Consistent UTI During Pregnancy

Updated on July 26, 2010
J.M. asks from Keokuk, IA
12 answers

I am currently 25 weeks pregnant with my third child. I have had a UTI for the last month. I have been treated twice with two different antibiotics with no success. I went back to the doctors office yesterday but I have to wait for another culture. I have read online that after they treat twice without success that they may put you on a low dose antibiotic for the rest of your pregnancy. I ask about that when I was in the doctors office yesterday and they said that is a possibility but I won't know what they are going to do until Monday. Has anyone else had this problem during pregnancy and if so what did they do for you? Did it have other side effects?

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S.S.

answers from Cincinnati on

Try drinking cranberry juice while taking the antibiotics. I had been on three antibiotics when I was pregnant to treat a UTI that I had for almost two mnths, cranberry juice helped clear it up when I drank it with my last round of meds

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J.L.

answers from Iowa City on

I'm in the same situation as you I am 40 weeks pregnant and I have had 4 positive cultures in the last 7 weeks! It is very frusturating!!! I had a check up yesterday and the doctor put me on Cephalexin 500mg once a day until I deliver and then also diflucan once a week until delivery to help prevent yeast infections from all the antibiotics! I'm hoping this course of treatment works! I'm tired of being in pain! J.

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J.G.

answers from Springfield on

Yep, that happened to me. My OB sent me to a urologist just to be safe. She said UTI's during pregnancy can be very dangerous for mom and baby, so she gave me a high dose antibiotic (that I believe got rid of it) and kept me on a low dose for the rest of the pregnancy.

I had morning sickness the whole pregnancy, so I can't say I loved being on the meds. But my son is gorgeous and healthy, so I'm happy.

1 mom found this helpful
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K.W.

answers from Cedar Rapids on

Hello! You're definitely not alone; this happened with both of my pregnancies. Starting at about 20 weeks I would get a UTI and it just wouldn't go away or would keep returning. With my first, they treated me for 5 of them before going with a low dose of Macrobid once a day as a preventative measure. With my second, we knew it was happening again and my doctor only treated me for 2 of them before going with the Macrobid once a day again.

Both times I was given an initial 10-day round of Keflex (sp?) to knock out the infection and then told to start the Macrobid the day after I ran out of that. It worked both times, although I will say that the Keflex made me a bit nauseated. The Macrobid, however, had no side effects and was perfectly effective in keeping the UTI's away.

As other people have commented, having a UTI while pregnant is more dangerous because it's much easier for the infection to travel up to your kidneys and then start to affect the baby. Because of this, taking an antibiotic once a day is FAR less risky than continuous UTI's. However, once you hit 36 weeks, the risk of the antibiotic outweighs the risk of the UTI and my OB had me discontinue the once-a-day Macrobid for the last four weeks of each pregnancy.

I hope this helps and wish you the best of luck with the rest of your pregnancy!

1 mom found this helpful

P.W.

answers from Dallas on

Ask your doctor about Probiotics. I take one every single day and am a huge believer. Let me know if I can recommend.

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L.

answers from Minneapolis on

I'm not pregnant but also had been getting UTI's repeatedlly. I hope that my experience can help. I decided to try to get better without anitbiotics. I took 1000 mg of vitamin C every couple of hours, along with lots of water and cranberry juice. I bought the 100% juice frozen kind and scooped spoonfuls into my tea. I'm also taking Florajen probiotics. It took maybe half a day for the discomfort to go away but it worked! I had to continue the vit C and cranberry for awhile. I try to stay aware of how my body is feeling so I don't get dehydrated because it's easy to do if you are outdoors on a hot day,

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A.E.

answers from La Crosse on

I had repeated UTIs and FINALLY they realized I had an e coli infection that had to be treated instead of the usual UTI presecription. Once diagnosed correctly, and medicated, it all cleared up, and I haven't had one since then (7 years). I would highly recommend that you make sure that you don't have an e coli infection, which is very common, and usually misdiagnosed.

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K.B.

answers from Milwaukee on

I know this is going to sound strange, but when I got a UTI while I was pregnant with my daughter, my doctor told be to lean forward a little on the toilet after I was done urinating and to pull up on my baby belly to help drain the residual urine from my bladder. He said that the baby pushes on the bladder and distorts the shape and by doing this I could help prevent residual urine in the bladder that can be the cause of some UTIs.

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M.W.

answers from Boise on

Try drinking a ton of water. My grandma has frequent UTIs and the doctor told her that we always have bacteria in our bladder, and if we are dehydrated, the bacteria grow and we get infections. If it is always diluted with lots of water, then no infections. Also, the foods that you eat affect your urine ph. Try taking a glass of water, put in one tablespoon of baking soda and drink it down really fast. This has helped me.

K.J.

answers from Nashville on

I don't really have any advice, because I only had two infections while I was pregnant and both were successfully treated. However, I have read that having a UTI while pregnant is much more dangerous to you (and of course your baby) than just a regular UTI when you aren't pregnant. This is why you may constantly need antibiotics. The antibiotics the give you are different when you are pregnant than when you are not. This is because they are supposed to be safe for the baby. There haven't been any side effects from long term antibiotics that I have read (which is a lot since I suffered from chronic UTI's before I was pregnant so I did lots of research). I just read that since the antibiotics are different, it can be hard to knock out the infection and you are now very well aware.

Sorry I don't have any real advice, but I wanted to share the little info I had. Hopefully this culture will turn up negative! Good luck!!!

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J.P.

answers from Los Angeles on

I used Apex Immune Support and Nordic Naturals PB8 for a month, which boosted my immune system. I also used lots of vitmain A, which is contraindicated in pregnancy, but I knew it was safer than the ABX.

www.worldlifesupplements.com
www.nordicnaturals.com

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