I had constant UTI for years when I was in my 20s (and it was NOT a cleanliness problem) my doctor told me to quit drinking caffeinated colas. It took me years to *finally* quit drinking caffeinated colas, and I no longer had UTI. About once a year (for years after that), I would convince myself that surely ONE caffeinated cola couldn't hurt me - 24 hours later I would have a UTI - EVERY time.

I used to get frequent UTI's from taking baths instead of showers. Haven't taken a bath in 20 years, and have not had a UTI in that time either.

They can be very scary, though.

Kay

Hiya everyone - thanks so much for taking the time to reply to my post, here's a quick update...my friend went back on atkins to try to prove to herself that the Dr was talking rubish - anyway a week in and shes got the same problem, so this time she went back and tried to get him to do more tests. He has come up with an abnormal liver function test and has told her she definately needs to avoid the diet and she has to have more tests to see if there is a bigger problem.
Anyway, thanks for all of your support, it was good to be able to tell her what you all thought!
Emma
x

like bike2work, not trying to freak her/you out, but when my father had blood in his urine it turned out to be cancer (not bladder, but kidney). The ER doc told him a bladder infection and put him on antibiotics then a few weeks later the blood was worse and they checked further up the urinary tract/system and it was a tumour on his kidney (had to have it removed). I hope she's persistent in finding out the cause and cure.

ANYWAY, my thinking is that the liver/kidney issue was already there but maybe undetected until now and became apparent because of the WOE or it was coincidence that the symptoms started now, IMO.

best wishes to your friend - those bladder infections are pure EVIL!!!!

Nicole

I used to get UTIs all the time (Urinary Tract Infections) that were caused by E Coli. (most are).

She probably held it too long and too much and hasn't been drinking enough water.

Could be other things too, but highly unlikely its the diet.

Hope she is feeling better soon.

If I were her, I would get a new doctor. This one seems pretty uninterested in helping her to find the true cause of her problem. She had to make him run more tests? He should be more worried than that if she keeps coming in with blood in her urine and pain. It may be that she has bad kidneys and that this diet isn't good for her (as Dr. Atkins points out), but it may be something MUCH more scary than that, and I'd want a doctor who focused on finding the problem rather than picking what he/she thinks is the problem and sending her home that first time. I hope she's okay.

I'm sorry your friend is having problems. I'll share with you what happened to me a few weeks ago.

I have been doing locarb, South Beach, since the end of april, and am loving it and my weight loss. However, I was not drinking all my water because I have a leaky bladder and did not want to have more of a leak problem than before. I was drinking maybe 30 ounces of water per day.

3 weeks ago on a Friday night, I came down with violent chills, extremely painful aches and a fever of 103.+. The fever lasted until Sunday along with the ahces and pains. I was very scared when I saw blood in my urine!! and very dark colored urine.

I went to the dr. on that Monday and told them to run a urinalysis and CBC. It came back that I had UTI and they found crytstals in my urine, calcium oxylate crystals that come from "protein". My kidneys were on strike! I took sulphur for a few days and I'm fine now. Also drank some cranberry juice and watered it down with water, afraid of adding too many carbs. The kidneys are our filtering system and without the proper amount of water and oh so much protein, they can get taxed. I honestly think that this is what happened to me and I am very pro locarb and plan on staying this way. My doctor did not tell me to stop the diet as I really need to do this!!

I know it was my own fault for not drinking the correct amount of water as its not only for weight loss that we need to drink it. Now I know better. I make sure that I have at least 64 ounces every day.

By the way, since I have lost a bunch of weight, my leaky bladder isn't so leaky anymore!!

bladder infections...can be cured as fast... by drinking lots of water...that is what my doctor told me....you drink until you slosh. and rinse out the bacteria.... no meds needed.... drinking water is the last thing you want to do...but it works.
aren't we all drinking lots of water? seems to me that something else might be wrong too.
good luck to your friend.....I wish her health ....maybe she should try for a secound opinion?

Well, you can't detach E.coli from the bladder with water. They are attached to the mannose receptors in cells. You need a bio-active mannose like **** to give the E.coli a richer source of mannose than they can get from the cells.

gillian.....not arguing....but how did the ecoli get into the bladder in the first place?

It was introduced most likely by wiping in the wrong direction!

And NO....everyone does NOT know how to wipe themselves! My niece, who's had bladder problems since childhood (surgical repair at age 5) was not told until she was in her mid-30's! Now, why my sister never told her, I dont' know.....but she'd also been under the care of several physicians over the years....and found the info in a magazine article!

I just posted a similar situation that I had this week on the general health forum. I have had some problems in the past because of my bladder being too small and since I was a kid I don't empty it completely. I usually take cranactin which is a capsule that has the same thing as cranberry juice but without the carbs. Hopefully someone can explain what I can do to keep eating low carb and not have this problem, or maybe I should up my carbs and eat a little less protein. I am confused, because I don't always have e-coli but what ever bacteria is there just grows because I don't empty my bladder completely. I am sure drinking a lot of water helps but it has been worse since low carbing.

Mereja,
I don't know how much water you are drinking but I must tell you that it is very important that you drink a minimum of 64 ounces per day. I did not do this at first as I had a leaky bladder and didn't want to leak more that it was already. I drank maybe 20-30 ounces per day and I came down with a severe infection that produced calcium oxylate crystals (protein) in my urine. The crystals are what caused my infection, not ecoli. If I had been drinking the correct amount of water, this would not have happened to me.

I had none of the symptoms of a typical UTI as I had no burning on urination and no constant need to pee. What I did have was a fever over 103. for 36 hours, violent chills, aches and generally very sick feeling. went in for testing of my blood and urine and thats when it was found that I had crystals which caused the infection.

I hope this helps you!!

I've always had a problem drinking a lot of water but I am really trying hard now. The last two months I have had symptoms of a UTI at the same time as my TOM. I think that when I start, I really start getting rid of the water weight and I am going so often that I don't want to drink very much water. So something happens that I get rid of all the excess water and my kidneys keep on working hard but I haven't kept up the amount of water that I should because I'm tired of going to the bathroom. This last month after I started, I was going to the bathroom every 5 minutes and then I started having the symptoms of a UTI. After the first day, I was in so much pain, but I wasn't hardly peeing at all and then started peeing blood. I also think that it could have had something to do with my blood pressure medicine that was just started. I think my kidneys were just not working much anymore. And even though I started drinking a lot of water I wasn't peeing much. I am just glad it is over now. But we will see if the same things happens this month. I got my Bp medicine changed. I am really trying now to drink more water.

all I can say is ouch! I hope everybody that has an infection gets better soon. Drink water... it helps rinse out the body...I used to get bladder infections ... drinking water until you slosh helps alot....as fast as meds.

undefined I never experienced that and if it was a big problem I think we would see more posting on it.