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Urinary Tract Infections [UTI's]

whos_your_dolly
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My younger son, 18, has been partially paralyzed from the waist down for several years [since a spinal surgery gone wrong] which has led to him having to be catheterized 4-6 X/day.

Even though we use a sterile catheter kit each time we catheterize him, he continues to have intermittent UTI's requiring antibiotics.

Does anyone have a way for us to decrease the number of UTIs he gets?

We give him green tea extract in his G-tube for boosting his immune system, but don't know anything else to do.

His general health is excellent though, so its mainly just a UTI problem. Thanks
Marilyn

Explore topics in this discussion:

Down syndrome Surgery Pain Urinary tract infections

10 replies

tpnmom21

H Marilyn,
I have a daughter that i in and out cath 5-6 times a day. She had so many infections the doc finally put her on a maintenance dose of Furadantin, and that has finally helped cut down on the number of infections. Hope that helps.

whos_your_dolly

Yes!!
We use Furadantin every time we suspect a UTI is rearing its ugly head [by seeing continuous cloudy or smelly urine], and often the UTI seems to go away or at least abate a great deal. If not, we take a sample in to our doc and he gets an antibiotic once he finds out what the infection is.
I just wish there were more things we could do to keep the infections away.
Could I ask how old your daughter is and how much Furadantin she takes as a maintenance dose?
Thanks.
Marilyn

tpnmom21

HI Marilyn,
My daughter is 21 and has down syndrome. She is on tpn and last year her bladder quite working. She is on 10 mls of furadantin daily.

dreamlady1931

My daughter doesn't have a cath or anything but she is very susceptible to UTI's. Her PCH recommended using AZO--there are plenty of generics for this! which is related to the cranberry juice--natural way to go but w/out the sugar. She hasn't had a UTI since--knock on wood!
Mary

Jesana

I take cranberry extract and vitamin c to prevent utis. last time I had a uti it was caused by pseudomonas .also try flushing extra water every day

whos_your_dolly

Thanks for the great advice.

tpnmom:
Does she take the 10 ml at one time or in doses throughout the day?

Jesana:
I had forgotten about cranberry juice.
Where do you get the extract ?
Does it have sugar in it?
Do I need a prescription?
It goes straight into the feeding tube or do you mix it with or follow it with water or what?
How many doses per day and how much per dose? How much extra water per day are we talking about?

dreamlady:
Do I need a prescription to get AZO?
How much does your daughter take per day?
How old is she and/or about how much does she weigh?
Do you give it in one dose or several?

Thanks so much everyone !!
God bless you all
Marilyn

Jesana

the cranberry I use is made by nature way has no sugar. its not covered by insurance tho so if another brand is on sale I may choose the other
you just open the dapsule and mix with a 30cc water
120cc water 4 times day plus 150cc water 5 times day . I hope I haven't mixed up the cc with the ml

whos_your_dolly

Thanks so much-- I'm going to try that if hubby says OK since he knows more about medicine than I do, I always mix up the mm and the cc but I think really they are about the same aren't they? Hope so !

Thanks again
Marilyn

We finally got my son's Intellitalk working on the computer again so he chose his own activities today on the computer.

Got rained out of going into the pool, but the rest he got to do.

Now I have to try to get my younger son to use the communication device too !!

All he wants to do is boogie along to his music and play his piano !!

Then I have to teach the caregivers how to use it !
Fun fun fun!

bye and God bless
Marilyn

prettykitty

I use intermittent catheters 6 times a day via mitrofanoff stoma, and get probably one or two infections a year now. Before I got the mitrofanoff, I was having infections all the time, despite doing sterile cathing techniques. I also switched to using hydrophillic catheters (LoFric is a good brand). These cause less trauma to the urethra, therefore, there is less of a chance of bacteria getting into a scrape in the urethra or bladder.
As for stuff to use to prevent UTI's, I take cranberry tablets 2 times a day, take probiotic tablets once a day, as well as extra Vitamin C (all of these are also avalible in liquid for for tube feedings). I am into taking nautral treatments for prevention of infections, and have found that these 3 things have helped me. If you already have a bladder infection, the homeopathic medicines: Cantharis, Nux Vomica, and Staphysagria all help with pain and frequent urination due to infections. These are sold at most nautral food stores and Super Supplements stores.

Jessie

prettykitty

Oh, I almost forgot. If you are wanting to use AZO tablets for bladder infection pain, these can be bought over the counter for about 6 dollars a box. These are wonderful for the first one or two days of a bladder infection.

Also, I am still on Nitrofurantoin for long term antiobiotic therapy (mainly because of my history of kidney infections due to kidney reflux). I take 4 tsp. at night daily (I can't remember how much mg's that is exactly, though).

Hope this helps!

Jessie

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