Bladder infection and IC

[chloe's mom]

Hello! Here is my quick history: Last summer I had a few bladder infections following family weekends where we swam in various hotel pools. (Looking back: bad idea) That was followed by being diagnosed with H-Pylori, in which I was prescribed 8 antibiotics/day for 14 days. I felt better, but by December/January had more bladder infections that seemed a bit different than the others. My very smart gynocoligist had me answer a list of questions and give a urine sample. The sample showed no infection. A short time later I came in the office to do the potassium test and was told I had IC in Febuary 2008. For thirty days I firmly stayed to the IC diet and kept a journal of all I ate. Then I started to venture out and tried watermelon with no ill effects, then gradually added other foods. I would never dream of drinking lemonade or eating chili or spicy food, but I can eat outside the strictest IC diet and not flare up. I do feel very fortunate. I also am thankful that my Dr. was able to diagnose me quickly, I know many others have suffered so long without knowing what was happening to them. Thanks to this website, I had the courage to ask to do the bladder instillations at home. I use sodium bicarbonate, heperin, water and marcaine twice a week and that has kept my IC under control. I could not afford the $700 instillations at my dr.'s office so this has been a life-saver and improved the quality of my life! Thank you to all of you who wrote about your experience!!

Last Tuesday a.m. out of nowhere I could tell I was coming down with a bladder infection. Since I was three hours away from home I called into my dr.'s office and they faxed a prescription to the nearest pharmacy. The pain killer was Phenazopyridine 100-mg tablets and the antibiotic was Nitrofurantoin mono/mac 100-mg. I began taking them around 1:00p.m., but did not feel any improvement, I was getting worse. By 1:00 am on Wed. I was in severe pain and flushing away blood clots and what appeared to be pieces of tissue. This had never happened to me before. I was in so much pain and could not understand why the medicine was not kicking in by now, so I called the dr. on call and she prescribed Propoxyphene-n (The generic for Darvocet-n) for the pain and cephalexin 500-mg as the antibiotic. I took the pills and fell asleep pain-free by 3:00am. I woke up at 7:00 and was feeling okay, it still hurt when I used the bathroom, but I just knew that would go away with time. Wrong! By noon I was sobbing as I walked into the ER, desperately wanting the pain to stop. I had not eaten since dinner the night before and was starving, but the meds made me so naseated and dizzy. Don't ask me how I could be so naseated and yet so hungry, but I was. The docs were skeptical that I really had a bladder infection, thinking it was only my IC acting up. A urine test confirmed that I did have a bladder infection and the white blood cells present confirmed I also had IC. They confirmed that I was not pregnant and the only helpful thing that came out of it was that they said I could take both painkillers at the same time, which I immediately did! It did help tremendously with the pain. I am back on the strictest IC diet now, since I ate a grape and had an IC flare. My follow-up appointment with my gynocologist said that when a bladder infection is VERY SEVERE it can cause bleeding in the urinary tract. I did not know that. She said I still had blood in my urinary tract and I had been on antibiotics for three days at that point. I wondered if my bladder instillation may help? The marcaine is a painkiller used in childbirth, so I thought it may help my bladder to calm down, but she said to just let my bladder rest and not do any treatments until I had fully recovered. Has anyone else had a Bladder infection AND IC flare-up together? Did you react well to the antibiotics? My doctor and my theory is that I had the IC flare-up because my bladder hated those medications. Has anyone else gone through this? What did you learn?

[VickiB]

Sounds like you really went through a rough patch! Hopefully, you're feeling quite a bit better now?

When I've had a UTI an IC flare is sure to join in on the fun. It seems that any trauma to my bladder opens the door for my IC to rear it's ugly head. And boy, can that ever be painful!

No, I've never had problems with antibiotics, except for the time they gave me the wrong antibiotic for the particular bacteria I had. (The only problem was that it didn't work!) No nausea or anything, though pain meds are a different story, -they most always make me sick as a dog. When I've taken antibiotics for non-bladder issues it almost seemed like they calmed my IC more than usual. But, we're all different, this is just my meds experience.

What did I learn? That a UTI for someone with IC can be horrible. I've actually become overly compulsive about practices to avoid getting a bladder infection.

Vicki

[Janie Miranda]

Oh yeah, been there done that. The pain is absolutely horrific when you have a UTI and have IC. It might take a while for things to settle back down. Hope you feel better soon.

[futurehope]

I've just been through **** with a UTI along with the IC. See my thread:

http://www.ic-network.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52588


I have a few suggestions:
If possible (In your case, it was not. You were on vacation.), have the urinalysis done BEFORE taking any antibiotics. This way, the test will show all those big, bad germs in your urine before some are killed by the medicine.

If allowed, take any antibiotic prescribed WITH food, or you may wind up too sick to eat, yet very hungry. Not a good combination of circumstances.

If you have been diagnosed with IC, I suspect that the pain can be horrific, and the recovery longer when you contract an infection. Let's face it, your bladder is not perfect to begin with. If an infection takes hold, it's even worse. Only another IC'er can understand how truly horrific a situation it can be.

Having just been through this myself, I am now considering asking my uro if he would consider giving me some antibiotics should I decide to travel overseas, just in case I wind up with a UTI. I would NOT want to be suffering any longer than I had to away from home in such dire circumstances.

I am truly sorry for the suffering you've had to endure with this. May you have pain-free, and bacteria-free days ahead. Wishing you the best...... from a fellow IC sufferer.

P.S. If someone had prescribed painkillers for me, I would not be able to take them. I get really sick to my stomach and feel very bad from them. With my sensitivity to pain killers, it just makes me even more upset if I have a painful UTI. I just have to wait for the antibiotics to take away some of the pain. At least you can take pain meds. I'm glad that is an option for you.

[chloe's mom]

Thank you to all for your kind and helpful words! Today I AM feeling better! I am writing down- once again- all that I eat and how I react to my medicine. I also wrote in my journal all the tips from this website for coping with the pain so I can be better prepared next time! I really appreciate the support and wisdom of the girlfriends that are further on this marathon than I am! You are great!