irrigating bladder soothes uti?

[cali]

anyone have any info on this? i've never heard of it myself but maybe it's been done?

thanks,

~callan

[patd]

Hi Cali, My Urologist suggested that I try irrigating my bladder after emptying. She had me get a very weak acidic solution made up at the pharmacy. I think it has helped me. She doesn't want me to do the IV route for UTI. There's suprisingly little info about this, but it's so easy to do it's worth trying. Pat

[tinern]

I have done this in the past, but without much success. The irrigation although being done with sterile equipment seemed to increase the amount of UTI's I developed. I ending up using a larger catheter so the bladder stones could be passed through the tubing.

[SCI-Nurse]

Bladder irrigation is sometimes necessary but it doesn't necessarily change the incidence or severity of UTI's. Now, I have to mention, as usual, that a urinary tract infection involves symptoms other than the bladder: fever, nausea, vomiting, chills, increased spasticity, increased nerve pain and frequent incontinence. It is not simply about how much bacteria one has in his/her urine.

That having been said, irrigation can help to cut down on sediment, cut down on catheter plugging, reduce the incidence of bladder stones and sometimes even treat urinary tract infections. It all depends on the solution that one uses to irrigate. You should never irrigate with plain water--that will irritate the bladder lining. You should use at least normal salinej. To reduce sediment and stone formation, renacidin solution is best. To treat a urinary tract infection, I have used gentamycin bladder washes. It exposes the bladder wall to much higher concentrations of antibiotic than is possible through even IV administration and it can help to get rid of resistant organisms. "A weak acid solution" mentioned above is probably acetic acid solution (the fancy name for vinegar). I can't argue that it appears to help one of you but there is no scientific evidence that it is effective.

The risk with bladder irrigation is that one introduces bacteria into the bladder, but with folks with SCI who already have bacteria in their bladders this strikes me as a minimal risk.

There you have it.

RAB

[alissa]

SCI Nurse- I have been wondering about irrigating with an antibiotic solution. Do the antibiotoics enter your system other than your bladder? Is it safe during pregnancy, assuming the antibiotic is safe? What is the method of irrigation - I would guess you'd leave the solution in the bladder?

TIA