Feels like a UTI but it's not

Lisa 00

Hello ladies,
I hope everyone is doing well. I have a question for y'all.

I had my second and last brachy radiation over a week ago on Sept. 24. To back up a little more, during the last couple of weeks of my external radiation, I had what felt like the beginning feeling of a urinary tract infection (UTI). Just a little of that burning feeling, but nothing bothersome.
As of last Friday (it's almost a week now) I got a more intense feeling that I had a UTI. In fact, I was certain I had a UTI and I called my docs office, had the urine test, and they said that I didn't have the infection. So I keep taking those pyridine tablets.

Has anyone else had this problem and how long does it last? I would think that a fried urethra would heal in about 4 days but it's been longer than that and I'm getting concerned.

I also have a little bit of urinary incontinence. Just a dribble on my underpants once a day or so. Anyone else have that one? I read that the incontinence thing could be due to nerve damage of the sphincter muscle below the bladder.

npl8261

UTI Feeling
I had this exact same thing happen to me just two days before my external radiation was ending (25 external treatments). I also got checked for a UTI and it came back negative. The feeling went away about 2 weeks after the radiation ended. In the meantime I went to a homeopathic pharmacy to get some advice and ended up getting probiotic capsules. I too was worried that this feeling of constantly needing to urinate would not go away but the nurses assured me that it would and it did go away about 2 weeks after.

I hope this makes you feel better that this is a sympton that many of us have experienced.

Lisa 00

npl8261 said:

UTI Feeling
I had this exact same thing happen to me just two days before my external radiation was ending (25 external treatments). I also got checked for a UTI and it came back negative. The feeling went away about 2 weeks after the radiation ended. In the meantime I went to a homeopathic pharmacy to get some advice and ended up getting probiotic capsules. I too was worried that this feeling of constantly needing to urinate would not go away but the nurses assured me that it would and it did go away about 2 weeks after.

I hope this makes you feel better that this is a sympton that many of us have experienced.

thank you
for the response. Nobody had commented and I was getting more worried.

My radiation doc offhandidly mentioned sending me to a urologist which made me worry thinking that it could be a permanent problem. I was imagining someone offering to put an exploratory probe up the urethra only to tell me, "yeah, it's scar tissue and you're stuck with it."

So, thanks to your reply, I won't worry now.

fuzzytrouble

uti
I had the very same thing with my radiation treatments. While going to the bathroom one morning I thought I was going to die, I felt like I was passing glass shards and it was agonizing. I was given a test to see if it was UTI but it came back negative. I was given the same pills and it took care of it. I had leakage for a long time and from the pills it was orange in color. I hope this helps you out and hang in there I am hoping it will go away for you soon.
Sharon

livenow09

feeling like a UTI; try this
Aloha All so interesting to talk with all you ladies; it seems we are a "endless well" of information; the docs just don"t seem to really know what the aftermath is like; a long time ago I complained there was no such thing as "aftercare"; aftercare is what we come up with to help ourselves get better; anyway, I didn't have radiation but for several months after surgery I had bladder pain (like a UTI)I started doing Kegel exercises (10 contractions is a set and 4 sets a day; I held the contraction for as long as I could; gradually got up to 10 seconds each time I squeezed the muscles of the pelvic floor); it helped tremendously; my bladder moved back into it's usual place (no more peeing out over the top of the toilet seat, what a trip)and I stopped dribbling; the pain is gone; hang in there; Kegel exercises have been around for ages; next time you go to pee, see if you can slow down or stop the stream of urine by squeezing the muscles around and below your bladder; if you can slow the stream, you've got the right set of muscles isolated; give it a try; can't hurt; other thing that works really well is black cherry juice (old native american recipe for cystitis) mix one part black cherry juice with 3 parts water and drink it down; pain usually fades about half way through the quart (you can usually find it in a health food store RW Knudsens is the brand I've seen most everywhere; organic whole juice)

Marie

PS no dog fights over who's doing what treatment; there is always more than one way to skin a cat; everyone is different; recently read a book called "Anticancer"; not much more than I already knew but nice to read something by a dr who had been there and done that; there's another one by a Dr. Silver; also had cancer and wrote about working through recouperation

deanna14

Feeling like a UTI... but not!
So glad to see this post. I had/have the same thing. When I ask the gyn/onc about it, he says it is from radiation (it started during radiation). When I ask the rad/onc about it, he says it is from the hysterectomy. ????? They don't know, they don't care... I should be grateful to be alive, right?!!
Anywho... I finished radiation in December 2008 and this symptom is better, but not gone. I have some urine leakage, but mostly at night when I wake from a deep sleep with a full bladder. Seems to be when I let my bladder get too full. The gyn/onc says it is probably just decreased bladder size due to radiation.
Starting Kagel exercises faithfully now, thanks for the suggestion. If anyone else has found helpful hints in this area please share. This has been a big topic of frustration for me. 40 is way too young to be peeing on yourself! LOL

susie1143

deanna14 said:

Feeling like a UTI... but not!
So glad to see this post. I had/have the same thing. When I ask the gyn/onc about it, he says it is from radiation (it started during radiation). When I ask the rad/onc about it, he says it is from the hysterectomy. ????? They don't know, they don't care... I should be grateful to be alive, right?!!
Anywho... I finished radiation in December 2008 and this symptom is better, but not gone. I have some urine leakage, but mostly at night when I wake from a deep sleep with a full bladder. Seems to be when I let my bladder get too full. The gyn/onc says it is probably just decreased bladder size due to radiation.
Starting Kagel exercises faithfully now, thanks for the suggestion. If anyone else has found helpful hints in this area please share. This has been a big topic of frustration for me. 40 is way too young to be peeing on yourself! LOL

I love your picture. I'm a
I love your picture. I'm a professional clown "Lilly". Laughter is the best medicine.

I start my brachy this week and only have 1 kidney due to chronic UTI's as a child. This is something that I will have to keep a close eye on. A couple of weeks ago I went to my urologist as a follow up. (I've been going for years). Recently my blood work was not so good for my kidney and liver so I've been drinking tons of cranberry juice (100% juice). Finally my last blood work came back ok so the juice must be working. (The liver was due to Tylenol after surgery). If you don't like cranberry juice, you can buy capsules at either a pharmacy or health food store. My son in his 20's recently had a bladder problem and he followed my suggestion. He is now doing good since drinking cranberry juice. Everyone is different but juice certainly won't hurt unless your diabetic or allergic.

susie1143

deanna14 said:

Feeling like a UTI... but not!
So glad to see this post. I had/have the same thing. When I ask the gyn/onc about it, he says it is from radiation (it started during radiation). When I ask the rad/onc about it, he says it is from the hysterectomy. ????? They don't know, they don't care... I should be grateful to be alive, right?!!
Anywho... I finished radiation in December 2008 and this symptom is better, but not gone. I have some urine leakage, but mostly at night when I wake from a deep sleep with a full bladder. Seems to be when I let my bladder get too full. The gyn/onc says it is probably just decreased bladder size due to radiation.
Starting Kagel exercises faithfully now, thanks for the suggestion. If anyone else has found helpful hints in this area please share. This has been a big topic of frustration for me. 40 is way too young to be peeing on yourself! LOL

I love your picture. I'm a
I love your picture. I'm a professional clown "Lilly". Laughter is the best medicine.

I start my brachy this week and only have 1 kidney due to chronic UTI's as a child. This is something that I will have to keep a close eye on. A couple of weeks ago I went to my urologist as a follow up. (I've been going for years). Recently my blood work was not so good for my kidney and liver so I've been drinking tons of cranberry juice (100% juice). Finally my last blood work came back ok so the juice must be working. (The liver was due to Tylenol after surgery). If you don't like cranberry juice, you can buy capsules at either a pharmacy or health food store. My son in his 20's recently had a bladder problem and he followed my suggestion. He is now doing good since drinking cranberry juice. Everyone is different but juice certainly won't hurt unless your diabetic or allergic.

susie1143

deanna14 said:

Feeling like a UTI... but not!
So glad to see this post. I had/have the same thing. When I ask the gyn/onc about it, he says it is from radiation (it started during radiation). When I ask the rad/onc about it, he says it is from the hysterectomy. ????? They don't know, they don't care... I should be grateful to be alive, right?!!
Anywho... I finished radiation in December 2008 and this symptom is better, but not gone. I have some urine leakage, but mostly at night when I wake from a deep sleep with a full bladder. Seems to be when I let my bladder get too full. The gyn/onc says it is probably just decreased bladder size due to radiation.
Starting Kagel exercises faithfully now, thanks for the suggestion. If anyone else has found helpful hints in this area please share. This has been a big topic of frustration for me. 40 is way too young to be peeing on yourself! LOL

I love your picture. I'm a
I love your picture. I'm a professional clown "Lilly". Laughter is the best medicine.

I start my brachy this week and only have 1 kidney due to chronic UTI's as a child. This is something that I will have to keep a close eye on. A couple of weeks ago I went to my urologist as a follow up. (I've been going for years). Recently my blood work was not so good for my kidney and liver so I've been drinking tons of cranberry juice (100% juice). Finally my last blood work came back ok so the juice must be working. (The liver was due to Tylenol after surgery). If you don't like cranberry juice, you can buy capsules at either a pharmacy or health food store. My son in his 20's recently had a bladder problem and he followed my suggestion. He is now doing good since drinking cranberry juice. Everyone is different but juice certainly won't hurt unless your diabetic or allergic.

deanna14

susie1143 said:

I love your picture. I'm a
I love your picture. I'm a professional clown "Lilly". Laughter is the best medicine.

I start my brachy this week and only have 1 kidney due to chronic UTI's as a child. This is something that I will have to keep a close eye on. A couple of weeks ago I went to my urologist as a follow up. (I've been going for years). Recently my blood work was not so good for my kidney and liver so I've been drinking tons of cranberry juice (100% juice). Finally my last blood work came back ok so the juice must be working. (The liver was due to Tylenol after surgery). If you don't like cranberry juice, you can buy capsules at either a pharmacy or health food store. My son in his 20's recently had a bladder problem and he followed my suggestion. He is now doing good since drinking cranberry juice. Everyone is different but juice certainly won't hurt unless your diabetic or allergic.

Thanks!
I hadn't thought about the cranberry capsules, I may try some of them. I avoid juice due to too many calories for a chubby girl. Especially now after having the hysterectomy... everything goes straight to my middle.