Can’t get treated for (probable) UTI

[YourCoralPoster]

I'm 12 weeks pregnant and currently on a one week holiday out of the UK. For a couple of weeks I've had to get up and pee 2-3 times a night but not too often in the day so I wasn't worried.

Since I've been on holiday, however, I've felt the need to urinate a lot more often and not a lot is coming out.

I've also been getting new cramps and pains in my lower abdomen but I related all this to pregnancy.

Today, I was feeling the need to pee straight after peeing so I panicked and went to a private clinic and got my urine tested.

There was no protein, ketones, or nitrites etc. Everything was normal apart from bacteria which was "3+" and slightly elevated WBC.

So I spoke to the doctor and asked for antibiotics and he basically said he can't give me antibiotics until they send the urine off for further testing which would take 3 days. I go home tomorrow so I said it's fine I'll get tested at home. He just told me to drink lots of water and gave me some cranberry pills.

I'm panicking so much. If I've already had an infection for a while and will have to wait a few more days when I get home to receive antibiotics, what if the infection gets serious? Can it cause a miscarriage?

This is my third pregnancy after two losses and I'm terrified at the thought of something harming the pregnancy.

Also scared of a kidney infection etc

Call 111 once you get back and they should be able to get you an out of hours appt. They don’t like to mess around with UTIs and pregnancy in the UK so from my experience they give preemptive antibiotics even before the urine is tested.

But also to reassure you - I was put on antibiotics in my last pregnancy because I thought I had a UTI (discomfort in pelvic area and kept needing to wee) but the urine actually came back as fine, no infection detected.

As soon as you are back in the UK call 111/see your GP, it is very likely that you will be seen quickly and given antibiotics to start immediately, they won't wait. Cranberry tablets will do absolutely nothing, there is no evidence to suggest that they help at all or cranberry juice. Try to drink lots of water for now.

You can get antibiotics for utis for the pharmacy. Just ring your local pharmacy & asked to speak to the pharmacist. They’ll look you in for an appointment to get your obs checked & ask a few questions

Not if you're pregnant. The pharmacy guidelines mean they can't treat pregnant women.

Thanks for all the advice! I did end up seeing a doctor the day I got home and they prescribed me Nitrofurantoin - 7 days.

The thing is... I'm on day 6 now and still feeling an almost non-stop urge to pee, which is very uncomfortable and I'm worried the antibiotics aren't working or the baby will be harmed by an ongoing infection...

I just contacted my GP but I'm sure I won't hear back for a couple of days, especially as it's the weekend. Urge to pee is my only symptom but I'd have expected after 6 days of antibiotics that it would have stopped..

The culture they sent off said "no significant bacteria" but they literally sent me these results in less than 24 hours and from my understanding, it takes days to grow cultures? So have they even tested properly?

I'm just so stressed after two losses. I don't want to risk anything.

Completely understandable to be worried, and no harm in calling 111 to see if you can see a GP over the weekend. Do you know if your urine came back positive for a UTI when they sent it off? That can help them to determine if a different antibiotic is needed.

It might also be your body (and pelvic floor) adjusting to the increased pressure of a growing baby. In pregnancy the amount of blood in our body increases so there is a lot of fluid!