Urine culture lost?? this is nuts!

[jen74]

Hi Ladies.
I have not been on board for a while due to feeling so awful. I had a UTI back in may and it has left me feeling awful. Well, I did my usual instillation Last Friday and started feeling really bad on Saturday evening. On Monday I went to the urgent care right by my house to get a urine culture sent out to see if I had a UTI going on. I have been in so much pain I resorted to taking ultram. ( I never take meds because I am so sensitive to them and have to many side effects). Anyhow, on Wednesday I call the urgent care to get the results and she said they were not in to call back tomorrow. I called on Thursday and she says she has to call the lab to get the results. She calls me back an hour later and says they have no record of my culture. I then asked her if they even sent my urine out to be cultured and she said yes that the lab must of lost it.
I am having a very hard time believing this. How stupid are these people!! I mean come on now. So, luckily I had an appointment yesterday with a new primary care doc. I am looking for a new doc closer to my home. She sent out another culture for me , but I wont get it back until Monday. She gave me antibitoics just in case, but I do not like to take them unless I know for sure if I have a UTI since I do not do well on antibiotics and am allergic to most or have awful side effects. This is so upsetting. I am in so much pain I cannot deal with it. I pray it is not a UTI but then again, if it is not, then I must assume my IC has gotten much worse then. This is scary. Thanks for listening.
Jen

[ICNDonna]

If the dip stick test says infection, you probably do have one --- and a wide spectrum antibiotic could be a good idea until you get the results of the sensitivity test. In the meantime, some pyridium might help.

Warm hugs,
Donna

[Claredale]

We know what you mean about the UTIs. Did your PCP do a dip test as well? The only UTI that I was actually ever diagnosed with was confirmed positive right after I gave the specimen. I feel pretty certain I had a UTI a few weeks ago becuase I never have problems emptying my bladder and from what I read about them, I had the classic pinching feeling along with the really want to scream when my stream was ending. I take Prosed DS, which messes with the testing results, so my dip was negative, but they sent it off for a culture. I had been off the Prosed for a few days, but my urine was still a little blue. My doctor did call in some pain meds for me since I was taking more than usual since normally I just take them at night, but the pain was very much like I had a few years ago before I got my IC under control. My pharmacist is very nice and knows about IC. She could tell I was hurting which wasn't hard since I was hopping around like I was a 4 year old needing to find the bathroom. She suggested the AZO test strips which I bought and used right there in the bathroom at Target. The strip was purple within seconds and she said it looked positive to her. She suggested I take the red OTC mds Cysto something, but they really seemed to help. I can't handle antibiotics either. The mess with my Eczema and seem to make it harder for my skin to heal. Just my observation.... I went back on my Prosed DS and had my monthly appt with my doctor on Tuesday and again no signs of infection, but I wasn't hurting anymore either.

I also wanted to tell you that years ago, my son was young and he told me that it burned when he went to the bathroom. We went to an urgent care that night because he was spending all of his time in the bathtub. I see where I got that idea! Anyway, he tested positive, but since they were concerned since it wasn't common for boys to get UTIs, that they wanted to culture it. Like you, I called a few days later and they didn't have a clue where it was. By the time we went back, he didn't have an infection anymore. So much for being worried about the infection. He hasn't had anymore, so I guess everything was okay.

T83

[jen74]

Imustpee,
I am sorry if I offended you. I do understand what you are saying, and I am sorry that you are so overworked, that is not fair at all, but I as a patient am getting sick and tired of it. The place I went to, they are not overworked like you mentioned though. I know in most hospitals they are, but when I called to get my results, the women who was supposedly the one who sent out my culture was off that day and the next, so I dont think she was that worked.This is her job. Because of her ignorance, I am sitting here in severe pain wondering if I have a UTI which I should have known four days ago. Thankfully I had an appointment with my new doctor a couple daysafter this incident so she sent out another culture for me. Sure, I have antibitoics I can take, but I do not like taking them unless I know 100% I have a UTI because I am very sensitive to antibitoics and cannot tolerate them at all, I get bad side effects.
It is a shame that medical professionals are so overworked, and something does need to be done about it, but there is really no excuse for this. It was not like I was asking her to do brain surgery, all she had to do was send my pee out for a culture. I am sure they will charge me for the visit too even though it was worthless. I may sound harsh, but when my son was 2 he was given an overdose of medication when he was in the hospial with severe asthma and phneumonia and this caused him severe intestinal bleeding. Thank God he recovered from that. Also, I went to the ER a few nonths back becuase I had a UTI and I told the nurse to write on my chart that I was allergic to latex. She did. But low and behold, every single nurse that came in to check me( my vitals and such), not one read my chart. My hubby and I had to repeatedly tell them I was allergic to latex. They use latex gloves and I cant have that. Thank god I was consious and able to tell them. What if I had been unconsious. These mistakes can be deadly and all because of careless mistakes. So I do sympathize somewhat, but again, these are peoples lives were talking about.
Jen

[vm]

How very frustrating. It's hard when we're in so much discomfort and just hanging in there until we get test results back. I probably would have bawled my head off. :(

[jen74]

Thanks Donna, T83, and Kim for all your support, I appreciate it. Thanks for the tip about the peridium Donna,unfortunately for some reason it always makes me feel worse( I am an oddball and get all the weird reactions that only occur in a tiny number of people I suppose :) ) If only thing could be easier and my body would tolerate these meds better. I was taking a very small dose of ultram for the pain and it was helping but I ende up getting bad intestinal cramps and severe gas so I had to stop it. That is to bad because it was helping with my pain, and I was only on a very tiny dose( one 50mg pill only at night). I started with only half of that but it did not help very much so I upped it to the one pill and that helped out alot, but then came the side effects.
I feel like I keep hitting brick walls. Either nothing works or when I do find something that works it gives me such bad side effects that I cannot take them. Life seems so unfair, or rather my body seems like it is stubborn. Well, tomorrow I get my culture results finally. I am in so much pain that I am certain it is a UTI, but again, there have been times in the past where I thought I had one and it was not. Either way scares me because if it is not a UTI, then this means my IC is getting worse. Which is the worst evil, I dont know. I have a antibitoic here I can take ( macrobid), but I hate to take them unless I know for sure because I get so many different side effects and have a hard time taking them and the last ecoli infection I had was resistant to cipro, and that scares me to.
Anyhow, thanks again ladies for all the support, I really appreciate it. You all are the best!
Jen