These are never easy topics to tackle. Let’s talk about pyelonephritis. It’s intimate, it’s delicate. I hesitated for a long time before talking about it. I explain this easily in face-to-face, especially with time and habit. But writing things, knowing that they will stay, letting everyone get into my privacy is a bit different. Just finding a title to this kind of articles is hard to believe me! I had been thinking about it for a while but it was also a little out of nowhere, a little distant.
The timeline
Until Wednesday, September 28th and my little turn to the emergency, my big fatigue which followed and my presence in the slow motion on the networks where I am generally very active. If today I decide to talk about it is that I assume that information such as this has interest only if it is shared and that the articles that explain this simply are very rare on the net. Take to drink and eat because the story begins in 2007!
December 2007
I am 19 years old (one shovel, one). Got my first urinary tract infection, I do not know what is going on. I consult in this order: Google, my mother, my doctor. The pain is unbearable, each passage in the small corner is a test. What I did not know yet on this nice day of December is that the urinary infections were going to become friends too a little too invasive.
Until May 2012 infections will come and go freely in my life. Sometimes they will leave me a few months of rest. To the point of almost forgetting them. Infections occur after alcoholic evenings, after relationships, after days that I spend outside in full sun. This is how the detection of a urinary tract infection occurs: Pain when passing through the small corner. Appointment at the doctor’s. Pipi in the pot. Tongue in the jar. Tongue changes color.
Oops there is a urinary tract infection. Order for treatment. Ordinance for laboratory analysis to know the name of the nasty microbe and adapt the treatment. Yes the treatment is given before knowing who is the villain to exterminate. On the advice of my doctor I drink a lot, I go to the toilet after the reports (that the girl who never heard this from the mouth of her doctor raises her hand), and especially I take antibiotic treatment. I did not count the number of treatments I took. But my stomach can surely tell you how much: too much.
Not worried yet
I’m not worried because I do not know what I have. I’m not worried because I think it’s normal. I am not worried because I get used to living with this pain. Plus I am not worried because I am not aware that these treatments are damaging my little body. I am not worried because I do not know there can be worse.
On a nice day in the month of May (yes I only have nice days in my stories) I make the lizard from morning to evening on a beach in the south of France. Without water, of course. Because the water implies going back to the toilet and when I bronze with the buddies I have no desire to be disturbed by technical questions. Back home. Arrival of an unknown pain. I finished this pretty day with a visit to the emergency room and the discovery of the word: pyelonephritis.
What is pyelonephritis?
A pyelonephritis is a bacterial infection of the kidney. In very simple words it is a urinary infection that has gained ground, the nasty microbe that is reassembled in the kidney (s). For my part it is always the same that picks up. It often results from a poorly treated urinary tract infection. Badly treated or in other words: I know I’m hurting, I’m going to drink a lot of water, I’m going to drink cranberries juice it will pass. Great news: it does not happen. It’s getting worse. It can potentially become pyelonephritis. This is never harmless and poorly cared for you can really endanger your kidney. We have two it is true but we still live much better with two!
The pain of a pyelonephritis?
I felt like I had something planted in my back on my kidney. Short of breath. Can not move. Folded in half on my sofa (usually it happens when you relax). And of course the pain associated with a classic urinary tract infection. The pain does not deceive even without knowing what you have the pain will be too strong to keep you from going to emergencies.
It follows a very tired, a lack of energy and envy. Blood tests, urine tests, ultrasounds of the kidney. Treatment takes effect. Life resumes its course. Infections also. Treatments too.
August 2013
new blow, new pyelonephritis, new turn to the emergency, new treatment. This time I listen to one of my friends who advises me to consult a urologist, she tells me that a woman should not make more than 10 urinary tract infections in her life and that there is surely a solution for my problems .
September 2013: meet with the urologist
I remember very well that day when I went alone to Lyon for the consultation, this is the first time I realized that it could be much more serious than what Had imagined. I had a first awareness. He talks about bladder, meatus, my habits, he manipulates me and knows exactly where I hurt. In 5 minutes he explains to me that he sees many young women like me very active, who do not take the time to drink and to go to the toilet, so a meatoskenectomy.
I honestly had to look for the Name to write the article, I never remember. A technique which consists of removing the periurethral glands which would constitute real microbe reservoirs, to avoid these inconveniences. What I vulgarly call an operation of the bladder. This malformation can be from birth or appear after the first reports. These worries there can also cause discomfort during intercourse.
Symptoms:
- Lower abdominal weight sensation, repetitive urinary tract infections, repeat kidney infections. Among others but these are the main ones concerning me.
The appointment is fixed, November 25, 2013 I will undergo the operation that will change my daily life. He advocates a week of rest to get back on his feet.
October 2013: barely 3 weeks after my meeting with the doctor let’s do it again: pyelonephritis 3rd edition, new passage to the emergencies. This time things increase a notch: daily visit of a nurse at home for an injection of antibio and really very very big fatigue. Assessment: it stings very strong! From that day on I shall be arrested. My return to work will be only on January 6, 2014 (at that time I was commercial, a job that did not fit too well with my health problems).
November 2013: operation. Entry in the morning, operation in the afternoon, exit the next morning. The operation lasts 1h of memory. The thread is resorbable. Doctors compare pain to postpartum. When my doctor sees me arrive in his office a week later he has the impression that I broke the coccyx is to tell you. Let’s say that my approach is wobbly and that I limit my travels as much as possible. Do not even talk to me about driving around. Check visit 3 months later to check that everything is fine.
What has the operation changed?
Since the operation I have no more urinary infections. End of September 2016 I had a small kidney infection without urinary tract infection. Despite this the operation remains a success since a small infection is nothing compared to urinary infections every 2-3 months. I no longer feel the weight down the belly. And I do not wake up to go to the bathroom 3-4 times a night. I can restrain myself to go to the toilet without twisting in pain.
My way of life also evolved: big party girl I went out less and less, I did not drink more alcohol, I also took a lot of weight between treatments and staying to do nothing. I drink more water. I also learned to listen to my body. A year after the operation I decided to change feed. I eat better, I do sports. Now I understand that I had one body and that I had to take care of it.
Honestly, I am still sensitive to the kidney, I have to drink more than others. And I always go to the toilet more than others, as soon as I am too stressed or tired I have kidney pain, if I do not drink enough I wrong. In short my kidney is my Achilles heel to me but also my alarm bell when I do too.
My advice
Girls if you have any doubts do not hesitate to consult a urologist, your doctor may not know this operation. That was the case with mine. It is not something very widespread.
This is surely the most personal article of the blog, the one that took me the most time. And also the one that really holds me to heart. So do not hesitate if you have any questions, if you need more information, in the comments like by mail I am reachable.
I will never thank enough people who helped me during this period a bit complicated for an overactive like me. Besides, I think I became even more hyperactive after that.
Belle soirée les petits loups à frange.
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