Fair warning to subscribers – only read if you have kidney / urology issues! One of the joys of urology and kidney issues is the occasional Urinary Tract Infection (UTI) comes along and, you can take my word for it, this is a humdinger of a UTI.
My typical UTI symptoms
- Cloudy urine
- Stings when I pee
- Shivery, always cold
- Raised leukocytes
Plus, if it really gets carried away
- Feeling generally very unwell
- Sometimes visibly shivering with the cold
- Dull pain in kidney area
- Confusion – this was a first
- High level of leukocytes
Often I think I have an infection with my urine becoming cloudy and a few other tell-tale signs like those in the first list above. It hangs around for a few days and then it clears on its own.
This time it didn’t. I was already wondering if I had a UTI last Monday when I went for a 6.7 mile run with my friend Jon in the posh neighbouring county of Hertfordshire. When I say “run” it was more like being dragged around. We had run this course two weeks earlier and I knew it was demanding. This time I had to walk up four hills in spite of Jon saying “but there’s someone in a car up there, we can’t be seen walking”. Looking back I think I was starting to feel unwell and drained of energy, but you don’t let on to your running mate, do you?
I have some urine dip sticks at home, like the one in the photo. It showed my Leukocytes were really high and almost as high as the scale would go.
My hospital consultant had previously given me some antibiotics which I can have in reserve – so as soon as need them, I can start to take them. Ideally I would need to ask my Doctor to arrange for a sample to be tested, to ensure the antibiotics are treating the right bacteria.
Through knowing an infection was really getting carried away, I started taking the antibiotics. Initially it worked, at the 24 hour mark, my urine was clear, just like champagne.
At one point I was making myself a cup of tea in the kitchen. A simple enough task and I could probably do it with my eyes closed if I needed to. And yet I got muddled and confused – I couldn’t remember how to do it. I knew what was happening, I knew I was confused but somehow managed to complete the task. This was weird, I’ve never been confused like that before but it only lasted for a few minutes.
During the following night I woke up feeling very poorly, my heart was pounding. I went to the toilet and felt very strange. My heart was racing at full speed and as I got back into bed, I tried to relax. Instead all I was aware of was a fast, thumping heart beat with my hands tingling. I was feeling very, very odd. I could visualise my heart working, blood being forced through all the tiny little blood vessels all over my body.
Lying there in bed, I started to be more aware of every breath, every movement and then a sense of the hundreds of processes going on in my body. I felt fragile and delicate. My life depended on those thin blood vessel walls holding up, those thin membranes made up of tiny cells holding everything together.
Feeling a tad worried I decided to wake Rachel up and we took my blood pressure – 184/103 with a pulse rate of 92. We knew that was wrong – I was lying in bed, my blood pressure should be relaxed, nice and low. My resting heart rate is normally 58 to 60, perhaps even lower when asleep. Instead it was pounding.
We called the NHS on 111. After a couple of conversations with a Doctor, we concluded that I had reacted to the antibiotic as such palpitations were one of the common side effects. He advised me to stop taking them and gradually things eased as the antibiotic wore off.
Luckily as I was volunteering at the medical centre later that day, I managed to have a chat with a nurse who was very understanding. Fortunately the nurse was authorised to prescribe some different antibiotics. These are less potent and seem to be working in a gentle way without any side effects, thankfully. My urine is now clear.
This was quite a frightening ordeal, I seriously wondered, for a moment or two, if my time was up. In the cold light of day I know that was extremely unlikely and, to be honest, I don’t normally have bad reactions to things and I like to think I’m pretty normal (!).
I have one more day of antibiotics to take. I am still feeling cold but definitely improving, though I still have a little discomfort around my left kidney and I wonder if an infection is lingering. So we’ll see how I am tomorrow.
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