Advice for a friend

I thought this might be a good place to ask, to try and draw from a wide pool of knowledge and experience. I feel like I've spent so much of the last 4 years researching problems in that part of the body, that I am sad I can't think to suggest anything to a friend who is also suffering from problems in one of our favourite areas!

My friend suffers from recurring UTI's every time she has intercourse, apparently every single time. Various tests show nothing, and several doctors say there is nothing that can be done. She seems to have accepted their diagnosis, as it's come from several different doctors.

My personal experience with doctors is that they often lack understanding about that part of the body, and I'm not entirely convinced they don't just think it doesn't matter because it's not a part of the body others can see, it's not killing us and it's not like it's stopping us from living our lives...

Anyway, I just wanted to ask. As I say, she gets a UTI every time, I don't know what tests she's had, but I'm scratching my head to think what might cause a UTI. Are there any others who've experienced this?

If nothing has shown up positive on a urine culture, she should probably try to get a referral to a urogynecologist. UTIs tend to make themselves known in a few different ways, such that it'd be pretty hard to get a false negative. To me, I'd be concerned that this is interstitial cystitis rather than UTIs. IC can feel exactly like a UTI, and flares can definitely be provoked by sex (it isn't a condition I have, but I've read a lot about it and there are a few sufferers on this forum). Has she been worked up for IC yet? Best of luck to your friend!

It's called honeymoon cystitis and can be prevented by taking a low dose antibiotic before sex . Also she may wanna look into IC... tell her to go to a urologist

My sister has this issue. It started when she started to date her current boyfriend.  She had a workup  done and nothing showed up.  Like Alana said, her doctor gave her a low dose antibiotic and she takes a pill each time she has intercourse.  She's been with him a while now and she thinks her body has adjusted to him and hopes to be able to stop taking them. Is your friend drinking lots of water and peeing right after sex?

And you should always pee after sex

Thanks for the suggestions guys - I'm afraid I don't know any more than I've said, I'd just like to be able to suggest something to her the next time I see her. I know how frustrating these problems are, and if there's anything I can suggest to stop someone else I know from having to put up with it, I want to investigate it.

I did wonder about cycstitis, but couldn't remember its name to ask if she'd been checked. She said she takes some over the counter antibiotic/product soon after, but sometimes doesn't get it in time, so it sounds like taking a pill before will help her. I will definitely suggest that one!

Thanks again!

I had this problem when I was regularly having sex. for me, drinking carbonated beverages (particularly soda) in the same time frame as sex would cause a UTI, so once I was careful about cutting back on soda the problem improved greatly. d-mannose powder is a good natural remedy and preventative for them, but that's assuming she's getting an actual infection. if it's something like interstitial cystitis I don't know if it would still help...hopefully she can find a way to avoid taking antibiotics constantly, because that really does a number on you.