8 year old son has stinging with urination

[Lindsay K.]

Hello. I have had IC since age 19 and my mom was diagnosed earlier this year. Very worried now because my son is having "stinging" with and after urination and having frequency and urgency. We took him to an urgent care center last night because it was after hours. The urinalysis looked fine and they did not want to put him on antibiotics. The nurse practitioner said that it could be urethritis and to take ibuprofen for pain and drink lots of water. This morning I am keeping him home from school because he still feels bad and have an appointment with his pediatrician's office. Last year he had a diagnosed UTI which got better after a course of antibiotics and then symptoms returned about 1-2 weeks after finishing treatment and he was then started on another antibiotic. No further symptoms till now. We took him to a pediatric urologist to make sure he didn't have reflux and an ultrasound showed no anatomical problems. Last night I have pushed water and put him on the bland IC diet (which he was very upset about) and gave him 1 prelief and again this morning with breakfast. I did give him ibuprofen last night (1 adult tablet to avoid the flavored children's ibuprofen) but afraid that will aggrevate his condition if this is IC. He has an old prescription for pyridium but will wait to see the doctor first on starting that. I remember seeing a thread about an IC patient who put her symptomatic child on Cystoprotek with good results. I am so worried and terrified. :(

[ICNDonna]

Try not to panic. It's good you will be taking him to his doctor. There are other things that can cause some irritation.

Warm hugs,
Donna

[Lindsay K.]

Thank you Donna. The second urinalysis today again showed no UTI so he wasn't prescribed antibiotics again. I would have liked to have him prescribed antibioitics just in case he has an undetectable infection based on symptoms. They are also testing him for strep because apparently that can cause urinary issues although he doesn't have a sore throat. He is still having the "stinging" with urination and urinating frequently. Today they called it chemical cystitis. He has a swim class every Saturday for 1 hour but I would think the problem wouldn't come about on a Thursday evening, 5 days after the swim class and I already use dye/fragrance free soap and laundry detergent. He will be scheduled to see the pediatric urologist in Ann Arbor that he saw about this time last year for UTI's and was scheduled for a voiding cystogram. I am going to try to continue an IC diet for him for awhile, but know he will protest it. I will continue the prelief and I gave him a pyridium to see if that helps. Hoping he will get over this soon, it would break my heart if he had to suffer with IC as I have and now my Mom also. I am very worried, but know we can get through what ever life throws at us.

[ICNDonna]

Could I ask what kind of laundry soap you are using? I have children (now adults) with skin problems and our allergist said to use detergent instead of soap --- and double rinse their clothing. I hope you get some answers soon. I understand that this is scary for you.

:grouphug:
Donna

[Linda May]

I think he should be tested for IC that way you could rule it out or not. If he does have IC he needs to get on a treatment plan ASAP. It is hard enough for us adults to suffer this desease let alone a child. But the earlier of knowing would benifit him in is treatment. I pray and hope he doe's not have IC, keep in touch and let us know how things turn out, God Bless All Of You.

[Mothergoose]

I know this is different, but I don know how you feel, I have had IC all my life, didn't know what it was for a Loooooooooong time, but always had problems.

My son at a year got his first UTI, and then had a more over the next couple of years. The uros kept telling me it is really unusual for boys to get UTI's it usually means something is structurally wrong, but none bother to do any testing to figure out what the problem was.

Then he started to cry that his penis hurt at the end of voiding, then one day after swimming he was screaming in pain after-wards, (not much a mom can do when their son is crying their penis hurts.

I took him yet again to a uro who said he should not drink juice, juice makes you fat and there is too many fat people in this world. He was skinny as a rail and I weighed just what I should weigh for my height. I came away from there shaking my head.

Finally when he was 7 a ped took one look at his penis and said the hole in the end of his penis was too small. Just like that he sent us to a peds uro who agreed and said he could make the whole bigger but it was very painful surgery and he would probably out grow it in a year or so. we decided to wait and see and by a year later we never had another problem.

I just don't understand why nobody knew what the problem was.

So don't worry you can deal with it being IC when the time comes, but it could be lots of other things too, get the uros to start doing some testing on him to figure out the problem.

Best wishes for you and your son. MG

[ICNDonna]

Mothergoose, both of my sons had the same problem, but they were caught very early and repaired so no ongoing problems. Both had a very tiny urine stream --- the size of a pencil lead.

Donna

[Mothergoose]

You would think more Dr's would pick this problem up.

MG

[Lindsay K.]

Thank you all for the replies. ICN Donna, we usually use Arm & Hammer "Dermatologist Tested" FREE of Perfume & Dye laundry detergent, or any other hypoallergenic detergent but they are pretty much all called laundry detergents. I thought detergent and soap were synonymous, I will have to look that up. Mothergoose, I'm happy to hear your son is doing well now, my son is still having the stinging with and after urination although he says it's not as bad. I am trying my best to cut out the big IC triggers out of his diet (soft drinks, juice, citrus) although I have to allow small amts of condiments and use Prelief. He is still getting upset/angry and asks why he still has this "bladder infection" and it's very frustrating that I cannot make him all better at this point. His urine culture was also negative as was the strep culture. He goes to the pediatric urologist in early June and has the voiding cystogram late this month. I hate to have to put him through the test because they use a catheter and dye and it doesn't sound comfortable. This test will rule out anatomical problems in the urinary tract because of the history of UTI's last year. I have thought about taking him to my urologist's office who treats IC if this is an ongoing problem and the Peds Doc isn't able to offer much help or does not acknowledge the possiblity of IC.

[Mothergoose]

Good luck with the tests and your son.

MG