Urine testing showing infection/no symptoms

[xekomaya]

I'm 22 weeks and just did a urine test with my midwife. She called to say it is showing infection and she wants me to start on proboitics. I'm not sure that is a good treatment for real infection but I have no symptoms at all and don't want to treat anything needlessly. I was juggling a 2 year old who also wanted to pee in the cup so what is the likelyhood of false positives or generally meaningless results especially with a non-sterile catch (into a dixie cup and then poured into test cup)? I do have a low white blood cell count too - 3.3

I never did a pee test of any kind with my first and I'm really feeling frustrated with this midwife and I'm too stressed out to find anything useful via google. Thanks for any advice.

[HeatherB]

I don't know those stats, but I think when you have questions you should feel free to call your MW and get the full answers you need.

[expat-mama]

Hi-
I'm not sure about the likelihood of false positives from urinalysis, but I had a UTI a while ago with what I thought were absolutely no symptoms. I didn't have any pain or anything causing me to think there was anything wrong except *maybe* slightly cloudy urine.
However, after I was treated for it, I noticed a big change in how I felt. I was using the bathroom less frequently (I thought I was just going so often because of normal pregnancy causes) and I generally felt better- even though I didn't feel "bad" before treatment. I think I just happened to have the urinalysis at the beginning of infection- had it been left to get worse I probably would have started to feel it more.
But a UTI is not something I would want to leave untreated during pregnancy. Natural treatment with probiotics is not something I would hesitate about either- as far as I know, there is nothing wrong with upping your probiotic intake. If you meant to say antibiotics, then that is a different story. Depending on how serious the infection is (can you ask your midwife about the bacterial count?) natural treatment with probiotics, vitamin C, cranberry etc. is nothing to worry about. If the infection were serious, I'd consider taking the antiobiotics though. Just my two cents!

[xekomaya]

thank you!

After the conversation with my midwife, I am starting to think she has absolutely no clue. This may put me on a search for a new care provider but I think I've seriously maxed out the state. The midwife I had with my first was so good (but now 4500 miles away)

And yeah I did mean probiotics. I don't think that is sufficient treatment for a real infection on its own which totally makes me question her judgement, but expat-mama, if you've had an infection like this and saw improvement that is enough for me to guzzle the cranberry. I will get the bacterial count on Tuesday and see whats up. I'm actually more upset about her response to another one of my lab results so we didn't talk about this much.

[MyFullHouse]

Originally Posted by xekomaya

And yeah I did mean probiotics. I don't think that is sufficient treatment for a real infection on its own which totally makes me question her judgement, but expat-mama, if you've had an infection like this and saw improvement that is enough for me to guzzle the cranberry. I will get the bacterial count on Tuesday and see whats up. I'm actually more upset about her response to another one of my lab results so we didn't talk about this much.

I've had my fair share of UTIs, and unsweetened cranberry plus cutting out other sugars usually does the trick for me.
While I always have symptoms, my 6yo daughter gets raging infections and never notices symptoms until her stomach starts to hurt. It drives me crazy!

[MaerynPearl]

I have UTIs through pregnancy with no symptoms until third tri... then I will get UTIs that throw me into labor! And the only way they know is by taking a pee sample and finding the infection.

This pregnancy I have had to be on amoxicillan several times for several infections (sinus, urinary tract, etc.) but always in addition to that (low) antibiotic dose my doctor has me do natural cures...

for a UTI, cranberry, blueberry or cran-blueberry juices all help (as long as they are unsweetened!) But if the idea of juice just bothers your tummy, you can get cranberry pills! Also upping the intake of water in addition to the juices/pill helps to flush it out.

I really don't think its that your midwife is crazy or looking for something... women really do get infections without noticeable symptoms, especially during pregnancy.

[LovelyBella]

This has happened to my cousin as well during her early pregnancy. She had infection and UTI with no symptoms but her doctor just gave her medicine to take for a couple of weeks. And now she's perfectly okay.

[xekomaya]

Well I ended up with 6h of mild contractions 3mins apart and time-able last night and ended up going over to l&d. I'm sure the stress of everything contributed because they stopped almost as soon as I got there BUT the good thing is they did another pee test - proper clean catch into a sterile cup of course - and no infection.

I had never heard of blueberry juice for UTI - that sounds great. I love unsweetened cranberry, watered down with some ice in the summer but my kiddo is allergic to cranberry so it makes it harder to drink since I have to be so careful with my glass. I do already take vit c to bowel tolerance daily and tons of probiotics.

[MaerynPearl]

Originally Posted by xekomaya

I had never heard of blueberry juice for UTI - that sounds great.

I don't know how recently the study was done but my doctor said she saw one that showed more than enough proof for her to be okay with telling me to drink blueberry since cranberry gives me heartburn. She never told me this in past pregnancies so I suppose its pretty recent.

[xekomaya]

Found the studies:

http://altmed.creighton.edu/cranberr...20Evidence.htm

Thanks so much for the info!

[bella99]

I had a UTI while pregnant with my daughter around 18 weeks. No pain and no real urgency in having to pee. I just noticed that a few days after having had sex, I was peeing more often. So at my prenatal appt, I asked the nurse to check for a UTI. She asked what symptoms I had and I said none, and she made a face at me, but she said she'd do it anyway. And I was right!