had a fever, chills, diarrhoea and swollen, puffy eyes, and her urine sample showed up blood. She even smelt 'off'. We were given trimepothrin and within 48 hours of starting ABs her symptoms disappeared. However the doctor rang to say her results had actually come back from the lab clear and that we should stop ABs immediately.
My gut instinct is telling me that this isn't right. I've never seen her so poorly as the last time she had one of these UTI-like episodes, and the fact that her symptoms cleared up so quickly on ABs is making me wonder. The other times she's been denied ABs the symptoms recede gradually but always reappear within a few weeks.
We've ruled out other diagnoses and have worked with a Health Visitor on toileting. She is stubborn and holds in her wee which I'm sure doesn't help, but I can't believe the only underlying reasons are behavioural. I am going back to the GP to talk about next steps as I suspect there is low level bacterial infection going on (her test results always show elevated WBC count but not significant enough to indicate infection). I suspect she may need low-level AB treatment to clear and prevent infection.
My question is: has anyone else ever been fobbed off by GPs about UTIs in children, and whats the best approach to taking it further? I'm going to ask for a referral to paediatric urologist and see where that gets us. I should mention there is a family history of chronic UTIs on both sides so I want to address this early.