Frequent urination, no burning, negative test for UTI, driving me mad!

[messylittlemonkey]

Hi

Does anyone have any tips/cures/treatments please?

Basically, I am prone to UTIs. Had quite a bad one (bright red bloody wee, severe burning, fever etc - sorry TMI!)about three years ago which took two lots of antibiotics to shift and for ages after I felt like I needed the loo all the time, even when the test were clear. GP thought my bladder must have been very irritated by the infection.

I haven't had one for a good while now, since before I was pg with DD2 who is now 8mo, but about a week ago I started needing the loo a lot and didn't feel empty when I'd been. It was last weekend, so I dropped a urine sample into my GP last monday but it came back normal. Since then the symptoms have remained. I don't have any burning when I wee, I just feel like I need to go most of the time.

I have had occasions in the past (since the nasty UTI a few years back) when I've had a sample come back negative, but still had this need to go all the time and usually it clears up by itself.

It's so annoying. Does anyone have any ideas how to ease the symptoms? I've just bought some cystitis sachets, although not sure what I'm expecting from them as I know they usually help when there's burning, which I don't have.

Thanks for listening!

Messy I get this all the time, ongoing for 6 years or more. Blood and protein in my urine frequently, at the loo all the time, but no infection! I sympathise it is soul destroying. I have been on antibiotics for the past 9 mths, to no avail. I take a tablet called vesicare for a sensitive bladder, think it works sometimes, but more psychological. Am currently having further investgations, but know myself i have been damaged by 2 complicated births(c section and forsepts). I drink lots also. I also eat a lot of sugar and am wondering if this is affecting me, plus i take co codamol a few days every month due to migranes??? don't have any real advice except pester your gp, but wanted you to know your not alone....good luck, will watch thread avidly.

Thanks for responding Fromfirsttolast

Do you think it could be interstitial cystitis in both of our cases? I don't know too much about it, but am going to fins out more.

I feel for you having had this for so long :(

That's exactly what I think messy, but have yet to be diagnosed. No cure from what i have read :( what is your gp saying?

I'm going to GP this morning actually, so will let you know.

I have to say that in my case, I have had incidences of this which have always gone away by themselves, but this one has been going for about ten days now.

I do think that some of mine is perhaps stress related, I'm a real worrier and have recently had a couple of health things that I've fretted over.

I'll post later with an update anyway.

Hi

Here's my update as promised.

GP said the current guidelines for people suffering UTI symptoms with no infection recommend to give them antibiotics anyway, as often the infection is trivial, but enough to cause symptoms.

I suppose in my case, I'm prone to UTIs but don't have them constantly and haven't had one for well over a year, so as far as I'm concerned, there'd be no reason for gP to do much at this stage.

I wonder if the ABs will help?

Meant to say, GP said low level infections often don't show on dipstick test or even on lab culture tests.

If I remember correctly you can have chemical cystitis. Main culprits are usually tomatoes (especially raw), cider, beer, citrus,... you should try cutting those out of your diet and see if it works/helps.
Frequent urination can be a sign of diabetes as well, it might be worth getting your blood sugar checked and limit sweets.
You can have viral and fungal infections too, and AB won't help. It will probably go on its own.
Low level of infections shouldn't disturb you too much and will definitely disappeared if you drink a lot of cranberry juice. In any case try the cranberry juice, it did help me once when I had a UTI on a week end on a trip. About 1 liter per day for a few days and you can reduce when you are feeling better. I was really surprised at how effective it was!
Hope this helps.

I had the same symptoms a few weeks ago and my MSU came back clear, but I still had a uti and it travelled up to my kidneys. I was ill for two weeks with it and could hardly walk.

Hope you're feeling better soon.

My infection tried to return a while later, but I managed to send it packing with lots of cranberry sachets and cranberry juice.

I have a load of problems with UTIs and have little advice!

But

1. Try to get antibitics from your GP - it does help, even if nothing shows on the culture!

2. Please drink as much water as you can - it really flushes the infection out.

3. When you have an active infection on ABs, don't drink cranberry! It "coats" your UT, which stops infection starting, but also stops antibiotics working. However, my Urologist also said that any other fruit juice helps when you have a UTI.

4. Any pain in your flank, side, back, pelvic area - get seen as SOON AS YOU CAN. Because you can get kidney stones from a kidney infection and, from experience, you really REALLY don't want that!!!

Hope you get sorted out soon!

I frequently get UTIs, on the dipstick it shows up for nitrites, leucocytes, blood and protein. I wee loads and get a temp. But the culture comes back from the lab 99% of the time as clear. I take antibiotics anyway and they always help.

Thanks everyone. I've just started the ABs, so fingers crossed.

AFAIK, mu urine sample showed no
abnormalities whatsoever.

I's reassuring to hear that these things are common, just a shame so many of us have to suffer!

I bet they never dipped it though, just sent it to the lab. If it had been dipepd it could well have shown up leucocytes, etc.

Yes, they dipped it. They have a system at my gp surgery whereby you can drop off a sample and the nurse tests it. Def dipped!

I get quite nasty UTIs - they tend to go to my kidneys (I've never been gravely ill but I do get weak and feverish and have stabbing pains). They've never yet managed to culture bacteria from them. I keep dipsticks in the house and I always have leukocytes (white blood cells) when I have an infection so I know it's definately there. This last one didn't shift properly until I'd had five different lots of antibiotics and am now on a low dose of a few months.
I think not having stuff show up in cultures is really common. The technique used is an agar plate culture and it misses a lot (in some US labs they do something called a soy broth culture which is much more accurate), they also discount bacterial colony counts below a certain level, and discount some types of bacteria is likely sample contaminants. It's annoying as if they do isolate bacteria they can do a sensitivity test to find which antibiotics will work best.
One good thing to try is a sugar called d-mannose. If your infection is caused by e-coli (which it likey is), the bacteria adhere to that in preference to your urinary tract walls and get flushed out.
Another good one is uva ursi capsules which you can take for a few days but not longer. They are supposedly genuinely effective against UTIs and without the potential for resistance that makes treating UTIs with antibiotics potentially hit and miss.

Thanks, kitty. Sorry to hear you're a sufferer!

I've just come to the end of the ABs and I'm still feeling the need to go to the loo, but maybe not so much. Sometimes I wonder how much of it is psychological (personally I mean, not for everyone).

I think it's quite common to have urgency for a while after as it will all be a bit irritated. I would say keep an eye out to make sure there are no other symptoms and see if it settles. It's so annoying isn't it!

Thanks kitty

Meant to say I've tried Waterfall D-Mannose in the past, but not sure it did much for me.

Just wanted to update further in case anyone is interested.

Went back to GP today as now three weeks of frequent loo trips and the ABs made no difference. GP did another dipstick test and sample remains absolutely clear. He also felt around my bladder/abdomen area but that all seemed fine. I don't have any pain or tenderness anyway.

So, he's now ordered routine blood tests to check for things such as diabetes and they'll be done next week. He also prescribed some tablets for an overactive bladder which I shall start taking today. I then have to go back and see him the week before Xmas.

I was really hoping that this would have gone by itself by now as it has done before.

I have noticed that if I'm busy/distracted/occupied then the need to wee seems less apparent, and and I can't help but think that the more I try and analyse this, the worse it gets. It becomes hard to remember what it's like not to need the loo all of the time iyswim.

I'm sure this all came about after my really bad infection a few years back. I think it must have left my bladder/urethra a bit damaged or something so now it gets irritated quite easily - that's my theory anyway, as I never had this problem before then.

Anyway, will try to forget about it for a bit!

Hi messylittlemonkey
Know it's been a long time but i am suffering same symptoms and wondered if you got a solution in the end.
All the best
Sally (username salbalry)

I get UTI's so frequently and I had to resort to antibiotics more often. I had tried everything natural to try and stop it, but nothing has worked better than the Lady Soma Cranberry Concentrate. I'm not getting anything free for writing this, I just wanted to write a review for the girl out there like me that might read these words.

I tried the Lady Soma Cranberry Concentrate on a whim because my cranberry pills weren't working, straight d-mannose wasn't working. I take two anytime I feel even a hint of anything happening and it takes care of it. I also take one after sex. This is amazing and I thank the people out there who make it cuz without it I would have to resort to antibiotics, and now I only have to resort to them in emergencies!