Sunday, October 25, 2009

My step son has a urinary tract infection caused by E.coli for a month now.?

He was diagnosed with it two weeks ago and given antibiotics. We went again to the doctor and he still has it. They are referring us to an Urologist. The appointment is for April 10th. We couldn鈥檛 get anything sooner. Seems like a long time to wait though. He doesn't show any signs of pain or blood or diarrhea. We're on top of him about good hygiene especially now. Should we be worried? Should we just take him to the emergency room tonight?
Answer:
You should try another Urologist, call the one that you have an appointment with AGAIN, and explain you need an appointment much sooner(it is really an emergency--you do not want the infection to spread up the urinary track to the bladder and or kidneys.),or take him to the Emergency Room.You should NOT have to wait ONE MONTH when he has an active--ACUTE Urinary Track Infection.He should DEFINATELY have, if he hasn't already, a urine culture done. The bacteria causing the infection may not respond to the antibiotic he is/was on. This is not entirely unusual. He may just need to be switched to a different one.If you live in the USA, you can't walk into a CVS, or Walgreens and buy antibiotics for this type of infection.You should not wait, because the infection can possibly get worse.
i have the same problem and my Dr told me to take cranberry pills, the cranberry pills raise the acidity of your urine and bacteria can't live in your urine as easily, you can get them at the drug store for about 8$, if he starts to develop a fever or signs and symptoms you should get him to a doctor
The emergency room thing might not be a bad idea considering how long you'll have to wait otherwise. Just so you know, this strain of E. coli wouldn't be the one that you hear about on the news that kills people.....that causes blood diarrhea and so forth. That is E. coli O157:H7. It does not cause urinary tract infections. I would have thought that an antibiotic would have worked by now so it's a good idea to follow up on it. Good Luck!
He has a very common bacteria in the urinary tract. If he is not running a fever, and not complaining of urinary symptoms, I think it would be safe to wait until 4/10. The urologist is going to prescribe antibiotics, probably Levaquin or maybe Cipro since he can get it at some Walmart drug stores for free. I am assuming he is on an antibiotic now. There are some strains of E coli which are not suceptible to certain antibiotics, but they should have done a urine culture to determine that.
Urinary tract infections are more common among men/boys who are not circumsized and can reek misery on them. Maybe that is why your doctor has referred him. Of course, I could be way off base here, but it may come up as a suggestion to have him cicumsized if he is not.
I would probably not take him to the ER unless he is symptomatic and running a fever because it is very expensive and they are going to tell you to follow up with the Urologist on 4/10
RN
Why are you taking him to the ER? You didn't mention anything about worsening symptoms. You have an appointment with the appropriate specialist. You have the medications to help his infection. He isn't in pain.So what do you expect the ER to do? This is not an emergency.

No comments:

Post a Comment

 


has a cold © 2008. Design by: Pocket Web Hosting

vc .net