I don’t get them. I think I had one or two as a small child, but not as an adult.
I got my first one at about 25 too, after spending too long in a bubble bath with my boyfriend. I got one more a couple years later, and once or twice I thought one was starting so I took Cystex for a couple days and it was fine. Cystex (it’s an OTC “antibacterial” medication) is all I used to get rid of all of them, it’s good stuff.
My UTIs weren’t painful at all, but just a SUPER uncomfortable feeling of having to pee all the time, plus blood in my urine.
For a period of about 5 years, I used to get them almost every time I had sex. I would take nitrofurantoin daily and still have a bottle of cipro at home just in case it got too bad within the first 20 minutes that I realized I had a problem to be able to walk anymore. My urologist said it was just something a lot of women go through in their 20’s, and most of them grow out of it. I seem to have grown out of it thank god.
I had 2, when I was 20/21. I haven’t had any since.
It went from feeling fine to peeing blood in 18 hours.
Peeing is the biggest thing. It doesn’t have to be the INSTANT sex is over but rather within 5 minutes. Cuddle, pee, back to cuddling.
Also – tight jeans. Tight jeans in the crotch are baaaaad. If you have to wear them, don’t wear them long (ie don’t wear them to dinner, just wear them to look cute dancing).
Yoga pants – if you’re sweating in them, even if running errands, get outta them as soon as possible.
My only one was 2 years ago due to jetskiing in a wet bathing suit and then not changing for a long while. Ick.
One more thing – you haven’t switched up your body wash or bar soap lately have you? Dove Sensitive skin or Cetaphil Gentle is best for the bits. I had a lot of irritation after switching to a different soap a year ago; doctor said to go with gentle and unscented stuff and not to deviate.
I had this spate of about three years where I got a few a year … and then it stopped and I’ve never had one again (it’s been more than 15 years). I suspect it was the kind of thing where maybe I only had ONE, and it kept resurfacing.
I believe I had good hygiene habits before, during, and since, so I still don’t know what the deal was.
(If I get another one after making this post, I’m going to lay it on your doorstep. 
)
I am horribly prone to them and have a ridiculously careful cranberry-pill regimen that works as long as I stick to it. As a result I only get them every couple of years, but if I didn’t pop them like they were M&Ms, it would be very bad.
I find it astonishingly convenient that you stuck never and other together as one option, because I was wavering between those two options.
I’ve never had a UTI as far as I know. However, the last time I had a physical they found white blood cells in my urine and suggested that I get it checked out to see if I had a UTI. As far as I know, UTIs are uncomfortable, and I felt absolutely no discomfort so I never got it checked out.
Used to be I got them all the time. Then I passed my kidney stones and never got one again. Have you been checked for stones? This was in my mid-20’s.
There was a period of a couple-three years when I got them every few months. Interestingly, that period coincided with a certain sexual relationship I was involved in. Since I stopped seeing that guy, I have not had another UTI (knock on wood).
Looking back, I think I also had a lot of yeast infections - even some not related to UTI-fighting antibiotics.
So. Not a coincidence for me, I don’t think.
I’m convinced - CONVINCED - that the number of antibiotic resistant UTI causing bacteria is way higher than they’re letting on. I’ve seen so many women describe just this thing. No UTI for years and years and then multiple UTI’s within 2 years. I think it’s just as simple as there being a couple of bacteria left to multiply in the urinary tract after you’re done with the antibiotics. I’m certain this happens with people who take their antibiotics as prescribed, although of course we expect to see it happen with people who don’t take them all, or take them at the wrong time or otherwise misuse them.
While your immune system may keep those bacteria at bay for a few weeks, or even months, eventually those colonies grow and then you have symptoms again.
So, sorry, OP. You finally got colonized. 
Could be worse, I’ve never had a (symptomatic UTI), but I had persistent bacterial vaginosis for 7 years. Seven years of itching and burning like it was herpes. Just kill me if that ever comes back.
I’ve only had one once, almost two years ago. ::knock on wood::
I am so very thankful to have never had one.
Used to get them, but haven’t had one for ages. I’m good with cotton knickers etc, but I refuse to pee after sex.
After I had a few it was made a lot easier as I can smell it as soon as I pee, way before I have any symptoms, yes, yuck. . Just drink loads of water and it never develops.
I was diagnosed with one by a doctor 20+ years ago, on the basis of my noting that I usually have to get up to go to the bathroom once or twice a night most nights (he did do a urine culture). No other symptoms.
And one other time, when I was newly pregnant with my first child. Again, diagnosed without symptoms, though before I finished the course of antibiotics I did have a couple of days of symptoms (feeling like I really needed to pee right after I’d already gone).
One thing to be aware of if you take of older adults is that UTIs present much differently in the elderly. They may have no pain or blood but instead can be very confused, often looking like dementia. If an elderly relative goes to the hospital for confusion, disorientation etc, make sure they check for a UTI!
I had a recurring UTI for the better part of 2 years. But after a single course of antibiotics that I dedicated myself to finishing fully (even after the symptoms disappeared), I’ve been totally UTI-free ever since.
I’ve been told by my doc that the ones that continually recur are because they weren’t fully gone in the first place. Make sure to finish your antibiotic regimen. If it keeps coming back, don’t just rely on water and cranberry. Those only treat the symptoms, not the bacteria causing the infection.
The very first patient that died on my shift was a 60something year old woman who came into the hospital for a UTI. She just stopped breathing while we were trying to move her from her chair to her bed, and they couldn’t get her heart beating again.
She didn’t even have a fever. She was supposed to be released the next day. Her poor daughter stepped off the elevator onto the floor right as the doctors started the Code Blue. I’ll never forget the look in her eyes. 
I’m pretty religious about antibiotics, so if this is the same UTI from 3 months ago popping back up again, it was because the 10 days of abx weren’t enough, not because I didn’t finish them. Trust me, all it takes is one little UTI that makes you bleed constantly from urethra, scream loudly when you urinate, and feel like there is a pinecone up your crotch for you to pay 100% attention to whatever medication will fix you.