Bladder Problems

Fluorescent urine! That should save on the bathroom electricity bills!

It's really important to take them at the right time and with food [I have a glass of milk with mine]. It is important to know that your urine may become fluorescent though!! I haven't had a problem with them [thus far].

I've got the 50mg and as I said up there 3 days of 4 tabs - I'm definitely not reading the leaflet then. DH will have checked the formulary though - maybe that's why he keeps telling me to sit down.

Macrobid is Nitrofurantoin; I've got the 100mg slow release ones. Not sure if I had a 50mg one before [should have kept the box].The reason I looked it up last time was that I was given a box without instructions because they come in 14's and people are usually only given 6. Wasn't so much the instructions that I read but the reviews that came up with them that freaked me out . As before the tablets worked quite quickly but I do wish they'd sent a sample off to the lab with it coming back so quickly. I do think it's connected to the atrophy, though, because I still feel a bit uncomfortable. I've also realised [by accident] how to find out if there is blood in the urine so I may be able to monitor it myself over the next few weeks. Surgeries are now very stingy when it comes to handing out pee pots, but I always ask for one to keep in the cupboard just in case.

How are you feeling this morning, Tegan?

Nitrofurantoin!!!

Well said, Lucky.

Tegan, I never read the side effects or I get them. If I get anything untoward occurring then I check. dh always checks in his mims but doesn't say anything! Its not Macrobad, it's Nitrofl something. This is only a 3 day course too.

I find it really difficult to take 4 tabs a day with a meal as i tend to only eat 3 times a day.

Swanny - it is not a case of GPs not knowing everything (although of course they do not). Until the lab results arrive they have no way of knowing which bug it is and therefore which antibiotic to prescribe. They rightly give you the one that kills off the most common UTI bugs whilst awaiting the result.

Your GP did exactly the right thing - treated for the most common bug whilst awaiting the result, then when it turned out to be a more unusual bug, let you know straight away and changed the treatment. Three cheers to him/her to have bothered sending the sample to the lab rather than assuming you had the common bugs.

If you've been given Macrobid kitty on no account read the possible side effects . I nearly didn't take them last time when I read it. Am being very careful to space them out properly and take with a large glass of milk. Feeling much better but a bit concerned as to why the infection came back so quickly#bitofaworrier Swanny; are you sure it was actually an antibiotic you were given..usually don't cause constipation. .

GPs do not know everything, even though they like us to believe they do. Earlier this year I had a bout of cystitis and tried the chemist first (gps are so busy etc etc). The product I bought did not clear it up so went to my gp, taking a specimen with me. Was prescribed a 7-day antibiotic (can't remember the name) which didn't clear it but did cause constipation. On the 7th day I received a phone call from the surgery to say that particular antibiotic was the wrong one and to call in for a different prescription. Thankfully that cleared the UTI but I still had the constipation for several days after the antibiotic course ended

I only got 3 days this time instead of 5 and it didn't work so I got something different but still only 3 days worth.

Trimethaprin. It always seems to work really quickly for me and has this time too, though she only gave me three days supply and in the past I have had five. As soon as I get symptoms I usually hit the cranberry juice like there is no tommorrow, and it does help, but I couldn't this time because of the laxative I had to take - not allowed any red liquids . I hope you get some relief soon, Tegan - it is utterly miserable. ?

I just seem to be in a complete mess from the waist down...and not too good from the waist up, either. Which antibiotic did you get Greyduster?

Strangely, I was up half the night having been woken at 3a.m with the distinctive symptoms of cystitis - throbbing; bloody wee, etc. I haven't had it for years. I rang 111 and ended up with a doctor faxing through a prescription for antibiotics. I was panicking because I have my colonoscopy tommorrow afternoon and I didn't want to have to cancel it. I checked in with the hospital and they seemed to think it would be okay to go ahead with it. Seems to be settling down. If it's not one damn thing, it's another!

Oh, poor you kitty. I'm not really ill with it, thankfully, but it's like there's a brick on my bladder and when I go to the loo a very unpleasant 'throbbing' sort of feeling. I think this has been brewing for a long time, because it was one of the symptoms I had when atrophy was eventually diagnosed. I've been drinking a cup of water each night with bicarb in it, thinking that would prevent a re infection. Just been to Tescos and they sell the Optibac probiotics that are specifically for when you're on antibiotics, so I'm hoping that will stop me getting thrush.

Like original poster I too suffered and suffered is the correct word from 18 to 45 with UTIs my life was limited it was painful and distressing the infection would come on literally in a minute and as soon as one had cleared another seemed to start The anti biotics gave me thrush so I was constantly on fire I used a lot of bicarbonate of soda cranberry and antibiotics and yoghurt but overnight it all stopped this coincided with both the menapause and lack of sex, both stopped at the same time I m never sure which it was but I ve only had it once in 26 years since those two things stopped

Tegan, I feel your pain - literally! For rhe last few weeks I have had an intermittent headache, 'palpitations' and been a bit lethargic/depressed. I eventually gave up expecting it to get better on its own but It never occurred to me that I had a UTI until the gp sent me out to do a sample and said that's what I had. The trimethoprim didn't work so I've been back today and got a second lot. I have gone from having no classic uti symptoms to full blown agony.

I read an article at the weekend about the fact that antibiotics are slowly losing the battle against most bacterial infections. No new antibiotics have been found for years.
I used to dose myself with bicarb dissolved in orange juice, lots of water and tea.

I've bumped this up because I've just been given a three day course of Macrobid, having got a second bout of cystitis two weeks after the first. I remember thinking two weeks ago that this would happen and I probably should have had a longer course. Family wedding in two weeks time and do not want to find myself with another infection on that day. Have ordered some d manoose [sp] powder which should help. Was told today that, if their had been no blood in the urine sample I would not have been allowed more antibiotics even though I was in a lot of discomfort. Annoyingly have been doing [I thought] all the right things to prevent a re infection .

Me too, Cathybee. When DD2 was in hospital (more times than I can recall) we had to sort out the mess made by incompetent doctors. DH was a scientist and well aware of the effects of various drugs and the need to take into account a patient's weight and age, for example. Several times he had to point out errors in prescribing - if it hadn't been for DH and him keeping tabs on everything, I shudder to think what might have happened - drugs were prescribed which interacted with others, for instance, and it wasn't til DH queried it that they realised! Another occasion they 'lost' a referral for an urgent scan and DH had to insist on going to the relevant department himself to ask them to look for DD's notes - he found them when no one else seemed bothered. We've been aware of mis-diagnoses, mis-interpretations of x-rays...I could go on. Early in DD's life, a paediatrician said that she had microcephaly (she didn't, and another one confirmed that), but not before we had weeks of anguish worrying about it. Another all but accused us of abuse, when we took DD to hospital with rectal prolapse. We had months of terror, fearing a knock at the door in the middle of the night to take our beloved DD away. I couldn't eat or sleep. It wasn't till she had a barium enema procedure that the man conceded that there was a problem causing her symptoms which were not of our doing!
Our DD was born with a rare congenital disability and we were forever in and out of hospitals, and desperate to give her the very best of care - we were utterly devastated at some of the cruel things said to us at times by people who should have known better. And yes, we did come across some excellent and compassionate doctors, but far too many of them were anything but, so I have VERY little faith in the medical profession and now I question everything, ask for evidence, reasons, or whatever I need to understand and make the best decisions for myself. Both DH and myself both see the GP as fairly limited in expertise: if we know what's wrong with us, we research it first and go armed, knowing what we want out of the consultation - whether it's a prescription for a particular antibiotic or a referral to someone else. It sounds cynical, perhaps, but our experience has taught us to be VERY careful and very wary.

PETRAPAN being your own Doctor is something that I strongly believe in. As you yourself had to make a decision that should have been taken by your GP.

I am not afraid of any pain that can be caused by any injection or any operation, but what I am afraid of is the in competence of any given Doctor.

For eg, if you need a blood test, you better make sure that the person is experienced other wise you come out of there full of holes

I recently had to go to the hospital due to a cyst on my head, when I spoke to the Doctor that was going to perform the procedure I became very concerned because quite honestly I had no confidence in her at all. When she asked do I get pain from my cyst I replied no--wrong answer she said!!!

However that's not to say that there aren't any good Doctors out there because there truly are, I'm just scared of the in competent ones.

Well, quite - I would never go near it again, having had a scare previously and with my family history.

Makes you wonder how many other women were given this hormone treatment for vaginal atrophy and it has progressed into cancer!!!!!

Dollie, years ago, I was prescribed vaginal hormonal hrt pessaries for atrophy/thinning skin etc, but I discontinued using it because my own mother died of cancer aged 66 - started in the cervix, secondaries in the abdomen. My brother, who is a doctor, went up the wall when he knew I was using them, as I'd had post-menopausal spotting a while ago and had to be fast-tracked to investigate (luckily it was a small polyp but I decided not to use them again).
The vaginal atrophy is horrible though: my sex-life is virtually non-existent as it's just too painful. I had an early menopause, so that didn't help.
Years ago, sex used to trigger cystitis, which was miserable, and I tried going to the loo before and after, drinking plenty etc but it didn't help the libido at all

How frustrating. Pity there is not an oestrogen treatment that would just work on the required area and not affect anything else.