UTI antibiotics haven’t worked

[Shonla]

I’ve had burning and urgency for a couple of weeks. Water sample was sent away and came back clear. Finally the doctor dipped my urine and said there’s white blood cells which indicates infection, the test must have been wrong. He gave me 3 days of antibiotics.

I’ve taken them all and I’m convinced the pain has eased slightly (maybe wishful thinking) but it isn’t cured. Now I’m worried it’s not going to get better.

How long should it take for antibiotics to stop the pain of a UTI?

I get UTI's semi regularly so I'm guessing it was Trimethoprim you took for 3 days?

Sometimes these antibiotics aren't strong enough for me (if I don't catch it quick enough) and the doctor then prescribes a week of Co-Amoxiclav.

Yeh, I had an infection come back twice after two three day courses. I went back and got 7 days of something different, all good now.

Just go back . I’ve got one at the moment , had my 3 days of nitrofurantoin and will be back talking to the GP tomorrow . I used to have my recurrent UTIs under control but my GP left the practice and now I’m having issues again . I already take Dmannose daily .

D mannose always sorts me out. Give it a try. You have to take quite a bit at the beginning and then tail off.

You haven’t indicated your age, but I’m just throwing it out there that oestrogen loss can set the stage for UTIs and there’s some early evidence that vaginal oestrogen might be more effective than anti biotics in middle aged and older women.

Some of these antibiotics really are just three days. I thought it would never fix me but it did.

So they can work. If the right one for the infection. If it doesn't clear it up you could need a longer dose. I've had that before with a long seated and incorrectly treated one.

White blood cells can indicate any kind of infection presumably. The cold or flu whatever.

So culturing a sample and looking under a microscope would tell them exactly what you have and what meds you need.

I’ve had the infection for a fortnight because my urine sample came back clear so they treated me for thrush, which didn’t work. Then as a last resort the out of hours doctor dipped my urine and found white blood cells, so said it must be a UTI and for some reason it wasn’t picked up in my sample. So it’s been long enough to get a pretty good hold.

He prescribed 3 days of nitrofurantoin but it hasn’t fixed it. Slightly worried that the treatment isn’t going to make the pain go away. Prior to this out of hours doctor doing a dip test, my own GP was saying “your tests are clear so the pain must be psychological”.

Just put in another sample 3 days just isn't enough sometimes, also please be careful with D Mannose it can cause complications and kidney infections if you take it too much.

Worried they’re going to tell me to go away again. The out of hours GP hasn’t made a note on my record as far as I can see. What if they don’t believe me that he dipped my sample and said I had a UTI?

Keep pushing. I had a week of trimethoprim followed by a week of nitrofurantoin to see a uti off recently. I was in so much pain that the GP didn't even bother with the standard 3 day prescription - it was 7 days from the off.
Also second what @Theothername says, if you're menopausal or post menopause, the lack of oestrogen can make you more prone to UTI.

Just put in a sample phone tomorrow say what I suggested and say whe is the best time to hand @in a sample don't ask for permission.

I'm someone who is prone to UTI's.
Nitrofurantoin doesn't work for me and certainly not in only 3 days.

I go for 7 days of Trimepthroprim.

Various studies have now shown that NHS urine tests are often useless, they don't culture for long enough and the bar is too high sometimes to register bacteria as infection. After being messed around like this I got an embedded uti, 7 years later still in misery on and off due to their incompetence. Insist on more antibiotics for longer. Symptoms are a better indicator than tests. And yes sometimes lack of estrogen at menopause can mimic uti symptoms. If menopausal no harm in also trying vaginal estrogen.

If you run into problems look up info on CUTI, A Focus laboratories test which is private and you send off is more accurate.

And yes sometimes lack of estrogen at menopause can mimic uti symptoms
The doc dipped my sample and found white blood cells though. He even pointed out to me how strong the colour change on the test strip was. So I presume that means there’s an infection not just lack of estrogen. Plus it started shortly after sex. So I think it is a UTI.

I went back to the doctor for more antibiotics. They dipped my sample again and said there’s no white cells. So have refused me any further antibiotics. I’m in agony 😭

I'd strongly recommend getting yourself some D-mannose powder from Holland and Barrett or Amazon. Take double the recommended dose a few times a day in water and hopefully you'll have some relief.

I would love to go for 7 days of trimethoprim. But they won’t give me it. They just keep wittering on that 3 days is the national NHS recommendation and it “should” have worked.

Just spoke to the doctor again in floods of tears. All I’m getting is a shrug. Your urine test is clear, thrush test and other tests are clear. Visually your bits look fine. There’s nothing wrong with you, what do you expect us to do? We can’t give you antibiotics if your tests are clear.

Well if it wasn’t a UTI then I wouldn’t have got partly better with 3 days of antibiotics then got worse when they ran out?

I’m not going to be able to access medical help and medication am I? 😭

Hello,

Many women have been where you are now. You're right, the antibiotic course is too short and you need some more fast. There is a support group on Facebook called 'antibiotic instillation treatment for chronic embedded uti.' There are a few support groups for people who have been in the position you are in right now with the NHS, it's very common. You want to avoid it becoming chronic. They can advise you. I know this seems odd, and a bit tin hat wearing to say the NHS protocol with uti is letting loads of people down, but I'm afraid it's true.

When I found myself in your position, after a year of misery I sought out a consultant who uses the more advanced tests privately. It's ridiculous a few consultants know (by no means all, you need to seek out someone who does ) the NHS tests aren't good enough and won't go off nhs test results with private patients, but the NHS is like a snail and takes years to change so they have to follow NICE guidelines. In your shoes if you can't get antibiotics from your Gp, I would seek out a one off consultation with a private consultant who understands and will treat. Focus laboratories can do you a test, the nhs won't care what it says but the right consultant will. Here's an article from the guardian that explains the situation I've mentioned re wrong treatment: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/feb/20/in-pain-all-the-time-will-there-ever-be-relief-for-women-with-chronic-life-changing-utis?CMP=ShareiOSAppp_Other

Also D Mannose only works for ecoli so it will depend which bacteria you have. A more advanced test will isolate which bacteria you have and which antibiotics it's most likely to respond to.

Honestly, what I would do in this situation is use the boots online pharmacy option to get UTI meds and not be completely truthful. You give your symptoms and they ask how many UTIs you have had in the last (I think) 6 months make sure you don’t put more than 1 and they will give you another 3 days.

I’ve managed to get another 3 days of nitrofurantoin. For future reference, the doctor said if you have a partially treated UTI (so if you’ve already had some antibiotics) it might not show up as an infection if they test your urine again. The idiot who re-tested my urine this morning should have known this. Instead she said the test showed no infection (i.e. totally consistent with a partially treated UTI).

I've wrote myself a similar post regarding recurrent uti infections I get and how when I researched it the dipsticks are absolute shit. They were invented I think in the 50's and haven't changed since. They are wrong over 50% of the time and just simple aren't reliable. They also aren't great at detected an infection further up the urinal tract or a bladder infection which is probably what it's progressed into now because the antibiotics haven't treated it. I managed to get a doctor who listened after I was refused antibiotics based on me not having a positive dipstick test ( I never do) and he said based on my symptoms alone he would prescribe me antibiotics - this is actually the new rule now that gps should use , if you present with 2 or more symptoms, you need antibiotics, it's irrelevant what your dipstick says, but clearly some gps aren't getting this message. You also know your body we know what a uti feels like. It's like banging your head against a brick wall trying to be heard but please don't give up. Another time I was denied because of negative dipstick ( it was a Friday) I called 111 over the weekend and was prescribed antibiotics over the phone based on my symptoms. So please try this or calling again until you get them. Hope you feel better soon ♥️

@Ladylalaboo1 I’m actually finding that my dipsticks are showing infection but the samples they’re sending away are coming back as clear. I don’t think any of the tests are reliable.

This isn’t a new thing either - I remember 20 years ago I was refused treatment for UTI symptoms because they weren’t getting a positive test result. I suffered for months and they basically tried to say it was psychological and I was either imagining it or making it up for attention.

I had a really bad UTI recently and I went straight to Accident and Emergency (My urine was bright red with blood) so felt it warranted a visit. They gave me a cannula of antibiotics and around 4 hours later I felt much better. They also prescribed 7 days of Trimethoprim.
If you're in agony that's what you should do, the pain of a UTI is horrendous.