UTI being treated - continuing kidney pressure/ache

July 5, 2015 9:31 PM

I was diagnosed with a UTI on Friday and given antibiotics. I'm feeling much better, but am still experiencing aching in what I'm about 99% sure are my kidneys. I'm going to call my doctor on Tuesday when the office is open again, but in the meantime I'm hoping to get some kind of rough idea what to expect, and I figured the green was the place to go.

YANMD. For Reasons, I do not want to see a different doctor unless absolutely necessary. I am calling my doctor on Tuesday when his office is open. If I experience significant worsening in the meantime, I WILL go to Urgent Care or the ER.

I started wondering whether I might have a UTI early in the week, but it felt pretty mild. I drank a boatload of water, some cranberry juice, took an anti-inflammatory, and felt better. A couple of days passed this way.

Thursday I still felt fine when urinating - urine seemed clear, non-cloudy, no blood (I've had two UTIs before and there was always visible blood) - but I felt slightly feverish and the area around my kidneys hurt. Fever is usually Step 1 for me when I feel any kind of ill whatsoever, and I occasionally feel a slight ache on one side or the other in roughly the same spot, so I didn't think too much of it. I took another ibuprofen, took a nap, and felt better in a couple hours.

Realizing it was a three-day weekend, I decided to see my doctor on Friday just in case, because I did NOT want to walk into the ER or Urgent Care on the fourth of July if things got worse. I was diagnosed with a "pretty bad" UTI and given antibiotics. Per doctor's orders, I took a double dose as soon as I got the prescription filled and went back to drinking loads of water and getting plenty of rest. About 3-4 hours after the appointment, I became feverish again, with some pain in the kidneys. Urine still clear, still no blood. Fever broke sometime in the night.

The last two days I've felt pretty close to fine, except for a mild - sometimes slightly more than mild - ache in the kidney area. It doesn't seem to be fading. Usually it's better first thing in the morning, but it gets bothersome again by the afternoon. Right now I'd rate it as a solid, "very annoying" ache.

The nurse who saw me at my doctor's office said that if I'd waited much longer I might have ended up in the hospital, but I also got the impression that she was trying to scare me into seeing a doctor sooner next time, based on her demeanor, phrasing, and her mention that I'd had infections before which she assumed I had also waited on. (For the record; I didn't wait before. The only reason I waited this time is that the last time I took antibiotics it brought my whole immune system down for months, and I was hoping to treat what I thought was a very mild one at home.)

So, how worried should I be? Should I be in the ER right now and don't realize it, or is waiting 'til Tuesday to see my doctor again probably fine? Have you experienced this before, or seen it in one of your patients, if you're a health professional?

posted by Urban Winter to Health & Fitness (14 answers total)

You don't mention your age but I had a horribly traumatizing event with my mother's UTI turning into a blood infection last year even after she was being treated because they didn't run a sensitivity on her urine sample to make sure the antibiotics they gave her were actually covering that infection. My mother is in her mid-sixties with various other ailments and previous infection histories so it might not have been so serious in a younger, healthier person but for what it's worth, with no medical training, just go to the ER and see what's up. There is no reason to mess around with this stuff when you have access to the emergency room and they can run the tests now, get you treated now, and then you can follow up with your doctor Tuesday.
posted by Merinda at 9:54 PM on July 5, 2015

I'm going to say you should split the difference here - go to an urgent care on Monday, vs. waiting for the regular doctor on Tuesday or going to the ER. I say this as a person who has had multiple UTIs with varying responses to antibiotics. A decent urgent care location should be able to determine what's going on.
posted by bedhead at 9:59 PM on July 5, 2015

I have gotten two serious staph infections that spread to my blood and nearly killed me because I waited too long when I had similar symptoms. I am not exaggerating. I almost died from UTIs twice. I also damaged my body irreparably in one or those instances.

Did they do a culture to determine what bacteria caused the UTI? How about a blood culture (results take at least 24 hours) to see if the infection had spread? Any assessment of your kidney function?

I ask these questions because most UTIs are caused by E. coli but not all are; typical antibiotics prescribed for a standard UTI caused by E.coli may not have been appropriate in your case. Hard to know without all the information, which, given what you have relayed here, I am not sure you or even your doctors have.

Please go to the doctor. You do not want to end up like I did. Waiting to see what might happen in the next 36 hours is seriously not worth it.
posted by sockermom at 10:01 PM on July 5, 2015 [2 favorites]

I've had this twice -- once it was actually the onset of a kidney infection, and once I was given an antibiotic my body couldn't handle (Cipro) and I got really, really sick. if it were me, I'd already be at urgent care, or at least be planning to go immediately tomorrow morning if the pain is something I can sleep through. Hope you feel better, and hope that in the end it's something mild and easily fixable.
posted by Hermione Granger at 10:06 PM on July 5, 2015

Kidney does not equal UTI. Go to an emergency room if you are this concerned. Please.
posted by jbenben at 10:06 PM on July 5, 2015

IANADr and IANYDr. Every time I've had a UTI the antibiotics have worked within 24 hours and the pain has subsided. This sounds different in many ways. Go to urgent care tomorrow.
posted by Toddles at 10:07 PM on July 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

Yeah, please go to the doctor. I once had an asymptomatic UTI that turned into a massive kidney infection--when I went to the doctor, finally feeling crappy, I had a fever of over 104F and was taken (by the doctor) straight from their office to the ER, where I was intubated, pumped full of antibiotics, and hospitalized for five days because I was going into shock and my body was shutting down. What you are describing is what I felt for most of that--like I had a uti (when it was finally presenting) and then vaguely not well but, you know, not terrible. And then suddenly I went from, like, fifteen to sixty literally overnight.

Don't be me. Go to the doctor--if not the ER right this second, go to urgent care first first thing in the morning.
posted by MeghanC at 10:11 PM on July 5, 2015 [2 favorites]

And then suddenly I went from, like, fifteen to sixty literally overnight.

This was my experience, as well. I would recommend that you visit an ER.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 11:52 PM on July 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

Yeah, go to the ER. I would also suggest that you stop taking NSAIDS (such as ibuprofen) if there is any suspicion of a kidney infection as they're harmful for the kidney and may increase risks of complications.
posted by pikeandshield at 12:01 AM on July 6, 2015 [2 favorites]

You're in the United States, right? Don't wait until Tuesday: go to urgent care.

I say that as a person who once had a kidney infection misdiagnosed as the flu. It ended up with me in the ER a few days later, after waking up at 3AM with a temperature flip-flopping between 104 and 95. It was pretty scary, and I was billed 6K :(
posted by Susan PG at 5:12 AM on July 6, 2015

(In terms of symptoms, mine were fever, fatigue and mild kidney pain for several weeks, which escalated very suddenly into fever alternating with chills, serious kidney pain, and blood in my urine. I lost 15 pounds, and was exhausted for about a month afterwards.)
posted by Susan PG at 5:20 AM on July 6, 2015 [1 favorite]

Go to urgent care. Husband of a friend started developing weird mental symptoms among other things, turned out the root cause was a kidney infection which needed more antibiotics and other treatment, landed in the hospital and it took a while to find the real problem. Best to get this checked now.
posted by mermayd at 6:10 AM on July 6, 2015

You could have a bacteria that's resistant to the antibiotics they gave you. This is not uncommon. If your doctor doesn't immediately call-in a prescription for something stronger and a long course of treatment, go to urgent care. When this happened to me, I got a 10-day course of Cipro once they realized that the bacteria causing my infection was resistant to the initial antibiotic they gave me. Kidney damage is no joke and if your doctor's office doesn't respond quickly and aggressively, I'd find a new doctor.
posted by quince at 10:42 AM on July 6, 2015

This happened to me before. I got a UTI and was given antibiotics that were not appropriate for the type of bacteria I had. Strangely, they did make me feel a bit better, but I still had some symptoms. Thankfully, the culture came back from the lab a few days later and I was given the right antibiotics.

If your doctor didn't take a urine sample to culture it, you should go somewhere to get that done.
posted by Lingasol at 6:34 PM on July 6, 2015 [1 favorite]