Cystitis and TTC

Has anyone else had problems with recurring cystitis when TTC? I am currently suffering from the third occurrence of cystitis in the past 4 months. Each time I have been to my GP and have been prescribed antibiotics. Each time I have had tests to confirm they are appropriate antibiotics for the infection and that the infection has cleared after the treatment. It is very painful and frustrating! I have also told my GP that I am TTC and she has put me on antibiotics which are ok to take if you are pregnant. Still I am worried about being on antibiotics if I do find out that I am pregnant later in the month. Any suggestions? I feel like I should give up for a few months.

Jade_21

Hi Jade,
I have been TTC for what seems like forever now but I too had recurrent Cystitis- every month for about 10 months until I was sick of my GP telling me there was nothing i could do but go on a long term, low dose of antibiotics for 6 months??? Not something I wanted to do. She could give me no answers about why they were recurring and wouldn't send me to a specialist?? I ended up going to a naturopath and she cleared them up totally. I had to avoid yeast, took probiotics and a Vitamin C powder. I have had two since september last year which is a huge improvement!!! I hate getting them they are so awful!!! My advice would be to go to a Naturopath and see what they can do for you!! I hope this helps!! Good luck with TTC!!

Hi!
Cranberry tabs work really well to mask the signs of cystitis but if you fall pregnant while taking it it can harm the baby. They (health pros) recommend not having cranberry juice/tabs while TTC( see tablet labels)...which is a shame because it does work well!!!

Thanks Ali,

I will go and see a naturopath. I didn't realise that you shouldn't drink cranberry juice while TTC. I did have a pharmacist sell me Ureze to help with the symptoms and for prevention in the future. When I got home and read the packet more carefully it said not to take if you are pregnant or intent to become pregnant. It was really annoying since I had specifically asked if was ok to take if I was pregnant and they wouldn't take it back since I had opened the packet and taken one.

Jade

Hi Jade,
that's annoying about the ureze!!! It really is a shame about cranberry because it really helps stop the pain, etc. Goodluck with the naturopath let me know how you get on!!

Hello, whoops *bad mother alert* I took cranberry (capsules) while TTC and also while pregnant!!! I took a limited dose, and actually made the pharmacist look it up and read the contraindications before I decided. The problem with a lot of these things is there's not necessarily any evidence of harm, but in this day and age of litigation they don't like to take any chances and therefore they add these disclaimers to their products. I'm not saying take cranberry, I'm just saying be an informed consumer.

In the presence of any chronic health issue, it's a good idea to consult a naturopath or chinese medical practitioner, especially if conventional western medecine doesn't come up with the goods! Hope you get some relief soon!
:-)

Jade
I used to get rip-roaring-vomiting-headachey-high-fever-nearly-pass-out-on-the-loo urinary tract infections quite regularly which could only be fixed by antibiotics. These were caused my an ill fitting diagpragm which was crushing my urinary tract.

Then as I got a bit older I used to get them (i thought because of the damage) but they weren't nearly so bad - more just a constant urge to go to the loo and passing teaspoonsful - but I'd always take antibiotics coz I was petrified of kidney infection.

Then I studied herbal medicine and started taking some herbal remedies but still seemed to have this recurring problem. Eventually I had a urine sample taken and it was so sterile (it had virtually nothing in it) the lab commented about it. (That proved to me that herbs can work). But despite an immaculate urine specimen I still had the UTI problem. I mentioned this to my herbal medicine teacher and she suggested that I might actually need a chiropractic adjustment as something might be triggering the bladder too often and giving that UTI type feeling. I went off and found a good chiro and et voila - fixed. (Interestingly the chiro asked if I was getting up to any unusual positions while BDing or DTD more than usual - she thought that might've been putting the back out of alignment - LOL).

Just a thought!

PS one of the most soothing things to drink while you are in the midst of an attack is a tea made from the silk of fresh corn. I always save it when I buy it from the markets and dry it in a brown paper bag for a few days then keep it in an airtight jar for emergencies. It has really soothing properties and just tastes like hot water really.

Thanks for your suggestion; I will mention it to my chiro next time I visit. My GP has put me on a low dose of antibiotics and will be sending me off for a ultra sound in a few weeks when things have settled down to check that everything is ok. I am feeling a lot better but I am not sure if I want to try to conceive next month.

Jade

I just thought I'd ask - although I'm sure you've been told: did your doctor go over the other ways to avoid UTIs? (Like I said, I'm sure if this has been a long term problem, they've discussed it with you, but I've worked in health care, and it's amazing what things get missed sometimes! Everyone assumes that someone else discussed it.) Anyways, here are some that I know of off the top of my head: drink lots of water, never "hold it" when you think you have to go, cut back on the caffeine, try the cranberry juice (in moderation), always wipe from front to back, and ALWAYS go to the bathroom after BD.
Hope you can find something to help - they sure are miserable! All the best!

Uti's are so painful and annoying my suggestion from someone who had them every two weeks for 2 years when i was in my late teens. My preventors were, cranberry juice twice daily, lots of water, after sex go to toilet (i know you are TTC but maybe wait for 10-15 mins then go to loo) make sure you completely finish weeing after sex and drink heaps of water to flush yourself out. Good luck hope this helps.

I had an ultra sound a couple of days ago and my results came back fine and there was no indication of any underlying issues. Good news. (The Ultra sound was just before I was about to ovulate and they actually spotted it on my ultra sound!). My GP still wants me to see an Urologist and has suggested that we put TTC on hold until I have been to the Urologist. Apparently my GP is concerned that I may end up with a kidney infection while I am pregnant if I keep getting UTIs. I am booked in at specialist in 3 and half weeks and I am also still taking the low dose antibiotics. Unfortunately I will probably just miss another ovulation cycle.

Thank you for all of the suggestions. I will continue to drink lots of water and will make sure I go to the toilet after sex. I have been feeling guilty as I know that I stopped going to the toilet straight after sex when we first started TTC and I think that this may have triggered the first attack.

Fingers crossed that I won’t have any further problems with UTIs and that we will be able to start TTC again in November. (I need to stop thinking about the 4-5 months the whole saga has wasted).

Jade

Good luck with everything Jade it must be hard to find out that you were ovulating but can't do anything about it. It's good also that your doctor is on top of it all and you can hopefully get ome good results from the specialists... :goodluck:

Jane