Nitrofurantoin and urinary tract infection

[bananaskin123]

Unfortunately I seem prone to these infections. One started in the night, absolute agony peeing every 10 minutes. I've been started on Nitrofurantoin and I remembered I always had a reaction to them. I took the first one when I got up with food, fine this morning, took the second one at lunch (about three hours ago) and now feel sick and shivery. Exactly the symptoms I remember from before.
Rushing to the loo seems less so that's good. I really can't face taking another tablet later. Do you think everything with start up again if I don't. Anything else anyone can recommend. I know the usual: I've got sachets so maybe I'll see how I get on with them.

Any advice gratefully received.

I'm very prone to UTIs too and I have just finished a course of nitrofuratonin for one so I feel your pain. I swear by d-mannose for the days before I'm able to make it to the doctors, they work by stopping bacteria from sticking to your bladder and I get mine off Amazon. Taking 2 capsules every 2 hours to start with and gradually tapering off.

There is conflicting advice at the moment about completing antibiotics. They used to say always finish them but a few months ago this was questioned by new research.

I think you need to ask if the sickness and shivering is from the AB or possibly the infection itself. If it's only feeling nauseous, you'd be best trying to keep going with the ABs and trying things like ginger biscuits, or dry toast to try to control the nausea. It's unlikely that the infection will have gone in 1 day. You risk it coming back and the current AB being no use as the bacteria could mutate so it doesn't work so well.

Can you give the pharmacy a call and ask their advice? Or your Dr surgery should still be open? Obviously you don't want the uti to get worse but reactions to antibiotics can be nasty so I would err on the side of caution.

Often, side effects settle down as you take the rest of the course.

I'm allergic to nitrofurantoin - it gives me breathing problems - but you could always ask to switch to trimethoprim? I can take that, even though it makes me a bit queasy. It depends though, whether your infection is sensitive to it or not.

If all else fails they can give you amoxicillin (assuming you're not allergic).

I am a lifelong repetitive UTI sufferer.

I have lots of problems with my bladder. I second the PP recommending trimethoprim as an alternative - I have some at home to take when symptoms come on.

It might be worth investigating chronic pelvic pain syndrome - I always thought I got UTIs about once a month (pain, blood in pee, urgency) but about 3/5 of the time any cultures that were done was negative l, so it turned out to be actually sensitive bladder lining. I had a small course of "flushing" with hyaluronic acid to rebuild the lining and took muscle relaxants until I got pregnant to alleviate the symptoms and my symptoms recurred much less frequently

Hi banana, yep I got the shivery feeling too - after I finished the course and my urine was clear on the dipstick test. Meant to say on my macrobid post, Uva Ursi is very good for UTIs, d-mannose gets great reviews but will only work on e-coli bacteria. Trimethoprim makes me very ill

Hi, The bacteria that cause UTIs vary depending which region you live in (a bit like the Greggs pastry thread from a few days ago). So in my area we give cephalexin as 1st choice but else where they would give Nitro or trimethoprim.
Do you know if a urine sample was sent for sensitivities (not usually done for 1st UTIs as the labs would be overwhelmed)

someday I thought most UTIs were caused by ecoli which is surely the same where ever anyone lives- it's ecoli!

I have also heard that Trimeth is the one always given out as it's a) cheap b) fewest side effects but also c) the least effective as many bacteria are immune to it through over use in the population.

Thanks everyone. Just found a a pack of Amoxicillin 500 mgs which were prescribed in June. I had seen the GP and explained about Nitrofurantoin side effects and was prescribed these but I'd forgotten I had them. Couldn't have needed them as its a full pack. I think I will leave things to sort themselves out and if I still feel as though its still there maybe it would be OK to take them.

We are away for part of the weekend so no chance of seeing the doc.

@someday Most are E. coli, but not all. E. coli antibiotic resistance patterns also vary from region to region and even patient to patient. If a lot of trimethoprim is prescribed in Region X, the E. coli there will evolve overtime to become resistant to that drug. The E. coli in Region Y, meanwhile, might be gradually becoming resistant to nitrofurantoin. Fortunately the microbiology labs keep a close eye on this and will change local antibiotic protocols when the resistance profile shifts. It's an arms race, although one humans are destined to lose eventually!

@JohnHunter Thank you. We had a antibiotic resistance lecture this week from one of our microbiology consultants & a pharmacist. They said exactly what you said. Except they made it last for 45 mins

Banana
These make me feel really sick and 'ill' too. But work wonders.

I make sure I take them on a full stomach now and have totally eliminated those horrible side effects