UTIs or Ovarian/Pelvic?

[dictionarydiva]

Okay this is a bit embarrassing but here goes.

Keep getting what I assume are UTIs. Seems to be no pattern other than that I maybe get them after a cold or tonsillitis so maybe after I have had a temperature or am run down. Classic symptoms, loads of weeing, not much wee when I do and pain. But last time I went to docs (4-5 weeks ago) there was no trace of a UTI in my system. I was prescribed antibiotics anyway and it did clear up.

Well I have one again but this time I have pains on either side of my bladder. Maybe where it all attaches to my kidneys, maybe where my ovaries are. It is sharp on my right side intermittently and currently feels ?pinchy? on my right where my leg meets my hip- but doesn?t feel like it?s in the bone, if you know what I mean. I also have a dragging/tight pain across my belly button which isn?t there all the time. Aside from this I have had an on and off dull, horrible pain low in my back (like where my spine meets my bum) although it is not there now. This maybe has gone from using my acupuncture mat though. At one point though about 8 weeks ago, this pain in my lower back was so severe I had to go to casualty late one night. However they prodded and poked and thought that was a UTI (although again, testing the urine with a dipstick was inconclusive regarding a UTI). Antibiotics did clear that up too.
I have IBS and possible post viral fatigue from something earlier this year. I have increased platelets but tests have proved nothing sinister is at the root. I had good kidney and liver function in a blood test about 5 months ago. I have a Mirena coil and no problems with periods or anything, although I did have an ovarian scan in 2007 (when I wasn?t on any contraception) which showed I had polycystic ovaries. When they looked again 6 months later though they weren?t, so my GP concluded that perhaps the scan had just been taken at a time in the month when they appeared polycystic. Have no other symptoms of PCOS. I am allergic to penicillin and therefore take various other antibiotics and also have a recurring ENT problem which means I take them (especially erythromycin) a lot. I am 27.

I will go to my doctor today, just worried as my GP is permanently stressed and useless. I would like some guidance from anyone who has been through similar. Especially worried about ovarian cysts.

Is this pain cyclical in nature at all? Keep a pain diary and see if there is any pattern. I had hip and back pain that I noticed started 7-10 days before my period and got gradually worse, then tailed off after my period finished. Turns out I had endometriosis and had treatment for it yesterday.

See I don't really have periods with this coil so it's hard to tell. I don't think it's cyclical to be honest. I am just getting nowhere with my GP and phoned for an emergency appointment this morning as had been in the loo for 20 wees between getting to work and lunch and they are closed for staff training LOL so looks like I'm stuck for today!!

Poor thing. Sounds horrid. There's a fair bit going on in that area by the sound of things which probably makes it harder to get to the 'bottom' of the problem if you'll pardon the pun. Bowel problems and cysts can cause back/stomach pain/discomfort and so can UTIs. Was the last time you went to see a gynae back in 2007? If so, I wonder if another referral would be useful just to check if there are any cysts? Or if there is any endometriosis or anything else that could be causing your back/stomach pain? A pelvic and renal scan might be useful if you've not had one for a few years.

There's something called interstitial cystitis which can feel very much like a UTI. It's more like an oversensitive bladder I think. It's not bacterial and antibiotics don't have any effect on it. Sometimes I have proper UTIs with blood/protein in urine and need antibiotics and sometimes I swear I have one but nothing can be found in the sample and my GP said it was interstitial. Do you have a sense of urgency when you need to wee? I've been told that's one of the features of interstitial cycstitis.

I wonder if that could be what you're getting some of the time. I do think bowel things could also give you UTI like symptoms and back pain too.

Have you had a referral for your IBS?

I think realhousewife's suggestion of keeping a diary to see if there is any pattern to the symptoms is a good idea. I get the UTI like symptoms halfway through my cycle and again before my period is due. Drinking lots of water helps (and doesn't actually seem to make me go to the loo any more often) and taking acidophillus to try balance the bacteria in the gut (especially useful if you're taking a lot of antibiotics).

Did you go to your GP today? How did it go? Also if you don't feel your GP is very supportive is there another practice you could go to? It's so much less of a battle if you have a good GP. Let us know how you get on.

Thanks so much tunaday - amazing advice. And thanks to all who posted. No, I didn't get to my GP due to the staff training (lol, they need it) but went to the walk in centre. They said there was protein in my wee but no bacteria and so couldn't prescribe antibiotics and that I should just treat it as cystitis. I could have cried to be honest but will persist with the cystitis relief. She also felt my stomach and where my ovaries and kidneys are and said everything felt normal and without a scan that was the most she could do, but that nothing felt inflamed.

Interesting you mention IC, as I have been reading about this today and it sounds exactly like what I have. I have always weed a lot, even as a kid, so the idea of an overactive bladder (it is always urgent) rings true.

I have a referral for IBS later this month but haven't seen a gynecologist since 2007. The doctor at the walk in said I have the right to request a kidney scan from a urologist as well as gyneo things, so I am going to do that as well as keep the diary to see if there is a pattern.

To be honest I am pretty exasperated with my surgery. I live in London and it's a big practice with eight doctors. Out of those eight, four are dangerously useless (having sent family members home in the middle of heart attacks, DVT etc and who routinely prescribe things I am allergic to!!) two are overworked and seem to treat everything with a course of antibiotics or antidepressants, one is quite good and one is brilliant. To see the brilliant one there is never less than an eight week wait (!!) and the quite good one is a six week wait. When you go with an immediate problem like this you, nine times out of ten, see a useless GP. As such I do know that I should move and find a more supportive surgery but I always think but there is that brilliant GP who I could see (so long as I don't mind the wait) and it's a kind of better-the-devil-you-know situation.

All this advice has been really helpful though and I am definitely going to get it sorted out and stop letting myself be fobbed off!!

Have a look at www.cobfoundation.org