Feel free to discuss any topic of general interest, so long as nothing you post here is likely to be interpreted as insulting, and/or inflammatory, nor clearly designed to provoke any individual or group. Please be considerate of others feelings, and they will be considerate of yours.
It was bad enough that my skin rash was flaring before I left, and my rheumy had me up the prednisone from 6 to 10 mg. I've been in Sweden on vacation with my husband since Thursday and I just developed a UTI!! First one in years! And I forgot to bring my D-Mannose!!! stupid, stupid, stupid me!
Now I need to navigate either Swedish health food stores for some D-mannose, or the Swedish healthcare system for an antibiotic! Is anyone from Sweden here?
Regarding antibiotics, it seems my options will be Macrobid, Monurol, maybe bactrim. Uncomplicated UTIs are not given quinolones like Cipro. Should I avoid any of the above? I've taken them all before with no trouble, although Macrobid comes with some warnings now.
With any luck at all, maybe the antibiotic will heal the rash? Yeah right.
And BTW, eating GF in Sweden is not as easy as I expected, despite celiac being the "Swedish disease". Yes, the chefs and waiters all know about it, but options are not evident on menus, unless you're after GF pizza or GF buns for fast food burgers. Ugh.
Bummer! We have several members in Sweden, but the only one I can think of at the moment is Jonas, who is an engineer, about your age. He last posted in March.
I'll PM you his email address, in case you want to try to contact him.
If I think of any others, I'll add another post here.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Hope the Nordic trip ends up well in the end! Best of luck in resolving the UTI quickly.
You might find Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt's sight helpful. He has been one of the leading advocates for low carb/gluten free eating in Sweden. It has been a fast growing trend in his country. He will write about different foods dishes and restaurants in Scandinavia from time to time.
You're not a truck driver obviously!, but if on the road seeing sights recall this post about the restaurant Rasta.
"Swedish Truck Drivers Can Now Eat LCHF Almost Anywhere"
Well I managed to get to a healthfood store today and bought Sweden's most popular supplement for active UTIs. They are cranberry and uva ursi capsules and I'm taking the max dose throughout the day. There are documented studies that this combo can cure UTIs, and I did feel better, not worse, but I'm still peeing lots of cloudy bacteria and it still hurts at the end. I'm hoping all the unusually bacteria-filled urine means the supplement is working to wash it all out. Cranberry should stop bacteria from adhering, and UVA ursi, which is full of tannins, is a urinary antiseptic. If I'm not noticeably better tomorrow, I think I'll see an urgent care doc and ask for Monurol (also works as an antiseptic).
Spent the evening with a family we know in the burbs. It was nice to see how the Swedes live. The husband lost 40 lbs on a low carb diet last year. I had no idea they were such a craze here. All I see is coffee shops everywhere full of pastries and sandwiches!
I attempted to see a doctor today. I found 2 apparent options on the Internet, and the hotel sent me to one 7 blocks away, only to get there and learn they only opened after 5 pm. I needed to be in another town at 3:30. So I trekked 6 blocks to the other walk-in clinic, picked a number, and realized I was 161 and they were only at 140. By then, I only had an hour, so I had to skip the doctor. Some Canadians in the waiting room told me I'd have to pay $250 up front to be seen. Ouch! So I stopped at a pharmacy and bought regular cranberry concentrate pills (no uva ursi), so I could OD on cranberry. So far, so good. My symptoms were minimal the rest of the day, and I'm hopeful I'll be able to sleep tonight without multiple painful bathroom trips. I'm at a resort/conference center and hoping to have some r&r before we returning Thursday. Hubby is in meetings now so I get to relax in saunas, hot tubs, and the freezing cold ocean! Lots if walking along the waters of the archipelago too. Beautiful! Reminds me of Maine.
I won! For the first time in my life, I successfully beat a full-blown UTI with nothing but lots of cranberry pills and water!! I just needed to be patient. My symptoms are gone, but I'm still taking the pills since the urine appears to sill have bacteria in it. What a relief! We only have one more day here though. Oh well. I'm ready to be back home with my kids.
I'm glad you're doing better. I've only been able to get rid of UTIs with antibiotics, so I'm impressed you've made progress without them. I don't know how you withstood the pain for so long.
Gloria
You never know what you can do until you have to do it.
I spoke too soon. As soon as I slowed the water consumption and cranberry pills, the pain and urgency would return, so I went to my doctor yesterday and was prescribed Bactrim. I've always done strangely well on Bactrim, so I requested it over Cipro (which the PA wanted to give me). After 24 hours, no BMs yet. I had a strange feeling of all-over warmth most of the day after taking it. This is the first antibiotic I've taken in 8 yrs, so I'm hoping it will miraculously clear my rash and D and I'll have my answer! But it's only a 3-day course, so wishful thinking...
A regimen of Bactrim gave me my first experience at being allergic to something when I broke out in a rash. The second time I took it, I had difficulty breathing and took prednisone for the first time. No more sulfa drugs for me.
I'm sorry that you're dealing with an itchy skin rash again on top of a UTI. Ugh! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't get one again, though I do have an itchy bump on my head. I'm hoping the Claritin keeps it under control. Summer seems to be the culprit. Maybe you can double your antihistamine dosage?
Gloria
You never know what you can do until you have to do it.
I ended my 3-day course of Bactrim this morning, then realized I had no BMs the last 2 days. I finally went tonight and it was a Norman (haven't seen one in ages). I wonder how long this temporary antibiotic-induced remission will last? Does this give me any answers? My rash hasn't changed much. Still pink and itchy.
Hmm...Bactrim disrupts the production and use of folic acid in the body. That's how it kills bactetia. Is folic acid involved in MC or autoimmune reactions?
Zizzle wrote:Is folic acid involved in MC or autoimmune reactions?
There are probably other antibiotics besides Bactrim that have a similar effect.
Chemotherapy drugs such as methotrexate are also antifolates. Antifolates fight cancer by targeting rapidly-dividing cells, but this means that they also tend to cause adverse effects on bone marrow, skin, and hair (it's probably the reason why chemotherapy destroys hair). So this might be one reason why the Bactrim didn't seem to help your rash.
Folic acid is apparently important for proper immune system functioning with regard to allergies, also. Now that I've been taking high doses of it for several years (in Metanx), my hay fever symptoms are greatly attenuated. My use of antihistamines for treating pollen allergies is way down. I never felt the need to use any at all, last spring.
IOW, unless one is fighting cancer, folic acid is a good thing to have.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Methotrexate is the primary treatment for the muscle inflammation in Dermatomyositis (self-administered weekly injections at lower dosages than chemo). Double hmmm...
