okay help me lol...

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Registered: 03-27-2003
okay help me lol...
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Thu, 09-18-2008 - 12:15am
ok where do i start? we took a family vacation to jamaica last november. long story short i fell in love with a jamaican guy. i get lots of jokes about the movie "how stella got her groove back" lmao yes it was exactly like that. so since last november i have been back to jamaica 6 times! i live in baltimore. when i went back in june, i came home on a wednesday and on friday i felt a yucky UTI coming. called doc he called in the antibiotics. ok i didnt think too much of it. occasionally these things happen. now, i went again from aug17th - 31st. 4 days before i came home i felt the same yucky UTI coming on. so now i start thinking about whats causing this? is it the river i went swimming/had sex in? is it because for some reason i seem to never pee when i am there (i sweat so much instead lol )? or is it because my honey is not circumsized? i have had sex with a few partners but him being only the 2nd partner that was not circumsized. if it was the whole uncircumsized thing wouldnt i have gotten a UTI every time i was there? idk...what do you think? do i need to explain to him that he has to pull back his skin and carefully wash that area or what? i think he probably knows that but idk. is it maybe a bacteria that people in jamaica are immuned to but since it is new to my body it causes infection? sorry if this sounds stupid but just curious. UTI's are the worst and i will be leaving again on october 19th and would not like to have another....

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Registered: 01-19-2006
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 2:38am
First of all, your man being intact, uncircumsized has nothing to do with you getting UTIs. UTI's are caused by bacteria entering the urinary tract via the urethra, which in women is very short, only about an inch and a bit. There is always a certain degree of bacteria present, but it is held in check until something throws it off balance or a greater amount of bacteria is introduced.

NO it is not the river you swam in and had sex in. If the river water was that polluted, you would be far sicker than your UTI has made you.

Now please listen carefully. As someone who has suffered from UTIs I am going to give you some basic information about sex and hygiene.

Before having sex, clean yourself. Go to the washroom, take a clean wash cloth kept for this purpose, use water on it and clean yourself from FRONT TO BACK, from your vagina to your anus. Wash carefully around your anus and make sure that any trace of fecal matter is removed. Have some water before having sex, and after having sex, go to the toilet and pee. If any bacteria has started to enter the urethra, this will help to flush it out and prevent it from travelling upwards.

If you do any kind of anal play, anal stimulation with fingers or toys, or have anal sex, do not ever let the fingers, toys or penis go from the anus or the anal area to the vagina without carefully washing the fingers, toys or penis FIRST. If you use condoms, he has to change the condom, as well. And wash yourself again, too. Make sure that your partner's hands are clean, and that includes his fingernails. Are they short and kept tidy, and easy to clean? Does he wash his hands after going to to toilet himself and having a bowel movement? Because fecal matter can be introduced by hands, if his hands are not clean.

If you are already engaged in foreplay and haven't washed yourself, as I have suggested above, stop and whisper in a sexy voice that you'll be right back and make him wait. Yes, stopping can seem like a mood killer, but it doesn't have to if you handle it correctly. If he really is a great love and loves you, then tell him about your health problems with UTIs happening after sex and explain what I have told you here to him. If he really cares for you, he'll participate in maintaining your health, and be happy to do so.

Don't be shy and embarrased about this, once a couple are engaging in sexual practices, embarrassment should be put aside.

Other things you can do to maintain a healthy defense against UITs is to drink cranberry juice on a regular basis. It is believed that it helps to prevent an infection from becoming full blown, and perhaps for some women it does so. It does not for me, but it helps to attenuate the infection when for one reason or another, I am struck down by one. Drink plenty of water on a regular basis, go to the toilet to pee when you need to, don't hold on and wait. Peeing keeps flushing out any bacteria that might be present, rather than letting them develop.

There is also a board here that deals with UTI, here is the link:



Cystitis, Bladder & UTI's

Oh, another thing, after your first UTI, did the doctor do a urinalysis to determine which bacteria was responsible for it? This is also important, because the choice of anti-biotic will depend on that, and you need to have the right one. I also presume that youfinished all the anti-biotics prescribed, and didn't stop once you began to feel better? You have to finish them, or the bacteria that is still not killed off can become resistant to that anti-biotic and come back again as a new infection, often worse than the first one.

Good luck, and take care of yourself. I would not wish a UTI on anyone, they are hell. Here is a thread where I talked about my last bout with it, you might find that of interest, too.



UTI, side effect of medication.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2007
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 7:27am

The information Nenu gave you is terrific.

Another thing that might be contributing to you getting UTIs is having a lot of sex during your visits. I wouldn't recommend stopping that (LOL), but do make sure your hygiene is taken care of.

They also make cranberry tablets (look in the vitamin section at the drug store). You might want to take those with you on your trips.





iVillage Member
Registered: 12-12-2006
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 8:29am

Nenuphar covered it as well as any doctor could with great info that all doctors should give their patients.


Someone else mentioned "frequency" as a possibility.......there's a condition that my doctor told me about YEARS ago......called "honeymoon cystitis".

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2007
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 9:10am

Glad to hear it is something that can clear up, Sakura!

Thanks for the info. I knew that you could become allergic to drugs used in the past, but had never heard of the syndrome you described. It's good to know about things like that!





iVillage Member
Registered: 01-19-2006
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 10:18am
Misty, something else I meant to mention was that women who are having a lot of sex are sometimes more likely to develop a UTI, as you said. I suspect that another factor involved when frequent sex is going on is vaginal dryness, at some point, and when that happens, irritation can occurr in the delicate tissues, and a woman can become more susceptible to various infections. This is in addition to the fact that with greater frequency, there's a greater chance of infection occurring. Using lube could very well help, at that point, I suspect, even when dryness is not normally a problem for a woman.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 01-19-2006
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 10:34am
Sakura, I rarely mention what medication I take for anything, because I live in France and I just do not know if the drugs I am prescribed here are available in North America, or even if they are, if they are labelled under the same name as those here in France.

The system here is such that the patient recieves a copy of all test results, so I have the results for my urinalysis. On the back of the page with the lab work there is a list of nineteen different drugs with anti-bacterial uses. It is indicated beside each drug name whether or not the bacteria in question is sensitive to that particular drug. The drugs are also grouped according to their category, whether they are penicillin, sulfamides and those associated with them, quinolones, etc. This, obviously, is necessary information for those who have known allergies to different drugs.

For the record, the drug I was given is called Norfloxacine, and is manufactured by Merck. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norfloxacin

I have no idea if it is available in N. America. Another drug I keep on hand is called Spasfon, which helps tremendously with the spasms brought on by the pain of the infection. I have googled that, and haven't come up with anything other than French sites dealing with it, and Wiki doesn't have it listed in English. So that's the reason I didn't mention what I was taking. On the other hand, the drug that set off my last UTI, Celebrex, is indeed marketed in N. America, and is well known as an anti-inflammatory that can be quite helpful with arthritis. It certainly didn't do me any good, either for the pain in my fingers, or for bringing on one of its little known side effects, a UTI.



How fortunate you were that your attack of Stevens Johnson Syndrome wasn't worse than it was! The son of a very good friend of mine has so many allergies to so many drugs, and that is one of the things he has been afflicted with, so I have heard of it and how dangerous it can be.

Stay healthy!

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“The subject who is truly loyal to the Chief Magistrate will neither advise nor submit to arbitrary measures.” - Junius

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-01-2006
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 10:48am

Wow, that's good to know about Bactrim. I've been taking it daily since April and will be stopping in October, and thankfully I haven't had any problems. Whew....


It is possible to get chicken pox twice, because I did. But then again, like all my doctors tell me, I'm the one oddball patient......

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iVillage Member
Registered: 12-12-2006
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 10:50am

I'd never heard of it either, and obviously a lot of doctors haven't.

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-12-2006
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 12:31pm
You probably had a mild case the first time around, and didn't build up an immunity to it.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-01-2006
Thu, 09-18-2008 - 1:46pm
I didn't know that. Thanks. I can't get the shingles vaccine. I got a kidney back in April and that was one of the definite no-no's.

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