A girlfriend of mine has suffered from several UT Is over the past eight months or so. She's had five surgeries on her ankle and is on pain medicine, which can be constipating. I suspect that they're caused by the enemas she takes for her chronic constipation. She doesn't know about my interest in enemas, so I haven't asked her for many details. I assume that her UT Is are caused by either splash back, contamination due to lubrication or wiping or maybe her general hygiene. She's a big gal, somewhere between 300 and 350, and with her ankle in a cast, she's not as flexible and mobile as she would like to be, so I don't know how well she is able to clean herself.
She's too embarrassed to mention her enema use to her doctor. He is Indian and has an abrasive personality and treats her like an untouchable. He already gets after her for her weight, stress level and diabetes - like it's easy to exercise and lose weight when you've been on bed rest for nearly three years. So she doesn't want to do anything else to incur his wrath. She takes stool softeners, but they don't completely take care of the problem, so she takes enemas every 3 or 4 weeks. A few days after, she gets hellacious bladder infections.
Her doctor has prescribed Keflex for her infections. I've taken Keflex for respiratory infections, but I'm not familiar with it. Whenever I have UTIs, I've always been given Cipro or Macrobid. I'm allergic to Sulfa, but that's one that is used to treat UTIs. Does anyone have any experience with Keflex and if so, is it the proper medication to treat UTIs caused by E.coli or should her doc prescribe one of the older drugs to treat it?
I'll mention the suggestions you've all given here. She hates cranberry juice and is diabetic, so she can't drink the more tastier cranberry juice cocktail. I've suggested that she take Cran-Dophilus, which is a capsule with cranberry concentrate and acidophilus. I forget which brand it is, but I've taken it before. It's in the refrigerated section of my local health food store. Any suggestions for her?