u/Advanced-Software-72

Hello everyone, I've been suffering from recurrent UTIs since I was 7 years old (currently 24 now). Growing up, getting one at least once a year was my "normal." In 2021-2022, things really escalated and I started getting them back to back (4-5 in a year).

History

I've seen multiple specialists over the years. When I was 17, I went to Children's Hospital Orange County for testing, but they found nothing. In 2021, I saw two more specialists who also couldn't identify the root cause.

• I shower twice daily, one in the morning to wake myself up and after getting home from work.
• I only wear cotton underwear and avoid wearing tight clothing.
• I take cranberry pills and used to take D-Mannose.

One specialist put me on low-dose daily antibiotics which works for a few months. After that, he switched me over to a post-coital dose, but eventually stopped due to the high cost of the specialist visits ($200/visit). After that, the frequency dropped back to once or twice at most a year, but never truly went away.

Recent Flare Up

My last UTI was November 2025. On Sunday, April 12th, I felt the burning sensations, bladder discomfort, and the constant urge to go with very little urine output. I went to urgent care where they found 500+ WBC (white blood cells) in my urine. I was prescribed a 5 day course of Nitrofurantoin which usually works for me.

I finished the full course and felt okay until Sunday, April 19th. The symptoms came back while I was out of town, so I used AZO to manage the pain until I could get to urgent care on Monday. The new culture confirmed the infection was back, showing 75 WBC and 50 blood in my urine. I felt very emotional receiving my dipstick test back that came back positive for a UTI because I am very frustrated that my body is failing me and I essentially have no answers.

My Recent Steps

I finally went to go see a urologist following my urgent care visit. He actually listened to me! He is ordering a renal/kidney ultrasound on Thursday, April 23 and a cystoscopy procedure on Tuesday, May 12 to check for anatomical issues. I made it ultra clear to him that I am not willing to go back on daily/post coital antibiotics until we rule out a structural cause. I currently am still experiencing bladder discomfort, slight burning sensation, and lower back pain even though I was prescribed a new antibiotic, ciprofloxacin.

TLDR

I’ve been dealing with painful UTIs since I was 7 years old, and even though I do everything doctors tell me to do for hygiene and prevention, they won't stop coming back. After years of being told everything was "normal," my infections recently got much worse and came right back even after a full round of antibiotics. I finally found a urologist who is taking me seriously, so I'm getting an ultrasound and a bladder scope to see if there's a physical reason this is happening. I'm done just taking daily antibiotics to mask the problem...I want to find the actual cause.

I am looking for people who have been through the same/similar. I am so tired of going through this every year and I know that this isn't normal. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hello everyone, I've been suffering from recurrent UTIs since I was 7 years old (currently 24 now). Growing up, getting one at least once a year was my "normal." In 2021-2022, things really escalated and I started getting them back to back (4-5 in a year).

History

I've seen multiple specialists over the years. When I was 17, I went to Children's Hospital Orange County for testing, but they found nothing. In 2021, I saw two more specialists who also couldn't identify the root cause.

• I shower twice daily, one in the morning to wake myself up and after getting home from work.
• I only wear cotton underwear and avoid wearing tight clothing.
• I take cranberry pills and used to take D-Mannose.

One specialist put me on low-dose daily antibiotics which works for a few months. After that, he switched me over to a post-coital dose, but eventually stopped due to the high cost of the specialist visits ($200/visit). After that, the frequency dropped back to once or twice at most a year, but never truly went away.

Recent Flare Up

My last UTI was November 2025. On Sunday, April 12th, I felt the burning sensations, bladder discomfort, and the constant urge to go with very little urine output. I went to urgent care where they found 500+ WBC (white blood cells) in my urine. I was prescribed a 5 day course of Nitrofurantoin which usually works for me.

I finished the full course and felt okay until Sunday, April 19th. The symptoms came back while I was out of town, so I used AZO to manage the pain until I could get to urgent care on Monday. The new culture confirmed the infection was back, showing 75 WBC and 50 blood in my urine. I felt very emotional receiving my dipstick test back that came back positive for a UTI because I am very frustrated that my body is failing me and I essentially have no answers.

My Recent Steps

I finally went to go see a urologist following my urgent care visit. He actually listened to me! He is ordering a renal/kidney ultrasound on Thursday, April 23 and a cystoscopy procedure on Tuesday, May 12 to check for anatomical issues. I made it ultra clear to him that I am not willing to go back on daily/post coital antibiotics until we rule out a structural cause. I currently am still experiencing bladder discomfort, slight burning sensation, and lower back pain even though I was prescribed a new antibiotic, ciprofloxacin.

TLDR

I’ve been dealing with painful UTIs since I was 7 years old, and even though I do everything doctors tell me to do for hygiene and prevention, they won't stop coming back. After years of being told everything was "normal," my infections recently got much worse and came right back even after a full round of antibiotics. I finally found a urologist who is taking me seriously, so I'm getting an ultrasound and a bladder scope to see if there's a physical reason this is happening. I'm done just taking daily antibiotics to mask the problem...I want to find the actual cause.

I am looking for people who have been through the same/similar. I am so tired of going through this every year and I know that this isn't normal. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!