Suggest Treatment For Recurrent UTI
I'm a 1st time user, so I'm not sure if my initial question went through, so here it is:
I'm 59 years old & my girlfriend is 46. She consistently gets a UTI after we have intercourse. She will take antibiotics or cranberry pills & the pain will go away/subside. Lately however, this is less & less effective. She recently went to get some homeopathic treatment & they gave her some adrenal gland supplements. She is becoming more & more frustrated that nothing is working. Other people have told her our ph balances aren't in sync. She realizes that if she does nothing & the UTI persists, that she may run the risk of kidney damage. Of course, she'd be completely mortified if she knew i was asking this question online, but I want to be able to speak intelligently on the subject when we discuss what to do. Let me know if you have any ideas or any other avenues we should pursue (urologist, OB-GYN, acupuncture - anything). Thanks
Ph disbalance does not cause UTIs
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thank you for using Healthcaremagic to post your question. It went through the first time.
I read it carefully and I understand your concern.
Here are some advises and steps that your girlfriend should consider :
- She should not urinate before the intercourse because that will open the urethral opening and predispose for infection. She should instead do that after the intercourse, so she can empty the bladder and eliminate bacterias who are trying to enter.
- Drink plenty of fluids.
- Next time she has an infection, she needs to be treated according the urine culture. It determines from which antibiotic she is sensitive, so basically which antibiotic would work better to clear the infection. By having taken a lot of antibiotics, I believe she might be resistant from many of them, so she needs to choose the right one and clear completely the infection.
- If she will still have another infection after that, then it is the time to see a urologist, who can advise to do a cistoscopy (scope exam of the bladder who rules out possible structural variations).
- Make sure you rule out sexually transmitted infections, because they may cause UTIs.
This is not because of PH differences. PH has nothing to do with urinary tract infections.
Hope this is helpful.
Let me know if you need more clarifications.
Regards,
Dr.Papaqako
Thanks
No, it should not give UTI.
Detailed Answer:
Hello,
Thank you for the follow up question.
Oral sex should not give UTI.
Unless you push the bacteria from the anus to the entrance of urethra, but that would be very rare.
So, to clarify, the bacteria from the stool (E.coli) is the one causing UTI. So when it finds and entrance to the urinary ways, it causes UTI.
Hope this makes sense.
Regards,
Dr. Papaqako.