u/SnapeWho

I've had 3 UTIs (or one recurrent UTI) since my last hydrodistension at the end of March. My doctor decided to put me on Gemtesa because my UTI gives me frequency, urgency, and spasms, all of which are symptoms I don't have with my normal IC flares. I'm not particularly happy about being on the medication but my doctor insists my UTI is a contaminated catheter sample. Oh well.

I have had a pretty severe headache on and off since starting the medication. For those of you who've also had that side effect, how long does it last? Is this something worth reporting to my doctor or should I just wait it out?

I have IC. I had my 4th hydrodistension on March 23 and developed a staphylococcus epidermidis UTI on April 6th. The symptoms I had were wildly different than my IC symptoms ever are, and responded well to antibiotics. The same symptoms returned on April 26th, culture showed "no significant growth," but the urgent care doc told me to finish my antibiotics if they were helping, which they were.

Now, as of May 8th, I'm having another round of the same symptoms. I went to my urogyn to discuss this big change. She dismissed it as "just an IC flare" but it feels very, very different to me. She took a catheterized sample for a urine culture, which came back with a mild amount of gram positive cocci, which I feel could correspond to my staph epi infection a month prior.

She said she thinks the bacteria that came up in culture is "probably just contamination" (even though she cleaned me with betadine and used a sterile catheter to get the sample?) but was willing to prescribe me antibiotics "because I was uncomfortable."

I have a history - admittedly from a long time ago - of recurrent UTIs requiring a longer course of antibiotics than normal when I was a child. My IC and vulvodynia symptoms do not share the same symptoms I'm having now with these infections, however low-grade they are.

How can I best advocate for myself in this situation?

This is NOT an embedded infection type situation so I'm not looking for any information about that theory. But I had a hydrodistension on March 23, developed a staphylococcus epidermidis UTI on April 6th. The symptoms were wildly different than my IC symptoms ever are, and responded well to antibiotics. The same symptoms returned on April 26th, culture showed "no significant growth," but the urgent care doc told me to finish my antibiotics if they were helping, which they were.

Now, as of May 8th, I'm having another round of the same symptoms. I went to my urogyn to discuss this big change. She dismissed it as "just an IC flare" but it feels very, very different to me. She took a catheterized sample for a urine culture, which came back with a mild amount of gram positive cocci, which I feel could correspond to my staph epi infection a month prior.

She said she thinks the bacteria that came up in culture is "probably just contamination" (even though she cleaned me with betadine and used a sterile catheter to get the sample?) but was willing to prescribe me antibiotics "because I was uncomfortable."

I have a history - admittedly from a long time ago - of recurrent UTIs requiring a longer course of antibiotics than normal when I was a child. My IC and vulvodynia symptoms do not share the same symptoms I'm having now with these infections, however low-grade they are.

How can I best advocate for myself in this situation?

I had a hydrodistension and nerve block on March 23, followed by my first real UTI in over a decade. Since then, my IC has been in overdrive, with unbelievable pain, urgency, burning, full body spasms, and low urine output. I never had these symptoms before the procedure and infection. Doctor doesn't seem interested in why this is happening, said it's "just an IC flare."

I am already taking 50mg of nortriptyline and my doctor prescribed me gemtesa and uribel yesterday. She said to take uribel 3x a day until symptoms improve, then drop to 2x a day. I've read online it can interact with nortriptyline so I'm concerned, but she doesn't seem to be.

Does anyone have any experience with combining these medications?

Been dealing with daily pain since December 2023. I've had multiple hydrodistentions. We decided to try out a nerve block during my last one in March. About a week and a half after the procedure, I developed my first real cultured positive UTI in about 13 years. I only went to urgent care because the symptoms were very abnormal for my IC - severe urgency, whole body bladder spasms, very little urine output, severe severe burning.

Finished the antibiotics, felt pretty good. Had sex, two days later those symptoms returned. Went back to urgent care. This time the culture was "no significant growth" but the urgent care doc told me to finish my antibiotics anyway.

Now, about a week after finishing those antibiotics, those same symptoms are back. Didn't have sex this time, focused on hydration, didn't eat or do anything aggravating.

I'm trying to decide if this could be a side effect of the pudendal nerve block, since that's the only thing that's different. I don't want to go back to urgent care because I know the culture will be negative and I don't think it's responsible to just keep taking antibiotics. I know it will be a while before I can see my urogyn for this. I just don't know what to do.