I noticed on Monday that I was getting what I thought was a urinary tract infection. I had to drive home from Ohio that day, and I ended up stopping at rest areas about eleven times in my eight-hour trip. I had more packs of gum that any one human being needs since I bought them to earn the ‘privilege’ of using the gas station’s bathroom. So with the infection seemingly getting worse and with me now having pain in my back right where my kidneys were, I called my doctor at 8 AM sharp on Tuesday morning to get an appointment. I had to work that day because my co-worker was on vacation and I knew it was going to be crazy. So I took an hour to go to my appointment. The nurse-practitioner I saw was great - she gave me a heavy antibiotic to take and said I should be better by the next day.
I wasn’t. I stayed home from work the next day on a sick day, but didn’t get better - in fact, the kidney pain got even worse. So I called the office to speak with the nurse-practitioner at 1:30. No call-back. I called the office and discovered that she had left at 2 and had obviously not answered my voice mail. Wonderful. I eventually called the doctor on-call, hoping to get my doctor (who was booked when I tried to make an appointment), but got a different doc who told me that if it got worse, I needed to go to the ER or to Patient First, one of our emergi-centers (which I will avoid like the PLAGUE - there could be no one at all in the waiting room and it still takes three hours to get in and out). I stuck it out the rest of the night, running a fever with the kidney pain and feeling nauseous, and the nurse-practitioner called me back early on Thursday morning at work (had to go…I’m low on sick days). I explained to her that things weren’t getting better, and she changed my anti-biotic to a londer course of a heavier med. I started taking those yesterday afternoon - 2 doses yesterday and 2 doses today. She said I should feel a definitely improvement by this morning.
So this morning, I felt better. I called her at about 2 like she’d asked me to and told her I was feeling better and it felt like the antibiotic was working. So…what the fuck happens? Around 4:30, my fever comes back and I’m hurting again and exhausted. OF COURSE! The office closes at 4:30 on Fridays too, so I can’t even call her.
I am so fucking tired of being sick and I am so fucking tired of having pain in my back. I’m missing a birthday party in Northern Virginia for my cousin’s husband, with all of my family, because I know it would fucking wipe me out. Why the FUCK won’t one of these shitty antibiotics do some good? And because my grandmother had kidney disease when she was my age and lost a kidney, I’m freaking out about that. All I want is for the fucking infection to go away and LEAVE ME ALONE! Is that so much to ask?
I’m not mad at the nurse - she’s been great with me. I’m mad at my shitty body which apparently does NOT want to work with me here. I wish I could trade it in for a new one at the moment.
It is a tired old refrain, but avabeth, I know how you feel. Bet you have a kidney stone. I’ve been at war with the little suckers for over five years, and just recently had my fifth lithotripsy.
Best I can say is that a hundred years ago these conditions couldn’t even be treated. At least now there are antibiotics and such.
Yeah, I’m giving it till the morning to give the antibiotics a little more time to take effect - if I’m still running a fever in the morning, it’s off to the ER I go. The nurse told me that if it got worse over the weekend, I was to go to the ER, do not pass go, do not collect $200. I hate the emergency room. I don’t want to go, but I know it may be a necessary evil.
Thanks, Baker, I might take you up on that. My poor fiance is worried to death, mainly because he’s eight hours away and can’t be here with me.
I’m sorry you’ve had so many:(. That’s got to suck - it’s only been 5 days for me and I’m tearing my hair out at it. The nurse said she was pretty sure it wasn’t a kidney stone, but at this rate, that might be what it is - or else it’s just a bad infection that my body can’t get rid of. Either way, it’s pissing me off.
Just chiming in to say ouch and that I sympathize. Kidneys hurt a lot when they are unhappy! (never had a stone but I did have a biopsy done w/o anesthesia)
I hope things improve soon but if they do not hie thee to the ER!
As far as what happened, it may be that the infection that you have has developed an immunity to the antibiotics that you were given. This has been happening more and more frequently in the last 5 years or so. It’s not that the antibiotics aren’t working, they are doing their damndest, it’s that the viral infections have mutated and have evolved defenses against the anit-biotics, rendering them ineffective. This is especially the case with ear infections.
IANAMD, BUT - kidneys are not the kinds of things to try to “tough it out” - renal failure can ruin your entire day - and every cell that dies gets you a little closer
Get to the ER. Now. If it’s a kidney stone, you want to start treatment NOW. If it’s a bacterial infection that’s resistant to your current antibiotic, you want to change your medicine ASAP. I’m not a doctor, but I do know when to go to the ER. This is one of those times.
I do hope you feel better soon, I know how awful you must feel.
Ava, I’m going to have to agree with Extraneous on this one.
I had a nasty kidney infection a few years ago - I was on mega-antibiotics but they didn’t do a damn thing. My temperature kept rising and I began hallucinating. Next thing I knew, my flatmate was pouring me into an ambulance and I woke up in the ER.
There, after accusing the drs and nurses of being vampires (I was seriously hallucinating by then) I spent a week in Charing Cross Hospital. Not pleasant!
Drink plenty of water - buckets, flush your system out. And if you don’t feel better, do go to the hospital. It’s never pleasant but neither is renal failure.
yep, if the anti-biotics aren’t working, they will at least have to do a culture to find out what bacteria they need to kill. that can take a couple of days. best to get started asap.
also, if you still feel burning when peeing, they have a special pain reliever for that (i have learned from several uti’s) that you can now buy over the counter. i can’t remember the name, but the pharm. should know. it turns your pee orange, which i always found necessary to show off
Orange? Bah! When I was having heavy-duty urinary problems, they put me on Urimax, which turns your piss blue. A deep, bright blue. Blue piss is disconcerting, to say the least.
I think the medication you’re talking about it Uristat, but I’m not sure.
Well, it’s only ten to ten in the AM here in ava’s time zone, and considering the tests/examinations that might well be conducted for possible kidney problems (and also considering that “morning” is a bit vague)…
I’m thinking that even if all is hunky-dorey and smooth sailing, it may well be past noontime before we hear news, good or bad.
But here’s hopin’ it’s good, all the same.
If she’s at the ER, it may be a while before she gets back to this thread. I hate hate hate ERs too, but sometimes ya gotta go, and I sure hope that’s why she hasn’t updated the thread!
Wow, I didn’t expect people to worry about me. Thanks, guys - sorry I didn’t check in sooner, but we just got back.
I did go to the emergency center (like a regular doctor’s office, only with emergency hours) this morning because when I woke up, my fever had jumped to 101 and my lower back was really hurting. I went in, they did another culture and saw that the infection is still heavily present. However, the doctor said since my nausea has gotten a little better and I’ve been on the antibiotics for two and a half days, she’s going to keep me on the antibiotics until Monday and if I’m not better by then, to call my regular doctor and see him. She did say that if my fever got higher, I was throwing up, or if I became lethargic that I was to go to the ER immediately. So if any of that happens today or tomorrow, I’ll go immediately - my family’s out of town tonight at a birthday party in Northern Virginia (which I was supposed to go to), but my neighbor’s home and she’s going to check on me over the day and the evening. I also have a prescription for pain relief (which I’ve already taken…I’m seriously hurting). And I have a close friend who’s already promised to fly out here from CA and beat me senseless if I don’t take care of this (she had a kidney disease when she was younger and lost one of her kidneys, so she takes these things very seriously), so I’m trying to stay on top of it.
I’m just going on day 6 of being sick and I’m getting tired of it. I’d really like to knock this out already.
Thanks again for worrying about me - I really appreciate it.
