CIPRO Question

[louise]

Hi,

Before my uro got the final results from my urine culture, she decided to put me on Cipro 250 mg. twice a day for five days.
We now have the final lab results which show a signficant infection with Enterococcus and Citrobacter A (not sure the rest of it). I am to call the uro today to let her know how I am feeling and to see if she wants to extend the Cipro. Today is the beginning of my fourth day on the AB and I can't say I have had a significant improvement in my symptoms, especially in the a.m. when I feel the worst.

In checking on the dosages for UTI's 7 to 14 days seems to be the most common time frame for "complicated" infections like mine with IC.

For anyone else who has taken Cipro, how long did it take for you to feel better? Were you able to tolerate the Cipro allright?
I can't say I am having any s.e. from it - just still having a lot of UTI symptoms.

Thanks for any help and advice.

LOUISE

:angel:

[liznazz]

I had an enterococci infection after my cysto/hydro. It took 6 weeks to clear up. The culture showed the bacteria was sensitive to Cipro, Augmentin, Bactrim and Amoxicillin. Unfortunately, none of them worked. The last antibiotic that was sensitive to the enterococci was doxycycline. This finally cleared it up. I was feeling better within 3-5 days . hope this helps. liz

[louise]

Liz, thanks for your post. Do you recall how many days you stayed on Cipro until you realized it wasn't treating the infection?
I am wondering if I should give it another couple of days if that is what my uro wants. I have taken Cipro before and it has helped.
This present infection has been going on for weeks and I started treatment this past Saturday so I feel I should give the Cipro at least five days before I call it quits. Does that sound reasonable to you? Is that kind of what you did? Thanks for your help. I
do appreciate it very much. Having a UTI with IC is pure misery
as you know!!

LOUISE

:angel:

[Jeanne D.]

I always take Cipro for a UTI. The last infection I had lasted for six weeks. My uro had to increase my dosage to 1000 mg bid. I have multiple drug allergies so Cipro was the only drug I could take. I started to feel better about a week after I started the medication, but the fever persisted for 6 weeks. The lower dosage of Cipro I was initially started on only "stunned" the bacteria but did not kill it. Each urine c/s I has showed sensitivity to Cipro so I remained on, just increased the dosage.

Hope you are feeling better soon.

Jeanne

[Laurenn]

Dear Louise----

I also take Cipro for bladder infections..............it works, but causes bladder pain, separate from the infection!
This means I have to take painkillers a half an hour or so before I take the Cipro, as well as when I actually take it...........I have also found it essential to drink LOTS of water through the day-----------otherwise the Cipro doesn't seem to be effective.
Hope this helps! Take care, sending
gentle HUGS------Laurenn

:grouphug: :angel: :grouphug:

[louise]

Thanks for you reply, but do you know why the Cipro causes bladder pain - is it a side effect of the drug or does it irritate the bladder at the same time it is treating the infection??

Last night was not very good - was having a lot of sharp zinger-like pains in my bladder and over/in the pubic bone - very uncomfortable and quite severe at times. I got up at 3 a.m. and put a B & O in and the worst of the pain has calmed down - for now. Did your doctor mention this to you that Cipro could cause bladder pain? How are you able to tell then if the antibiotic is getting rid of the bacteria?

How many days do you usually stay on Cipro when you have a lab-cultured infection? I have two organisms causing my infection: Enterococcus and Citrobacter A(long word!!). I have been feeling the infection for quite a few weeks but only started the Cipro last Saturday. My doctor first gave me five days of the drug; then yesterday she prescribed another five.

Thanks for your information and advice.

LOUISE


:angel:

[Jeanne D.]

Hi Louise,

Bladder pain is not a side effect of Cipro, but the drug may cause irritation in the bladder of an IC patient, the same way certain foods, beverages, or other drugs may. It is more or less an individualized symptom.

Cipro is usually prescribed for 7 days but may be prescribed for 10 or 14 days, sometimes even longer. Your MD can best decide that.

It is a good idea to drink plenty of water when taking this drug because one of its side effects is crystalluria (excretion of crystals in the urine). These crystals can form bladder "stones" which is a side effect you definitely want to avoid. Drinking lots of water helps to prevent it.

It is difficult to tell if the Cipro is causing irritation or if the infection is not responding to the drug. If you have been experiencing fever, and the bacteria is responding to the medication, your temperature should return to normal and your symptoms should begin to subside. If the medication is causing irritation or the bacteria is not responding, your symptoms will probably worsen. If this happens: it is a good idea to get another urine c/s , to make sure the bacteria is still sensitive to the drug, or to see if your medication needs to be changed. As always, notify your MD if you see no change or an increase in symptoms. Usually you will see a difference within 24 hours.

Hope this info is of some help, and that you are feeling better soon.

Jeanne :)

[Laurenn]

Dear Louise -

I read Jeanne's letter with interest! I really have no idea why there should be bladder pain with Cipro------other than I usually have bladder pain with antibiotics-------with the antibiotic Bactrim seemingly the sole exception to this rule............I usually just focus on doing things that seem to lessen the pain reaction.
One of the things I usually do, if I can, is take the antibiotic with a full stomach---------again, I don't know why this makes a difference, but it does.
I have also found that for me at least, there is a "eight hour window" of time where I need to avoid dairy products, when taking the antibiotic. (Otherwise, my bladder flares.) They somehow seem to interact. Again, no idea why-------and this could be just me!

As Jeanne mentioned, when the Cipro works, I start to feel better fairly soon, so I know its working--------re the symptoms like fever, etc.

Hope this helps! And, I hope you feel better soon! Take care, sending gentle HUGS, Laurenn

[Katrina]

Cipro usually works for my UTI's.....I don't find any problems with it but my body is much more used to it than an average ICer. If it isn't helping you talk to your doc because sometimes you need a specific antibiotic for your infection.

Take Care

[Jeanne D.]

When a certain medication is made it contains active and inactive ingredients. The active ingredient being the drug that is used to alleviate the problem. The inactive ingredients - or fillers are what the drug is suspended in. Some people can have an adverse reaction to the fillers, and not the actual drug itself. I can take Vistaril and Ceclor, yet I can not take generic hydroxyzine or generic ceclor. It could just be a sensitivity to what the medication is made of that affects some people or their bladders negatively.

Jeanne

[lm2]

Are both bacteria they found sensitive to Cipro? I assume they tested it against Cipro if she's keeping you on it. Whenever I have a bladder infection the bacteria is always sensitive to Cipro. One time it said it was sensitive, I went on the antibiotics, didn't feel better, they retested while I was on it, and then it grew again and said it was resistant. But that's e.coli. Whenever I have enterococcus they don't even do a sensitivity test; they just say the majority of enterococcus species are sensitive to Macrobid and Ampicillin. I think enterococcus is only sensitive to Cipro like 50% of the time, so it's not the first choice.

You all are lucky your labs do more thorough testing. I think the labs in Canada do the bare minimum.

Anyway...my doctor says with IC it can take a lot longer to feel better after an infection even if the bacteria is gone, but personally I can tell when it's working and when it isn't. If it were me I'd probably request another test to see if something else shows up.

[MarthaF]

In my experience Enterococcus is most sensitive to Augmentin or Amoxicillin. Those are the choices of Dr. Fugazzotto who has tested tens of thousands of specimens and he always does a sensitivity test if bacteria are found. He recommends Cipro for E. coli.

There are two labs in the US that do broth culturing. One finds Augmentin and Amoxicillin are usually good for Enterococcus and the other lab does not test with those two drugs (according to some agency guidelines they use they refuse) and always finds Entero is sensitive to Cipro. Some do not think Cipro is a good drug to use long term, however. Most people I know who had success with antibiotic treatment have used Augmentin or Amoxicillin. You can read their stories on icsuccessonline.com.

Martha F

[lm2]

Oops, I meant to say my bacteria is always *resistant* to Cipro! That's why I was suggesting you might want to re-test. I'm talking about e.coli though, not enterococcus...so maybe if enterococcus is always sensitive to Cipro it's ok to assume. I was just suggesting that because sometimes with me, they've reported a bacteria and once I'm on the antibiotic, another one shows up that might require a different antibiotic. The nurse told me sometimes if there's more than one bacteria, they only report the one they find the most of.

[Jeanne D.]

If more than one bacteria shows up in a culture, the drug of choice to use is the drug that all the bacteria are sensitive to. If the bacteria become resistant to the medication used to treat the infection, then the antibiotic must be changed.

Patients allergic to penicillin cannot take Augmentin or Amoxicillin and would have to be treated with a different family of antibiotics.

Jeanne

[Nicole in ATL]

I've taken cipro many times for UTIs. It is important to have a culture and sensitivity test done so the uro knows what bacteria it is and which antibiotic will work.

When I have a UTI, my symptoms are really bad...much worse than "normal" flare. I associated my pain and symptoms with the infection rather than the antibiotic.

After many instances of UTIs after sex, my uro prescribed cipro (1) to be taken after sex. This really helped me break the cycle of infections.

If you don't seem to be getting better, it's always a good idea to call your doctor and let them know. I've had to take several rounds of different antibiotics before to get rid of UTIs.

Hang in there,
Nicole

[dminton]

Standard protocol for a complex UTI is Cipro 500 mg twice daily for 7 days.

I find that this med is a Godsend for me. I did this treatment recently after holding off for years, and now feel better than I have in years. And bacteria never showed up. This is the second time this has happened to me in 5 yrs. Perhaps it has powerful anti-inflammatory properties; in fact, a prostatitis site says it does. Maybe it's a hidden UTI, I don't know. I just know that I feel great right now, and I stopped the Cipro 2 wks. ago.

I had no adverse reactions to it except for headache, and some initial intestinal upset. I used gynelotrimin vaginal cream prophylactically against yeast, and ate yogurt every day. I feel great. I hope it lasts a while. I did this with my uro's blessing, by the way.

[rosealee]

Both my doctors use Cipro cautiously because it is a strong antibiotic. When you are on it there is a chance that it could kill other bacteria that protects you and another kind of infection could be introduced because the good bacteria is not there anymore. Maybe thats why they gave you 5 days instead of 7. Ask questions , sometimes doctors don't want to scare you so they don't tell you all of the risks. I really hope you get the help you need because you want to be as well as you can. Quality of life is important, so doing all you can do to get help is proactive and you feel better about yourself for doing it. :) I do not get any pain at all when I am on cipro.

[PikkuMyy]

Cipro worked very well for me in the past - but mostly I was having IC flares, not UTIs and the anti-inflammatory properties of the Cipro are what helped, not the antibacterial effects. When I did take Cipro for a UTI, it went away very quickly. That being said, I'm now taking Macrodantin every day and getting the same effects with a MUCH lower dose of a much weaker antibiotic. I take a probiotic complex with my meals and haven't had any problems with yeast overgrowth.

[Scomegys]

Hi, Louise,
I took Cipro for 2 months as a long-term therapy (the gram positive bacteria responds to long-term therapy (usually 6 months or longer) especially if it is imbedded in your bladder wall). It has worked, however, I supplemented it with other things that probably goes into play for the remission, but as I took the Cipro, my bladder burned as well. Part of the reason for that could be that the bladder is already irritated and burning so it doesn't take much, and that the dosage of the cipro is too high. I took 500mg twice a day, and when I reduced it to 250 twice a day the burning reduced. I continued to take it despite the burning because I knew the results would be good in the long run, and that I would need to rebuild the bladder wall whether I took Cipro or not. So it burned, took care of the infection, and then I begun the process of rebuilding the bladder walls. Hope this helps

[Dianne]

I'm usually better right away on Cipro. Sometimes 12-24 hours but 48 max but that's just me. Maybe just anti-inflammatory but always better quickly.

[Godwillhelp]

Has anyone not had good results with IC while taking antibiotics?