looking for answers

Megan - posted on 03/31/2009

Wendi- thank you very much, that is a lot of helpful information! The last article gives us something to take back to the urologist if she gets another UTI. We are crossing our fingers that she will just grow out of it like the doctor said but want to be prepared if not.

Wendi - posted on 03/26/2009

I'm not sure if this will be helpful, but I recently read an article linking both constipation and/or bladder dysfunction to UTI. My daughter also has reflux, but she had an unusually high number of UTIs (even for a refluxer). She continued to get them even after surgery to correct the reflux, so I spend a lot of time reading about UTIs. Studies have shown that reducing constipation and keeping the bladder empty can both have a big impact on the recurrence of UTI in both refluxers and non refluxers.

fwiw, we didn't realize that our daughter was even constipated until talking in depth with her urologist. She is now on a high fiber diet and a daily dose of Miralax. I can't say personally if it is helpful with the UTIs because we ended up with a vesicostomy to stop the infections (to preserve her kidneys from the reflux). But studies seem to be optimistic. Just wanted to throw that out there.

We think that our daughter's recurrent UTI may stem from an enlarged bladder. When the bladder is large, it doesn't void as often which allows bacteria more time to grow, thus creating a good environment for UTI. The problem with this is that the solution is catheterization which actually introduces more bacteria into the bladder. Kind of a catch-22 thing which I think is why it is sometimes not treated unless reflux is present.

I hope that some of this was helpful.

This is a quote from the study linked below:
"Relief of constipation resulted in disappearance of daytime urinary incontinence in 89% of the patients, nighttime urinary incontinence in 63% of the patients, and disappearance of recurrent urinary tract infections in all patients who had no anatomic urinary abnormalities."

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/article...

While looking up that article I found a very interesting article on PubMed about children with negative test results and what the next steps should be. This is one you might want to read.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/5802...

Elizabeth - posted on 03/22/2009

My daughter was the same way she was only a month old when she had her first UTI

Megan - posted on 03/18/2009

Quoting Elizabeth:

I have a question for you when did she start having the UTI's?? my daughter was a few months old when she started.

Her first UTI was when she was between 5 and 6 months.  It seems that she has one every 5 to 6 months since too.

Elizabeth - posted on 03/12/2009

I have a question for you when did she start having the UTI's?? my daughter was a few months old when she started.

Elizabeth - posted on 03/12/2009

She Fallopian tubes were not connected to her uterus when she was born she they waited until the kidney stones fell then did surgery to fix everything & it was suppose to fix the UTI's but it never worked. She is still getting them about 1-2 times a month. She will not drink cranberry juice so we put her on a cranberry pill she takes that once a day. that & vitamin c & her antibiotic to keep the infections away like that really helps. I know what you mean We wish that we can do more but the doctors say there is nothing more they can do. Just so sick of it all I want my Daughter well.

Megan - posted on 03/12/2009

Elizabeth what was the surgery for the kidney stones or somthing else?  And at 9 is she still getting UTI's and how often?  It is good to hear that there are others that have experienced this.  It is so frustrating to not have answers.  We are thankful we have a heathy daughter and that UTI's are the only medical concerns we have to worry about but when she continues to get sick with them it is hard to just believe there is nothing they can do.

Elizabeth - posted on 03/11/2009

My Daughter has the same problem as yours she is 9 years old & has had them all her life. She also had kidney stones when she was a baby. She had surgery when she was a year old. Our doctor still say to this day that there is nothing they can do. She is not emptying out her bladder. She has had all the test just like your daughter has & there is nothing they can do.

Elizabeth - posted on 03/11/2009

My Daughter has the same problem as yours she is 9 years old & has had them all her life. She also had kidney stones when she was a baby. She had surgery when she was a year old. Our doctor still say to this day that there is nothing they can do. She is not emptying out her bladder. She has had all the test just like your daughter has & there is nothing they can do.