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Another damn UTI. A bad one (is there ever a good one)! This is the third one in 15 months.

The cause has me puzzled. Although I self-catheterize, I am very, very careful about the associated hygiene and the catheterization itself. My precautions exceed what I was told to do for CIC. I always wash my hands carefully and clean the head of the penis carefully. I pay out of my own pocket for hydrophilic catheters and my latex-gloved hands never touch the catheter shaft. Thoughts anyone?

--John

I assume you cath in you're bathroom. You may want to deep clean the entire room with a mild bleach before you cath next time. It could be from an excessive buildup of germs in the air of your bathroom.

UTIs are the pits. Although I second Brian's suggestion that there might be enough bacteria in your bathroom's air to give you this problem, you might also schedule an appointment with your urologist, to take a specimen and identify the critter, with counter measures taken accordingly. Good luck.

I'm sorry to hear that, John. In my nearly 3 years of being a Foley catheter user I've had the misfortune of having 2 of them. Theyre awful and throws off the delicate balance that is my bladder health. On occasion my interstitial cystitis will act up and mimick a UTI. I've actually gone to the doctor for one particular IC flare that was so bad I was convinced it was another UTI, though found out my urine was clear of infection and the urine cultures didn't grow anything after 48 hours. Either way UTI's suck and so do antibiotics. I really don't like to take them unless I absolutely have to. Good luck, I hope you feel better soon!!!!

That brings up a good point. The antibiotics will throw off my bowel health every bit a uti will throw off my urinary health.

So after a round of antibiotics, I've come to drinking something called Keifer. It is a fermented yogurt drink that has a dozen probiotics which are beneficial for your digestive tract, and for balancing things back again.

While it does have a wierd taste, it does work to rebalance things for me. As such, I highly recommend it anyone who is coming off a round of antibiotics.

Those all are very good ideas. Thanks a lot.

Now that I am feeling almost back to normal, my focus is on preventing a recurrence.

As I am double incontinent, my other concern is the increased risk of a bowel accident while taking the antibiotics. I usually have problems with this and am scheduled to teach a class tonight. We shall see. I definitely will use another of my Peristeen anal plugs.

--John

JD,

Good luck with your class tonight. Let us know how the plug worked.

In January 2013 I broke my neck at C4/5 in an accident. The spinal cord injury has left me with double incontinence. In May 2013 I had a suprapubic catheter installed.
Catheters have often been accused of causing UTIs. Between having my catheter installed and July 24th 2016 I did have more than a dozen UTIs, all of them soon stopped by taking 4x50mg Nitrofurantoin for a few days.
Between the nights of 16/17th January and 23/24th July 2016 I had 23 catheter blockages. The contents of my catheter at the time of blockage were never tested but it began to look as though some, perhaps most, of my blockages were associated with UTIs: so if my infections could be stopped, so too would the blockages.
I started using Nitrofurantoin to prevent rather than to cure infections immediately after my last blockage on 24th July 2016. I have had no blockage since. I took 50mg each evening for 30 days; then I gradually reduced it, and from the beginning of 2017, partially replaced it with natural antibiotics including lemon juice and vinegar. I have taken only 35x50mg Nitrofurantoin since the beginning of 2017.
I have had no blockage and no serious UTI since 24th July 2016; certainly no UTI sufficiently clear to be recognisable without bacterial analysis or to create enough sediment to cause a catheter blockage. So far, there has been no evidence of bacterial resistance to Nitrofurantoin in the doses I have been taking.
Of course, this is only my own story. I do not know for how many other people the methods would be suitable.

I have had an suprapubic now for just over 3 years and it's been the best thing ever. I have never had a blockage of any kind but have had a few UTIs but not of late. I have it changed now every six weeks and take cefelexin for three days before each change. I drink between 12 and 14 drinks per day. I have a vitamin C drink every day. I changed to an SP because of many infections with the urethral one I used for over a year and because of my last infection I got with the catheter up my penis on Christmas Day 3 years ago I have just had to have my left testicle removed. The rule of thumb is drink drink and more drink. Cleanliness is also important. I wish you well my freind and hope you keep infection free. 4wheeldave.