UTI\'s

I am so glad I logged on today. I am so very frustrated! Then I saw this post and as usual am reminded that I'm not alone.

I have an Indy and I'm about 3 months out from surgery. I have had my first round of adjuvant chemo and seem to be doing okay in that regard.

But this ecoli is breaking me down. I had an infection - no fever, just abdominal sensitivity and some odd sensations when I cath. So I went on Keflex for 2 weeks, had another culture taken - colony was way down, but still there so we went another 5 days with Keflex. SURELY this would do it! I felt great right after but now I find out its back in full force! Only days after stopping the antibiotic. grrr-rrr! What on earth is going on here?!?

Not sure if the chemo is also contributing because my immune system is compromised?? Any body have experience with a different antibiotic that was effective? Any words of wisdom or encouragement - its really getting me down

Best,
Gracie

My thoughts:

You can still get a UTI without a normal bladder as you still have the 'tract' bit of it all.
I seem to get a UTI on average every 6 -8 weeks since my neo 1 year ago. The symptoms vary from cloudy urine, increased mucous, urine odour, tiredness, pelvic pain, raised temperature and vomiting. I often get a range of these symptoms. I was on a low dose antibiotic for about 11 months but this made no difference to the infections so now I'm trying without and have only had one UTI since.
My docs tell me the increase in UTI's is due to self cathing which, even though is a 'clean' procedure, can still introduce bugs to places they should not be.
I do not regret having the operation as it appears to have saved my life and, although the infections get me down from time to time, I need to move on and enjoy living.
Keep smiling!

Betsy Mae

Hi,

I confess to having had more than a few UTIs with my neo in the last 17 months. It is important that the local docs know that neos are different than regular bladders in regaurds to things like ecoli, etc. It is challenging - maybe Pat can throw us some stats on what is considered normal or what is considered excessive. I have to intermittently self cath - seems I have only had once since I started that. God Bless, Holly

Webs is right. My husband Harry, who has a neo got an infection in early June that lingered - thought it was clear but it came back! His surgeon said to watch for fever, cloudy urine or for an unusual odor. In his case I thought his urine was a little cloudy, he kept thinking it was the mucous that is common to a neo...but when he got a fever of 102, I took him to our local doctor. His surgeon also recommended always telling the local folks he has a neo and the need to culture the urine to determine status rather than the quicker test for infection. Margot

Yes you can get a UTI I am battling one right now. The same bacteria are present no matter what type of bladder you have and they are what cause infection. The symptoms might be different though. I got no pain and urinate often anyways because of some neo issues. I discovered I had one through odor. It wasn't till the day after my doctor confirmed that I started to get some pain. Hope this helps but I am sure others will chime in to make it clearer.

Webs

Is it common for people with neo-bladders to get UTI's? I can't help but wonder how you can get an infrection in a "fake" bladder.