Recurrent UTIs

[HelloMist]

I've had 4 UTIs (or suspected, some with urine tests confirming) in 6 months. Sometimes getting irrigation or soreness there.

Not sure if I'm in perimenopause but I'm going to ask GP whether vaginal estrogen might help me. Read this in another thread. Any experiences?

Over the bank hol they prescribed me more antibiotics but didn't mention looking into the situation any further! Surely it's not right to be getting infections repeatedly! Or have to take so many ABs. I'm trying to be careful but it's affecting sex life, what I can drink etc and is a bit crap feeling like I'm constantly on the brink of another urine infection.

Am early 40s. Thanks

I presume this frequency of UTI is new for you. If you're early 40s then local estrogen is certainly not going to do any harm and will probably help. I'd combine the vagifem pessary with an external cream. You could add some Yes vaginal moisturizer too, and take probiotics. If it helps then you'll have your answer! Do you have any other perimenopause like symptoms? Doctors generally won't look into recurring UTIs of their own accord, most are unaware of the guidance about UTIs and estrogen, plus they'll assume you're too young to need it.

@Pollyputhekettleon hi, thanks for replying. My periods are heavier and anxiety/depression worse, I think but otherwise no obvious ones. Skin issues I didn't used to have but might not be related. No hot flushes.

Have you tried D-mannose? I take two capsules twice a day and have done since I started getting recurrent uti's three years ago. If I feel like one is starting up then I double the dose for a few days and drink plenty of water. They work really well.

Sounds perimenopausal alright. Have you got yourself checked out generally? Iron, ferritin, thyroid, vitamin D etc? You'll want to deal with the heavy periods or you'll likely find yourself iron deficient or even anaemic in time, and that won't help with anything.

I had bloods done last year as a health check, wasn't told anything was off. But thanks, something else to ask. I had a vitamin D check but was a while ago and I don't remember to take it very often. What could be done about heavy periods? (The pill?)

D-mannose might be something to try while I wait 2 weeks for my phone appointment! @tootsierubs they asked me to drop in another urine sample to check nothing still there this time but apart from that I have to wait now unless I have a problem before that.

I was just the same. Had several bouts of UTIs all virtually back to back. Did some research and realised it was due to peri menopause and everything down there getting thinner and weaker. I started taking DMannose every day, applying a dab of Ovestin every night and always washing straight after sex. I use a little hand held douche thing I bought from Amazon. Haven't had a UTI for a few years now.

Another vote for D-mannose, I'm 48 and had about a year of recurrent UTI's before I discovered it (thanks MN). Very rarely get anything now but usually take one dose if I feel like I have one coming on and it stops it in its tracks, brilliant stuff.

I had an appointment with a specialist recently and even he said D-mannose was the thing that would great rid of them, also sometimes along with the antibiotics. So it's good that even the pros think it works.

I think you need to push to get this checked by urologist first.
I started to get terrible UTIs nice I got to peri, and didn’t stop with menopause. I am talking multiple times per month after a few years of gradually getting worse.
at that time HRT was going through its scare mongering phase so I wasn’t offered, it may have helped , I just don’t know

what I do know is symptoms and frequency got worse. I did see urologist multiple times over 7 long years. Quite frankly they were all mostly useless and disinterested. They saw me as a menopausal women, slightly overweight, who was making a fuss about nothing. Even though I often had blood in my urine. They tried everything in terms of diagnosis and standard treatments like installations. Nothing worked. I eventually, after 7 years of misery, saw a female urologist who said the NICE guidelines indicate for menopausal women like me, with no obvious causes, a long term course and extremely low dose antibiotics was most effective. She stated that it was most likely interstitial cystitis plus vuval pain. It stopped the symptoms dead in their tracks. I was actually on antibiotics for 3 years due to covid, but have since been symptom free. It is a cheap, easy treatment, which could have been prescribed years before.

go to your GP, ask for hormone tests but most importantly ask to see urology and then don’t give up . HRT type therapies may work well for you , but it could be it’s not that , and you need a proper diagnosis. Even something like kidney stones could be causing issues and these all need to be ruled out,

Apologies, this is long!

I was getting recurrent uti's, so bad I was passing blood and in pain within hours of a flare up. It was affecting our sex life and I even ended up at walk in clinic on holiday once. After another telephone consultation I asked to get referred to the hospital, the gp asked me why and I said well there's got to be a better way of dealing with it than antibiotics all the time. He said think that's all you can do! But he referred me anyway. I waited 6mths for an appointment with a urogynacologist. She did a cytoscopy, and said while my bladder was fine, she thought I looked very red and sore down there (I thought it was normal/was used to it etc) she said because of that and the skin being very thin and dry, i had pretty much no natural defence to the bacteria. She prescribed estrogen pessaries. She said they will calm the skin down, make things less dry and thicken the skin up, and give far more natural resistance to the bacteria. I had a 3mth trial, one a night for 2 weeks and then one twice a week, they have made such a difference I've carried on with them, things are much calmer down there now. I been on them 5 months and I've not had so much of a niggle! So glad I pushed for a referral, no amount of antibiotics were ever going to change the environment down there. She also said d-mannose can help, also cutting right back on caffiene, and also eating pro-biotic yogurts/drinks as it can help balance out your whole system. I also had a kidney ct scan to check those and was all fine. The doctor was very thorough and didn't make me feel like I was wasting her time. Definitely ask to get referred.

Thanks all for sharing your experiences, very helpful.

Sorry that some of you have endured months or years of it before getting the right help! But glad that you did in the end and have been much better. Crazy that the onus is on us to know the other treatment options and need to push for a referral. It's miserable getting this repeatedly and it does affect wellbeing, sex life etc. Hope awareness and understanding keeps improving over the next few years.

They normally recommend the Mirena for heavy periods. Works for most women.

I 100% agree with what everyone has said about D Mannose.

I had awful urine infections in my early 40s which antibiotics weren’t getting rid of and I also often got them in my 20s and 30s too. After seeing a consultant, I was diagnosed with painful bladder syndrome. I changed my diet (if you search online you can look at irritating foods to avoid) until it calmed down and was less irritated. I then started introducing foods back in, then avoiding the ones that triggered it.

At the same time I started with D Mannose. Normally 1 a day but I might take up to 3 if I feel the very start of irritation. It stops bacteria being able to cling onto the surface of the bladder and just flushes it out. It has helped so much.