Katie14
08-01-2006, 03:35 PM
Is the feeling that you have a UTI with a negative test what you'd call a flare up of IC?
I've been on Elmiron and Elavil for about 8 months. I am sooo
much better than when first diagnosed but about once a month I feel like I have a UTI. When I have symptoms I test my urine at home with strips I buy at the drugstore and it's usually negative so I don't call the doctor. Most recently I felt a big cramp type feeling in my bladder right when I finished urinating and sometimes had a stabbing type pain. Sure that I had a UTI I used my test strips. With a specimen as clean as I could get it tested strongly positive for leukocytes but negative for nitrites. I repeated it and got the same. I called my doctor and they sent me to the lab. There it tested positive for leukoestrace. I was away from home when I was given those results so we decided to wait for the culture before taking antibiotics. When I got home I called to check the results of the culture and I was told the lab lost my specimen. They went ahead and started me on antibiotics after I gave another specimen. The results of the culture came back negative so I stopped the antibiotics. The symptoms did resolve over about 3 days. Is this typical of a "flare"? It's what I did off an on for years before diagnosed, just not this frequently. I was usually treated without a test because it sounded so much like a UTI.
I've been on Elmiron and Elavil for about 8 months. I am sooo
much better than when first diagnosed but about once a month I feel like I have a UTI. When I have symptoms I test my urine at home with strips I buy at the drugstore and it's usually negative so I don't call the doctor. Most recently I felt a big cramp type feeling in my bladder right when I finished urinating and sometimes had a stabbing type pain. Sure that I had a UTI I used my test strips. With a specimen as clean as I could get it tested strongly positive for leukocytes but negative for nitrites. I repeated it and got the same. I called my doctor and they sent me to the lab. There it tested positive for leukoestrace. I was away from home when I was given those results so we decided to wait for the culture before taking antibiotics. When I got home I called to check the results of the culture and I was told the lab lost my specimen. They went ahead and started me on antibiotics after I gave another specimen. The results of the culture came back negative so I stopped the antibiotics. The symptoms did resolve over about 3 days. Is this typical of a "flare"? It's what I did off an on for years before diagnosed, just not this frequently. I was usually treated without a test because it sounded so much like a UTI.