What medications can be used against UTIs that don't interact with birth control? My pharmacist said that they've never actually done a study on what interacts with Nuvarings, but it's assumed that antibiotics don't interact as much because you're not taking the Nuvaring by mouth. But I have to take these antibiotics for a while, so if it interacts with my birth control, my periods will go crazy again.
So what won't interact with birth control pills? I'm guessing that's probably the best bet...if it wouldn't interact with the pills, then it definitely wouldn't interact with the ring, right?
Cranberry juice has some utility in preventing UTIs. Does it do anything to combat an already existing one?
Posts: 16059 | Registered: Aug 2000
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I'm not sure, but I'm already on the cranberry juice plan, and I still get them. So the doctor wants to give me antibiotics to take as soon as I start feeling like I'm getting one so that it will go away before I actually get sick. I think it'd be hard for my body to get used to that, having the regular hormones suddenly interrupted at odd intervals by an antibiotic.
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To be graphically blunt, are you already on the pee-and-wash-yourself-immediately-after-sex-or-sex-related-activity plan?
Posts: 4313 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I get UTIs really easily also, and as soon as I feel one coming on I drink water nonstop and can usually flush it out of my system. By "nonstop" I mean gallons and gallons all day long. It's kind of annoying since I have to stop and pee every 10 minutes, but it's a helluva lot easier than getting a full-blown infection and having to take meds for it.
Posts: 1225 | Registered: Feb 2002
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That's the thing...I do EVERYTHING they tell you to do to keep from getting infections, and I still get them. It gets on my nerves because every time I go into the clinic, they're like, "Are you drinking cranberry juice? Are you getting enough water?" And so on and so forth. But according to this specialist (and they wouldn't refer me to a specialist until I had to go to the ER a few weeks ago), I can just take one or two of these pills when I feel like I'm getting sick, and it should go away.
The pharmacist said Bactrim shouldn't interact, but I always thought that it did.
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Some people just are prone to them. My friend, Michelle gets them all the time and does everything they tell you to. She finds taking the Bactrim really helps and if she couldn't avoid them, to sit in a warm bath.
Posts: 2064 | Registered: Dec 2003
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It is thought that the potential interaction between birth control pills and antibiotics is in the gut. That is, the bacteria which deconjugate the compounds in the oral birth control pills live in the lining of the intestine, and these can be wiped out by antibiotics.
So in order for the birth control compounds to be absorbed through the intestinal lining, you probably need a certain number of friendly microbes to do the job of breaking them down. However, since the hormones in the Nuvaring are absorbed directly through the mucosa of the vaginal tract into the bloodstream, they don't need bacteria to break them down first. In theory, at least.
Cranberry juice used to be thought to work by acidification of the urine, but it's been shown that its mechanism of action is actually through a compound which prevents the pilli (or "feet") of the bacteria from clinging to the lining of the urinary tract, thus leaving them more prone to getting flushed out. You might have more success with a different brand of cranberry juice. (Try, e.g., the "organic" or "natural" brands -- possibly less processed, possibly less denatured. Or make your own cranberry sauce from fresh cranberries and wolf it down on some toast every day, like jam.)
Posts: 132 | Registered: Jun 2006
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Not to point out the obvious, but just to be safe, you might want to double your protection with condoms -- just in case there is interference with the ring. Frodo had the same trouble. True story.
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Let's not discuss her sex life. Birth control is used by many for the sole purpose of hormone regulation...
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My roommate is on pill BC for PCOS. My other one is on the ring for the regular reason, but we she went to the gyno to start getting BC, they suspect she has ... PCOS. I feel left out with my irregularity.
My understanding of the ring was that it's not supposed to interact with antibiotics because it's in a different place. And the hormones are low and constant. But if no one has done a study, I'm wrong. Someone really should, the ring sounds like the best BC option ever.
I was gonna suggest cranberry juice. So I guess i have nothing to add here.
Posts: 1757 | Registered: Oct 2004
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I bought some cranberry pills from the pharmacy. They are over the counter. They work really well. I think they are many times more potent than drinking the juice, though you want to drink tons of fluids anyway, of course. I take them now whenever I feel like I'm starting to get one, and it heads it off.
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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I already do cranberry pills, as well. And lemonade, since one of the nurses told me that lemonade, so long as it's with real lemon juice and not that 3% lemons stuff, should help too. And I've started wearing a looser style of underwear and less tight clothes. But it's just not enough, and I don't need to be in the ER again. So if the urologist says I need antibiotics in addition to all these other things, that's what's going to have to happen. It's just a matter of finding an antibiotic that I can actually use.
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It gets on my nerves because every time I go into the clinic, they're like, "Are you drinking cranberry juice? Are you getting enough water?" And so on and so forth. But according to this specialist (and they wouldn't refer me to a specialist until I had to go to the ER a few weeks ago), I can just take one or two of these pills when I feel like I'm getting sick, and it should go away.
