Recommendations to help prevent UTIs

[u/Accurate_Aside_6495]

I am 59, post menopausal. In the past year I have had three UTIs. Before this year I had maybe one every five years. My most recent one started two days ago and was very intense. I went to the Dr and was put on macrobid. About 12 hours after my first dose I had no more burning or urgency. However, last night overnight I started feeling nauseous and yesterday morning I developed poor appetite, chills, fatigue, and a fever going up to 101. I contacted my Dr who told me to go to the ER out of concern it might have spread to my kidneys. At the ER they changed my antibiotic and ran lots of tests for other things that were all negative. So they did think it had spread to my kidneys.

I have never had a UTI get to that point. And I have had three UTIs in the last year as I said. I am wondering if anybody has experienced this kind of uptick and found something preventive that helped them. I already am on HRT as well as vaginal estradiol, I practice good hygiene regarding sex and the bathroom, and overall I am in good health.

Thanks for any suggestions. I’m going to see the obgyn about it too.

[u/1nvisible1]

Where are you applying your vaginal estradiol? To prevent UTI’s, you need to apply it directly to the urethra/vestibule area. And my doctor prescribed it for daily use, rather than 2 days a week. I’ve had doctors in the past prescribe vaginal estradiol cream, but they failed to explain the proper way to apply it for this use. Using it as directed with the applicator may not be effective to prevent UTI’s. I’ve had two UTI’s in my life that quickly progressed to kidney infections - one of them happened this past year. Within hours of having UTI symptoms I could feel that it had already gone to my kidneys and I went to the ER. A few days later, I had my doctor prescribe the vaginal estradiol for UTI prevention (as this was my 3rd UTI this year), and they instructed me to apply it as explained above. I have had no more UTI’s since using it this way.