Hi,
I am a 36 yr old female who over the past 15 years have had about 6 uti's I also have a history of kidney stones. June 17th I awoke with symptoms of urgency and frequency. I took an at home uti test and the results were neg. I assumed I must have a stone passing as I have found this to be a cause of the urgency and frequency in the past. I continued testing every few days for the next few weeks and took azo standard as needed and expected the flank pain of a kidney stone which never presented although I did have aching middle back pain. After 3 ½ weeks my symptoms worsened until I went to the er on July 10. They examined me and sent me for 2 ct scans first without contrast 2nd with. The ct scans showed a non obstructing 3mm stable stone in my rt kidney that has remained unchanged since a ct scan in 2008, but no other problems. They ran a urinalysis as well as a cbc. My urine was postitive for nitites, but only trace wbc and a 1+protein (not sure what that means). My cbc showed an elevated wbc of 17 which lead them to believe I had a bad infection. The gave me IV antibiotics and keflex pills to take 4x a day for 7 days which I finished the following Sunday meanwhile my culture came back as gram positive for mixed flora ( I don't know what that means.) My symptoms improved but did not go away after 4 days after starting the antibiotics, so I went to a walk in urgent care facility, their dip stick test was neg. and when they cultured my urine sample there was no sign of infection. I then saw a Urologist who reviewed my ct scans and preformed an ultrasound as well. He saw no obstructions or reasons for my symptoms and told me I have inflammation left from the infection and gave me a 2 week sample of toviaz and to come back in one month in and he will run a test to make sure my bladder is empting completely. I took one Toviaz that night and the following morning the pain of urgency was much worse so I went back to the er. They ran another urinalysis and said it looked good and the cbc showed my white blood cell count was down to 14 which they were very happy about. They gave me iv fluids and torradol to help with inflammation as well as a script for naproxen. I have not taken the toviaz since and still feel symptoms. The duration of the symptoms seem to have improved slightly as I will have a few hours a day that I am almost symptom free. I also had my yearly exam with my ob/gyn last week, everything was normal and after I relayed my expirences with her she said I might have IC, which has really scared me. I'm not sure what to do now and although I have been trying not to take azo I did take one this morning (after 4 days without) for unbearable symptoms. I have not gone back on the toviaz as I am afraid it worsened my symptoms before and am terrified of going through even more pain. Could you please advise me as to what could be going on and how I should proceed? Could this really be left over inflammation? I am also very curious as to what the protein in my urine could mean and why the at home uti test results were neg? I am also not sure why the urologist gave me medicine for an over active bladder? Also is it safe to take Azo standard on an occasional basis?
Thank you,
Christy