Gail & Bobbie & Greg and others... I think I already wrote an entire e-mail about this the other day but my nemesis is pathogenic Proteus Mirabilis. When my husband was still alive he told me all about it but he also said: "There are 4 nasty pathogenic bacteria that you don't want in your bladder and they are Proteus Mirabilis, Pseudomonas (and there are different strains of Pseudomonas), Salmonella & Streptococcus."
I was first diagnosed with Proteus Mirabilis in 2006. Keep in mind it is different from Proteus Vulgaris. Anyway, Proteus Mirabilis is like Pseudomonas and that it is a colonizer (and my husband says it's a "swarmer" instead of a "swimmer" under a microscope since he used to do that for a living). It goes away sometimes but it is a sneaky bastard. Before my husband's passing he suspected that the P. Mirabilis had come back because I was building up increasing amounts of sediment in my catheter. Like Bobbie, I had been in bed with a Stage III wound and getting up on it was extremely dangerous until I was out of the water. We had a physician order a culture and sensitivity (ALWAYS important to get a sensitivity or sensitivity is regardless of growth and many lab technicians don't do that on a laziness) and, sure enough, it was present again. I then had a CT scan and found out I had 10 bladder stones. My husband passed away before I could have them removed. I had been removed in August 2012 along with Rosephin IV antibiotics during the cystoscopy to laser the bladder stones and that was successful. But after I came home she wanted me to do a Gentamicin washed into the bladder for 10 days which I did. The sediment refused to go away and it came back with a vengeance so I figured the P. Mirabilis was back. So the next time I had a culture done... sure enough it was still there. I did what my urologist and husband suggested and that was to do a daily installation of a ratio of white vinegar and sterile water together and hold the ratio of the two in your bladder for as long as possible. I was doing that until my urethra was damaged by a damn home health agency nurse at the end of January 2016. Things only got worse and therefore now I have no urethra so bacteria easily want to climb up into my bladder from the vaginal canal or the anus. That same urologist used to put me on a prophylactic antibiotic around catheter change time and that used to help. Augmentin helped get it under control the best guy eventually got allergic to it and had a hemolytic response to it (liver). Sometimes that is a good suggestion and sometimes not. My new urologist does not favor prophylactic antibiotics since they will just build up resistance. Augmentin is a combination of amoxicillin & clavulanic acid so I am allergic to amoxicillin as well. Just practical info from the net: "Commonly prescribed antibiotics are Bactrim, Amoxicillin, Ampicilin, and Cipro. These antibiotics are often unnecessary and may cause more problems in the future by destroying the beneficial bacteria that prevents pathogenic bacteria from growing. Long term use of antibiotics can also lead to antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria like E. coli developing in the gut, and a UTI caused by these bacteria will be even more challenging to eliminate and can cause more serious infections like a bladder or kidney infection. Biofilms will build up on the inside of Foley catheters and just increase the ability for certain pathogenic bacteria to continue on." I most definitely wish my husband was still here because I trust him more than I trust most doctors no matter who they are as well as laboratory technicians who get lazy and don't do the "full job." If there is not a certain amount of bacteria they won't do sensitivities. Bad move! Now I just have to hope for the best and do what I can for what works. The rest is up to fate for many of us. The problem arose when too many people were over using antibiotics and too many doctors were prescribing them for this or that or the other thing when they shouldn't have. But it brings in the $$$$$$. :-( People with spinal cord injuries who need x-rays, CT scans, antibiotics, power wheelchairs, hospital beds, and hundreds of other things keep many people rich. Sorry for the cynical view because there are many good doctors out there. ~Lori ☀ On Sun, Jun 4, 2017 at 8:13 PM, Gail Overton <[email protected]> wrote: > Bobby -- > > My husband has been suffering with a bunch of different UTI's over the > past 3 years. Many of the simple bacterial ones respond to oral > medications, but he has had pseudomonas now for 2 years and despite oral, > intravenous, and even bladder flushes, he still has it. It hibernates for > about a month, then comes back with a vengeance with counts over 100,000. > Most of the time it is between 50,000 and 100,000. His infection disease > doctor now has him on another polymycin bladder flush regimen that I doubt > will work because she's tried it twice already. This time she is dosing him > more frequently and for longer duration. We have another infectious disease > doctor lined up if this remedy doesn't work. She says he is just > "colonized" but someday this bug will kill him when he runs out of > antibiotic options.......... > > Gail > > -----Original Message----- > From: Bobbie Humphreys [mailto:[email protected]] > Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2017 7:39 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [QUAD-L] UTI drugs, dosage & duration > > In the beginning of March I had a really bad UTI that required infusion > therapy for 5 days. This was after I gave a culture to my GP, results > coming in 7 days later with a phone call saying "You need to see your > infectious disease doctor right away." > I was stuck in bed with a wound, so over the phone Dr. Allegra, my > infectious doctor, ordered the infusion drugs after getting the culture > results through email ... having never seeing him in person. > > In a follow-up visit June 2nd, 2 months later, I spoke to him regarding > the long wait for cultural results from my GP. > Dr. Allerga wrote out a RX, so next time I had symptoms of a UTI all I, or > Pete, have to do would be to drop off a specimen with the RX at the closets > Labcor. I did last week and over the phone he prescribed amoxicillin to be > taken 3 x's a day for 5 days. > > Does anybody else have a Doctor who does this for them? > Or > Has anybody ever taken UTI meds like I described above ? > Bobbie > > > "Be the change you want to see in the world". Gandhi > > -- "Petting, scratching and cuddling a dog could be soothing to the mind and heart and deep meditation and almost as good for the soul as prayer." ~Dean Koontz
