(no subject)

[arethinn]

I'm currently taking a medication called phenazopyridine to take care of any possible urinary infection that they didn't detect any traces of when I gave a urine sample yesterday. The doctor said that it would turn my urine a yellow-orange colour and not to be concerned about that as it was a normal side effect of the drug. Well, he wasn't kidding. I swear it's like someone replaced the toilet water with pure yellow food colouring. It's pretty freaky.

Comments

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

that stuff won't do jack vs. any infection; it's a painkiller. You can buy it over the counter (finally, thank gods). If you're not actually in pain, you can skip it. It's basically yellow novocaine for your pee. And yes, it's a scary color. If you're on two pills, you may be okay on just one. (Or none if you aren't hurting when they wear off.)

Antibiotics or tons of cranberry juice is the only thing that will actually help a UTI; that and the usual "avoid caffiene and excess sugar, drink water" stuff.

[arethinn]

It's three times a day for three days, only. I was under the impression it was an antibiotic of some sort. I had a hard time explaining to the nurse and the doctor the intermittent nature of my symptoms. I wasn't actually having any discomfort that day (the last time I had was Wednesday) but I was getting really annoyed with the on again, off again nature that had been going on for weeks and decided to just go in and see if i could get something that would take care of it. I tried both lots of water and cranberry juice, and neither seemed to help. That's why I finally decided to go to the doctor about it. Since I still haven't noticed anything since Wednesday, maybe it's finally gone on its own anyway, but then, that's what I was thinking every three or days for the past seven weeks anyway. *shrgs*

[feyandstrange.livejournal.com]

You can look up phenazopyridine; it's a painkiller, not an antibiotic, I'm quite sure.
http://my.webmd.com/content/drugs/5/39863?src=Inktomi&condition=Drugs_and_Herbs_(New)

Intermittent urinary weirdness is probably not caused by an infection, I *think*; infections usually get steadily worse. You may have something more like irritable bladder syndrome, or whatever it's called.

Caffeine and sugars and alcohol, and insufficient hydration, tend to make all bladder/urinary situations worse. (All the fun stuff, really. Sex too.) Some studies indicate that cranberry can actually promote healing, not just lessen pain, so it might be worth keeping it around. You can buy capsules of dried cranberry powder at vitamin shops and just take those if you're sick to death of the juice. Also, white cranberry may have slightly less of the right chemicals - I'm not sure on that one.

Good luck!

[arethinn]

You can look up phenazopyridine

Oh, I believed you. I just meant that when the doctor prescribed it, I had thought he was giving me an antibiotic.

I don't think I have a continuing condition; this isn't something that's been with me all my life or since I hit puberty or anything. It's not uncommon for me to get a couple of days of irritated urination after short visits (a day or two) with enotsola. Longer visits (a week or three) don't seem to produce the same effect. It's like we see each other rarely enough that our body chemistries are mutually alien and mine gets annoyed by it if it's just a couple of days and not long enough to actually get used to it, or something. He came to visit on Oct 10-13 and normally, it clears up on its own within a couple days. I thought it had, but then it came back... and went away... and came back.. and went away... and came back... until I finally got annoyed and brave enough to call up Kaiser last Friday.

I looked for cranberry capsules (since I didn't want the calories from drinking juice) but didn't find any. Of course at the moment I haven't been having any symptoms for five days, but if they come back I'll have to give Whole Foods a more thorough search.