21 weeks, UTI that won't go away, don't know what to do next :(

[YourCoralPoster]

Hi,

I'm really hoping someone can give me some advice because I'm at my wit's end right now and this is causing me extreme anxiety.

At 12 weeks, I started feeling a constant urge to wee. I've had one UTI in my life before this pregnancy, about 10 years ago, and this is how it presented then so I was immediately sure I had one.

I was on holiday and when I came back it was the weekend so I went to urgent care who dipped my urine and gave me antibiotics for a week (nitrofuratonin). The culture came back clear, but my symptoms never went away. I was then given cefalexin for a week, finished it, still had symptoms. Another culture came back clear (no significant growth) but I had high WBCs, still had constant urge to wee, and was having some abdominal pains.

They didn't want to treat me again, so I just got on with the symptoms for the next couple of weeks and tried to believe maybe it was fine, but then I had a 16 week midwife appointment. My dip test came back clear but they sent my urine off anyway and it came back with high amounts of e.coli and enterroccus. Despite this, my GP didn't want to treat me, but the midwife gave me yet another round of cefalexin.

Symptoms still haven't gone. Two cultures after this have shown "moderate mixed growth" but it's being dismissed as contamination by my GP, despite me wiping properly and doing the sample mid-stream.

I went to triage on Monday because of abdominal pains and an at-home dip test showing leucocytes. They dipped my urine and said it was fine but sent it off and it came back with "heavy mixed growth" now. Before I got the results, they gave me yet another pack of cefalexin despite me having it twice already and it clearly not working!

This is my 4th lot of antibiotics in 9 weeks now, and 3rd time taking the same one, and just no idea what to do now. Nobody has contacted me since. GP doesn't help. Midwife hasn't replied to my text.

I'm so so scared that I've had an infection for 9 weeks now and nothing is getting rid of it, and it's going to harm the baby or cause infection in the placenta or premature labour. I've had 2 losses already and I can't bare the thought of something happening to this baby too, especially as I'm trying so hard to get this sorted and nobody is taking me seriously.

All I read online is how dangerous UTIs are in pregnancy and I'm terrified that it's been going on so long and I still have no idea why it's not going and no other treatment methods are being tried.

Aside from the antibiotics, I've been drinking lots of water (and only water), taking d-mannose and cranberry capsules, probiotics, and so on. Only washing with water, cotton underwear, etc.

I don't know what to do. I'm so scared and just in a constant state of anxiety now. I'm also absolutely sick of the constant need to wee. It's really getting me down and I can't enjoy the pregnancy at all.

I'm so sorry - that sounds terrible :(
If you have the funds, i'd suggest a consultation with a private urologist at this point.
Hope you get it sorted soon

I’m a midwife and I had a patient last year who had endless UTIs with lots of accompanying pain and other symptoms. I’ve never seen anything like it. She ended up being referred to Urology I believe, and they put her on permanent antibiotics in the pregnancy.

Moderate mixed growth isn’t actually an indication for treatment in pregnancy though- it is a high single organism colony count that is an issue. If you’re having pain or a lot of uncomfortable symptoms, that’s a different story.

I would think that excessive antibiotics is possibly causing the heavy growth on the culture as they mess about with the normal balance of bacteria in the body.

Attend your maternity assessment unit. You need a proper plan, they can speak to microbiology. it might be you need a regular weekly antibiotic as a preventative or antibiotics through a drip to get rid of this infection

I had something similar but not while pregnant. I really feel for you, i second previous poster. I would go and see a private urologist. I have a friend that suffers from irritable bladder syndrome and she has some similar symptoms.

I would perhaps also try cutting out anything that very acidic e.g fruits or juices and see if that helps. Good luck OP hope you get it sorted x

Are you under a consultant obstetrician? After this many courses of antibiotics you need to have a proper plan put in place, and as others have said, potentially a low dose prophylactic antibiotic until the end of pregnancy. Also ask your midwife to do a low vaginal swab to rule out vaginal infection or thrush that could be causing irritation/contamination.

I really sympathise, I had similar with a previous pregnancy. Ended up being admitted and put on IV antibiotics through a drip, then the rest of the pregnancy took one antibiotic a day. This pregnancy my urine is sent away for culture every appointment not just dipped, but I see your cultures are coming back.

There is a lot of information coming out now regarding how inaccurate the testing methods and cut offs are. Look up Chronic UTI. Hopefully yours doesn't turn chronic though and you just need a longer course. You can get better testing but it's expensive (Digital Microbiology is one) and I'm not sure if it would be recommended to treat based on it during pregnancy, but it can certainly give you a clearer picture of what is going on than culture based testing.