r/utis

How did women centuries ago deal with UTIs? Did they just die from them? Were chronic UTIs even a thing back then or did the body fight them off for the lucky ones? I'm glad we live in a time where antibiotics and modern medicines are available, but sometimes I do wonder how we managed ages ago.

After waiting months, I had my first urogyno appointment to address my reoccurring UTIs. I saw an RN because the doctors were booking out even further. I gave her my history of how often I get them, the type of bacteria they are, how antibiotics work for me, and the preventative measures that I take. I already am incredibly vigilant with hygiene and so is my husband. I take d-mannose every night and a vaginal probiotic however, I still get UTIs often.

She performed a pelvic exam to check my anatomy which was good, and told me to come back in three months… I was given a standing order to have a urine culture done if symptoms pop up. I asked about a pelvic floor therapist and I was told to bring it back up in three months. I asked if any test we’re going be put in for either a culture today just to see or to check for any yeast issues or anything but nope.

I know UTIs issues can be tricky to diagnose, but I feel like this is below the bare minimum.

Anyone else have a similar experience or what was your first appointment like to address your UTI concerns?

every month and a half I get weeklong periods where I constantly feel like I need to pee all the time it keeps me up all night until around 3 AM and it makes me miserable. I'm so sick of this. I have always gone to a doctor but the doctor says I don't have a UTI and that the test came negative and just pushes me out. I'm so sick of it and I don't know what to do anymore. This makes me miserable. I went to a urologist too, and she just encouraged me to drink more water. I genuinely think this is an issue because I drink a ton of water. I don't know what to do anymore.

I keep getting utis after my bf and I have sex and I mean every single time without fail. No condom, with a condom.. I still get a uti. I try to pee everytime after we have sex but occasionally I don’t so maybe it’s from that? I’m not sure. How do I stop this?

So I’ve been dealing with a UTI for the past two months. I started getting frequency and urgency and I took d mannose and it got worse, developed back pain, got cultures done and went on 7 day course amox clav. Tested positive for c koseri. Then I started getting the frequency back, went back on amox clav and got my culture back positive for c koseri and k pneumoniae. Felt a little better but not really then started getting the frequency and some burning, went on 3 days of bactrim & on day 4/7 macrobid right now, cultures came positive for k pneumoniae and e faecilies. I’m still have frequency, trying to wait it out before getting re tested bc I don’t want a false negative while on abx. I’m losing hope this is going away and getting really frustrated this will ever go away. I plan to get retested next week after being off the abx for 4 days to see and if it’s positive idfk what to do if it is. I don’t want more antibiotics. the only one that treated both was cipro and I’m kinda against it bc all the black box warnings. I’ve looked into mryhh extract and part of me is thinking should I start taking that after I finish the macrobid. I’ve also been taking NAC with the macrobid because I read it’s a biofilm disrupter. I just want this to end. No more mf UTIs. I bought Gemma MD and d mannose that I plan to take every day once this is over but rn it feels hopeless and annoying lol.

I recently got over a yeast infection and now have a UTI. My doctor is prescribing antibiotics, and I’d really like to minimize the risk of getting a yeast infection again from the medication.

I’ll take probiotics alongside the antibiotics, but wondering if i should use boric acid suppositories each night I’m taking the meds as well? Are there any risks with that, or has anyone tried successfully?

Or if there are any other ways to minimize the risk. Please let me know!

Ive had a UTI for almost 2 months now (confirmed via urinalysis and it showing leukocytes), ive tried like a billion antibiotics and none of them worked (ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, cefuroxime, bactrim), I was also given augmentin once but my throat started closing up as soon as I took it so I cant take that, I also turned out to be allergic to cefpodoxime and cefixime. Ive done two different urinalysis in the past week, my urologist doesnt want to treat it anymore because it has no leukocytes nor anything else other than a trace of protein, and tells me to just drink a lot of water and take herbal supplements because theres nothing he can do and he cant "treat a healthy patient". My gp says the same thing pretty much. There was a time were my urologist told me if the UTI truly doesnt go away he'll send me to be treated at a hospital, but since my urinalysis is negative he cant just send me there. It makes sense I mean, the doctors will see negative tests and they obviously wont let me just be there without any proof i genuinely have an infection, but theres nothing I can do anymore. I took a sachet of fosfomycin last night, I technically did that before too but it didnt work however I just assume its because I took it at evening and the pharmacist told me it wont have an effect if I take it early and just pee it out so I assume maybe if I take it correctly this time itll work but we'll have to see.

Im just heartbroken because I dont know what to do. And yes I did to a culture twice, but both were after being on antibiotics so they were negative most likely due to that. If the fosfomycin doesnt work there might be nothing I can do besides just wait for it to reach my kidneys :(

I think I might have a UTI since I have many of the symptoms. The one that's bothering me the most is the burning. It burns for a while even after I urinate and it's very uncomfortable. Is it worth it to go get tested?

Got sick on Wednesday night and let me tell you, I was miserable. Doubled over in pain. Called a 24/7 teledoc to get a prescription called in for the morning. It was agony waiting for the damn pharmacy to open. By the time I started the antibiotic, I was peeing chunks of blood and in so much pain, my arms were tingly and I was lightheaded.

Started feeling better by Friday. Woke up Saturday feeling great! So I decided to get up, get ready, and celebrate my kids birthday.

By that night, I start feeling pressure again. Wake up in the middle of the night last night with pain, pressure, urgency, and burning while going.

What gives? Is it because I didn’t rest enough yesterday? I only have today and tomorrow left of my antibiotics and I’ve never had a UTI not go away with antibiotics. I’m also due for my period any minute so idk if inflammation from that could be affecting things.

Gotta be honest. Pretty terrified to feel the way I did last week again.

A bath is how I frequently unwind but recently it seems to trigger utis 100% of the time. Do I just need to stop taking baths? Does anyone know how I could continue without constantly getting a uti?

I had my first uti some years ago and I didn’t get another uti up until last March. I finished antibiotics and my symptoms went away, until my symptoms came back a week later. I tested positive again, and finished antibiotics. Just a month later I tested positive again and finished antibiotics. Two weeks ago I experienced symptoms again, and a week ago I finished antibiotics. Today I’m feeling faint symptoms coming back and I’m so worried it might be a uti again. It keeps getting more painful every time and last time I bled a lot during urination.

I don’t understand why this keeps happening. I take precautions for intercourse and use protection, I always clean myself well, I pee after intercourse and I drink enough water. If it’s not sex-related I wouldn’t know the cause. I drink cranberry juice and I take cranberry pills everyday. I might call the doctor again…

I’ve suffered from recurrent UTIs for years and I’m exhausted by it. The constant antibiotics, the dismissive doctor appointments, never understanding why they keep coming back.

I’m exploring whether a tracking app could help women like us — somewhere to log symptoms, spot triggers, and build a picture to actually show doctors. Before I go any further I just want to hear from real women.

Would anyone be willing to share what’s most frustrating about dealing with recurrent UTIs? What do you wish existed that doesn’t? Even a few lines in the comments would mean a lot.

Hi! I'm a 20 yo female and I've been dealing with recurrent UTIs for the past year and a half now, but I've figured out why and will hopefully not be getting any more in the future. I've had them since I was a kid, but my parents never let me get treatment for them when I was younger because they said that I was too young to get them, so I only started treating them in college (I got much fewer UTIs as a kid tho!).

I'm currently treating a UTI with Keflex and I'm on the last day of antibiotics, feeling much better but not 100%. This has happened to me with my last two or three UTIs where I finish antibiotics but still have general discomfort and urgency for months after. The only thing that helps is drinking a copious amount of water. It helps with the discomfort but makes me pee like once every 30 mins... so not an amazing solution.

For my last UTI, after finishing antibiotics, they retested me and found nothing. They also did a urine culture and found nothing again. The antibiotics obviously cured my UTI, so what's wrong with me?? I'm scared that these symptoms will never go away. I've been looking into it and seeing things about interstitial cystitis (IC), and I'm really scared I've given it to myself, and I'm stuck with it for the rest of my life.

I start a new job tomorrow that requires me to be on my feet from 8am-5pm with only a one-hour break and if I've somehow developed IC I don't know what I'm going to do. If anyone has any advice, similar experiences, or ideas of what I could do, please please PLEASE let me know. This is genuinely my last resort; I can't really go to a doctor right now. Thank you so much.

I've(25f) never had a uti before. It came on randomly in the middle of the day and I went and got a uti test at Walgreens tested positive and then went on goodRX got diagnosed and prescribed macrobid (im allergic to sulfa's) im on day 4/5 and all my symtoms(abdominal pressue,urgency and burning sensation) are pretty much gone however I feel like I smell like ammonia (like my sweat??) I shower regularly and im just so confused if this is a side affect of the antibiotics,side affect of having a UTI or something I should be worried about, any advice or personal experience would be appreciated!

Hi, needing help trying to figure out if this is serious or not. I started feeling a burning sensation when I peed about 2 weeks ago now. That was really the only symptom I was having for the majority of 2 weeks. Keep in mind, I’ve never had a UTI before, so I thought maybe I was irritated from just getting off my period and using tampons for a week. I was putting coconut oil on and it was helping to alleviate the pain some, so I ignored it. About 3 or 4 days ago, I started feeling pain in my right lower abdomen, that hurt more when I took deep breaths or moved weird. Then when I woke up the next day, the pain had moved from my abdomen to my side and lower back and also random pains down my right leg too. During the day I had went to the bathroom and when I wiped there was a tiny bit of blood on the toilet paper, nothing scary, but still blood. So I went to urgent care and they did a UA dipstick w/o micro, said I had blood in my urine and had a uti. Gave me Macrobid for it, I still haven’t taken it yet because I’m waiting for it to be filled. The only thing I’m really concerned about is all the pain I’m having in my lower back/side. I haven’t vomited, or had a fever, but I’m worried since I took so long to go to the dr that it’s turned/is turning into a kidney infection. The antibiotics she gave me is for a lower UTI and not upper so if I’m having problems with my kidney, it’s not going to help with that. She said if the pain doesn’t get better I need to go to the er. I just don’t know much about UTI’s or kidney infections and don’t think I’ve ever felt this kind of pain before. I do usually have back pain because of my job, but it’s more painful when moving and breathing than just everyday back pain. I wouldn’t say I’m hunched over in pain or anything but it definitely hurts. I do have a high pain tolerance, so usually when I say I’m in pain, I’m in pain. TIA!

These were my results from the dipstick for reference:
•Bilirubin in urine by test strip with automated read, qualitative: Negative
•Blood in urine by test strip with automated read, qualitative: Positive 1+ 25 Ery/uL (Abnormal)
•Glucose in urine by test strip with automated read, qualitative: Negative
•Ketone bodies in urine by test strip with automated read, qualitative: Negative
•Leukocyte esterase in urine by test strip with automated read: Negative
•Nitrite in urine by test strip with automated read: Negative
•pH of urine by test strip with automated read: Negative 6.0
•Protein in urine by test strip with automated read, qualitative: Negative
•Specific gravity of urine by test strip with automated read: Negative 1.015
•Urobilinogen in urine by test strip with automated read, qualitative: Negative 0.2 mg/dL
•Pale Yellow and Turbid

I’m 17(F) and for the past 8 months I’ve essentially lost myself to chronic urinary symptoms. It started as a typical UTI back in October. I’ve only had one UTI before this, so I just went about it the same way. I went to the doctor, got some antibiotics and waited for the pain to subside.
Then it didn’t. The following weeks were filled with doctors appointments where I was just thrown a different antibiotic to try, all of which did nothing for me. My samples were negative, nothing made sense and this was all very new to me. It’s just me and my dad at home and he’s not the most present, so I was navigating this whole thing alone and I had no idea what to do.
Then in February, I was hospitalised for an infection that had spread to my kidneys. This made no sense in my eyes because all of my dipstick tests were negative prior. Nonetheless, I was in hospital for three days on IV antibiotics and I thought, maybe somehow they were finally targeting the root issue. I was discharged and nothing changed. I’m living in Ireland and using the public healthcare system, so for anyone who knows what I’m talking about you already know I’m describing a straight up nightmare. I’m on a very long waiting list for a urologist and in the meantime ever since then, my samples have been negative, no medication works and I can’t find a pain relief that targets my symptoms.
I don’t see any way out of this or any light at the end of the tunnel, I don’t know how anybody is supposed to live this way. My symptoms include intense burning, sometimes signalling I need to pee, even if I do end up with a proper stream it’s followed by the worst stinging and burning sensations with a feeling of having not emptied my bladder properly, leading to voiding and forcing weaker more stinging droplets, discoloured and cloudy urine and fatigue.

Hey guys

I got a UTI with Klebsiella Aerogenes after doing a cystoscopy and I have been treating with Selexid 8 days course - It showed on my antibiogram at this bacteria is sensitive to it. I started feeling better already on my first day and I didn’t skip any doses. I felt good the whole time. However, finishing the antibiotics and 48 hours later, I started having cloudy urine and a kind of urgency, not bad as a UTI one, and not painful.
I have read all the scary stories about this specific bacteria, about how it can mutate and become resistant over many antibiotics and I went to the ER last night. They didn’t do a urine strip and just gave me more 1 week of the same antibiotic, Selexid.
I don’t know if is the right approach here, as it can become resistant to this antibiotic so. I am taking the course again and hoping for a better outcome.

Does any one have any idea if cloudy urine after a treatment for this bacteria means a recurrence of just the “rest” of the infection?

So I’ve posted here before after getting my 3 diagnosis strains of bacteria from ecoli, enterococcus fae, and staph a. They gave me doxycycline for it for 7 days, through out my treatment I was still experiencing extreme pelvic pain but it wasn’t unbearable anymore while on antibiotics. well I finished my antibiotics over the weekend but still had severe pelvic pain once I got off the antibiotics, the pain got worse and I ended up going to the ER on Sunday. while I was there at the ER they confirmed for me I didn’t have an infection anymore through blood work and a urine sample, but they did more test. I got a CT scan and an ultrasound, through those test they confirmed I ruptured an ovarian cyst on the right ovary! has this happened to anyone else? has anyone had a really bad bladder infection it ruptured an ovary? If so, how long does the pain last? I also do still have a follow up with my urogyno and I will be having them test for another PCR test and I will be mentioning the ruptured cyst.

Had sex five days ago with a condom. Now I am starting to have the first symptoms of a UTI. Do you think it’s related to the sex? And, no, like a dummy I forgot to pee after 😮‍💨 Also, last time I had a UTO was 2 years ago after not peeing 😑