Hi! I am 60 female and now getting recurrent Utis every few months .I have never had them before til this year! The drs put me on antibiotics and it takes care if it and thrn I get another one!
I currently have one now and just started another round of antibiotics! am Drinking cranberry juice to see if this helps! Any other thoughts for preventative measures? thanks!
Do not allow yourself to get constipated, as passing
hard stool can initiate a UTI, imo. For this, eat a Kiwi or 3 Prunes
daily.
Taking antibiotics on and off every few months for 7-10 days is the exact bad recipe for using antibiotics the wrong way. It is the recipe to grow antibiotic resistant bacteria, meaning there is no antibiotic that can help you after this because now there are Super-bugs. See a Urologist instead.
Be sure the UTI has cleared fully at the end of taking the antibiotic; get checked for a yeast infection-get that cured. If you get a yeast infection and it goes untreated,
you may itch, feel uncomfortable, use more toilet paper, and voila, another UTI.
Apologies, if this was too much information.
Cranberry juice has sugar which can cause other problems, like yeast infections. My Mom was on cranberry tablets and a probiotic. In the year she took them, she never had another UTI.
Drink lots of water and void completely.
I am assuming you have thoroughly explored this with your doctor? It is a very common problem in aging. Some use hormones via vaginal or application to genital area, as women are susceptible to UTIs following menopause due to the short distance of their urethra to bladder, and the thinning of mucus membranes with aging and lack of hormones. The application of hormones causes a "plumping up" of the tissue of the area, hence prevention of bacterial being introduced.
Good luck; you aren't alone.
One other suggestion her Dr made is to take low dose antibiotics as a prophylactic to prevent future infections. This was based on a large number of UTIs in a year. She has not done this yet. Dr told her UTI infections are tough to get rid of as once you have one there are residual bacteria that stay in your bladder causing recurrence.
Untreated UTi infections can cause kidney infections and more serious complications so you want to address them right away.
Good luck, hope your doctor finds a resolution that works for you.
UTIs happen in elderly women for various reasons: hygiene, wearing incontinent products longer, changes in pH and changes in physiology, not drinking enough water. My MIL got so many UTIs then I started her on the d-mannose it cut them down by at least 50%.