#200170 - 07/19/11 04:05 PM
Need Help With Severe UTI
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EricW
Junior Member
Registered: 07/19/11
Posts: 5
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I am helping a buddy named Casey who is a c-3/4 total. He has been battle a urinary infection tht seems to be winning. We live in a small community where modern medicine can be a challenge.
Here is what i know so far.
He has been diagnosed with Pseudomonus. Started out taking macrobid which worked in the past. When macrobid didn't work he was put on Colistimethate which was 20 shots in 10 days. When that didn't work he was put on Tobramycin through a pic line 100ml a day for 10 days. This also had no noticable results.
The drug his "home town" doctor is considering now is called Amikacin. The doc is telling him that there is a nation wide shortage of this product.
It looks like it has some severe kidney and hearing loss side effects. Has anyone ever delt with this drug or successfully battled Pseudomonas?
Any other suggestions of what I can do to help him. I have access to Spokane, WA if a specialist is needed. What kind of specialist would deal with this.
Casey tells me that he feels that he is in a bad situation according to the local doc who seems a bit stumped and in no hurry to make things happen.
Any help or suggestions are appreciated. Thanks. EW
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#200176 - 07/19/11 04:51 PM
Re: Need Help With Severe UTI
[Re: EricW]
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anita
Member
Registered: 03/17/09
Posts: 155
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Pseudomonas infections of the kidney can be very nasty, and sometimes require a combination of different classes of antibiotics to treat effectively, either oral or IV.
Tobramycin and amikacin are both in the same family of antibiotics, and because of their potential for causing damage to the auditory nerve, they are usually reserved for the most serious infections resistant to other less toxic antibiotics, such as your friend's pseudomonas kidney infection.
Is his doctor doing antibiotic sensitivity tests before prescribing each new drug? It seems unusual that they keep giving him drugs that aren't working.
Is he being treated by a urologist with experience caring for patients with neurogenic bladder, or by a general practitioner? Your friend may want to ask an infectious disease doctor for help, since they have the most training in dealing with difficult infections.
What type of urinary drainage system is he using? Does he have a suprapubic or an indwelling catheter?
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#200183 - 07/19/11 08:09 PM
Re: Need Help With Severe UTI
[Re: anita]
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EricW
Junior Member
Registered: 07/19/11
Posts: 5
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Pseudomonas infections of the kidney can be very nasty, and sometimes require a combination of different classes of antibiotics to treat effectively, either oral or IV.
Tobramycin and amikacin are both in the same family of antibiotics, and because of their potential for causing damage to the auditory nerve, they are usually reserved for the most serious infections resistant to other less toxic antibiotics, such as your friend's pseudomonas kidney infection.
Is his doctor doing antibiotic sensitivity tests before prescribing each new drug? [i] I am not sure about this but I will find out.[/i] It seems unusual that they keep giving him drugs that aren't working.
Is he being treated by a urologist with experience caring for patients with neurogenic bladder, or by a general practitioner? Just the local family docor at the clinic at this point. We are a town of 1300 people in NE WA and the closes real opportunity for a specialist is 2 hours away in Spokane. Your friend may want to ask an infectious disease doctor for help, since they have the most training in dealing with difficult infections. I am looking for a refferal right now.
What type of urinary drainage system is he using? Does he have a suprapubic or an indwelling catheter? [i]Not sure on this, I will find out.
Sorry I just opened up with a need and no HELLO.
One more time:
Hello members, my name is EricW. I have a good friend named Casey who who was injured in a swimming accident 3 years ago leaving him with a SCI at the C3-4 level. Casey is 23 years old. I am really worried about his current condition because it seems like nothing is working to cure it and we live in a town of 1300 people in NE Washington.
I appreciate all the help and will follow up on the leads. thanks again.
Edited by EricW (07/19/11 09:04 PM)
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#200447 - 09/02/11 12:31 AM
Re: Need Help With Severe UTI
[Re: EricW]
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prettykitty
Junior Member
Registered: 09/01/11
Posts: 8
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Have you considered going to the University of WA Medical Center? They have very good urologic specialists, and might be able to help your friend.
Also, has he been perscribed any long-term antibiotic like Nitrofurantoin? I have been using this for years, and whenever the doctors try to take me off of it for a trial run, my UTI's always seem to come back no matter how often I cath myself. When I am on this antibiotic, I don't get UTI's or kidney infections.
Cranberry and/or blueberry juice works good to reduce UTI's. The herb Pau D' Arco helps as well. I take this whenever I feel a UTI's coming on and it helps to reduce the duration.
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#200449 - 09/02/11 01:09 PM
Re: Need Help With Severe UTI
[Re: prettykitty]
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anita
Member
Registered: 03/17/09
Posts: 155
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Nitrofurantoin should not be used to treat kidney infections (pyelonephritis), because it is incapable of achieving a therapeutic concentration in the blood. It is really only useful for treating or suppressing uncomplicated bladder infections caused by susceptible strains of E. Coli and Staph., but it should not be used in patients with impaired kidney function, which many SCI patients have.
Even in otherwise healthy patients, long term prophylactic use requires careful monitoring, becuase it has potentially very serious negative side effects including on the liver, lungs and nervous system in a certain percentage of patients.
Also, nitrofurantoin has no activity against Pseudomonas species, or against most strains of some other common species of bacteria such as Serratia and Proteus that frequently cause kidney infections in compromised hosts such as SCI patients.
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