UTI in pregnancy

[sassie23]

Hi
got call from MW thurs telling me I have UTI. She prescibed oral antibiotics which GP overrulled because they weren't suitable for pregnancy. So went into hospital thursday night for IV piperacillin-tazobactum 5 day course. Just wondering if this is common from other threads it seems people get oral antibiotics regularly for UTIs. BTW I had no symptoms whatsoever they only discovered it at my booking in appoint!
Has anyone similar experience and if so how successful was the IV for 5 days is that enough to get rid of it worried about prem labour etc now thank for any advice x

Depends how pregnant you are - such infections can lead to miscarriage if they are not carefully handled. I've had IV antibiotics in pregnancy (for other infections). If you are early on they are being cautious - sometimes UTIs develop into kidney infections in pregnancy because your immune system is suppressed. As long as the infection is treated the risk of miscarriage drops very quickly.

You need to have UTIs treated well in pregnancy. There is a risk of MC, early labour, PRM and (what I experienced) chronic infection and eventually kidney infections and stones - whihc you don't want!!!!

I was on a low dose antibiotic through pregnancy with dd2 t o prevent problems (was still awful but stopped it beign worse). Might be worth asking about this as you have already needed hospital treatment.

Sorry forgot to say I am 16 weeks

um what does PRM stand for weegiemum?

Premature rupture of membranes.

I had a UTI which started around 14 weeks and was very stubborn, took about 4 weeks to properly clear up and had me very worried. Unlike you I was told certain oral antibiotics are fine in pregnancy - was on Cephalexin to start with, that helped to clear it out of my kidneys, but it came back - then Amoxicillin, then finally Nurofurantoin. Seems to be one of those things that will keep coming back if you are susceptible. It's not true that they can't treat with oral AB in pregnancy, but in my case they weren't initially very effective, so maybe the IV AB will work better - let us know. I'm now taking cranberry capsules and drinking loads of water to try to prevent a recurrence. Good luck and wishing you better.

I had a UTI and was prescribed Trimethoprim, i didn't realised i was pregnant at the time, i did a pregnancy test before taking it but it was too soon for a positive result. When i found out i was pregnant i was upset to discover that Trimethoprim is not recommended in the first trimester because it is a folic acid inhibitor and it's effects on the baby are unknown but can carry risks to the baby's development such as spina bifida, heart murmurs, urinary problems etc. The risk is low but it was enough to upset me and worry. I think they don't prescribe it in pregnancy as a precaution and only in the second and third trimester if the problems out way the risk.

what sort of symptoms did you have 2ndDestiny I have had nothing to speak of but in retrospect maybe wee bit of sore back but just put that down to pregnancy

I am 33 weeks - took a weeks course of amoxicillin, but am going back tomorrow as I think it is still lurking in my bladder!

My symptoms were crampy pain down front of bump, feeling hot at night, weeing loads (ie 3 times an hour), and being really really tired again.

Went to doc and she did a dip stick test that showed it was a UTI.

I had a UTI at the very beginning and had amoxicillin which cleared it up a treat. Poor you having to have IVAbs

Dip test on sat didn't show any UTI so waiting on lab results from cultured sample so confusing. Another dose tonight 5 to go til I can get the canula out ouch !! Fingers crossed test comes back clear tomorrow. Supposed to be going on holidays wed doesn't look very likey now !!

My symptoms were just lower abdominal pain, kind of below the bump and around the sides of the bump, a sort of irritable burning sensation. Hurt worse when doing a wee, that's what gave it away really. And false urgency - feeling like I was desperate for a wee and rushing to the loo to do the tiniest wee in the world. Very annoying. At the worst point the pain was up in my kidney area and very debilitating - but it sounds like they got in there with the AB to stop you getting to that stage. Annoying thing for me was that the culture kept coming back negative - although it was obvious I had an infection, they doctors couldn't figure out which AB it was sensitive too, and as the culture came back negative anyway it was difficult to tell from a test whether it had definitely gone. So now I just have to be really vigilant about symptoms.

Try not to worry - I think the risks of mc/ptlabour etc are really a worst case scenario if it's left untreated, and yours is being quite aggressively treated so you'll most likely be fine.

Hope you're better soon and that you can go on hols if docs advise this is still ok

Test from before the IV ab came back clear?? So waiting on another test from hospital on Saturday. Finishing course of AB today so just sticking to loads of water cranberry juice etc flush the whole system out. From reading other forums it seems this is a really common problem for women with the tests coming back clear even though they have symptoms. Think I will just have to keep a close eye on myself over the next few months don't really want to be getting hardcore ABs flushed through me all the time. Never did drink enough water let that be a lesson to me !!

That's exactly what happened to me, but I definitely had an infection. IMO it's good that you've had the AB. Get the dr to diptest after you finish the course to check if that comes back clear as well, so you know it's gone.