Clare
Clare has a history of urinary tract infections (UTIs), urinary urgency, urinary frequency, and painful intercourse. Her symptoms have been very effectively treated with hormone replacement therapy.
Clare lives with her husband and works part time as a healthcare professional. Clare describes herself as White British.
Conditions: UTI, urinary urgency, urinary frequency
More about me...
Clare started to get urinary tract infections (UTIs) in her fifties and has been prescribed repeated courses of antibiotics. Without antibiotics, Clare found that her symptoms could turn “nasty”. At these times, Clare would feel a painful burning sensation when urinating, and sometime was unable to urinate even though her bladder felt very full. Clare would also wake up in the night with an urgent need to go to the toilet and this affected her sleep. For years, Clare lived with anxiety about getting infections and felt reluctant to go places where she did not have easy access to antibiotics. She began to notice that the infections were predominantly after intercourse. Her symptoms and anxiety made her feel “a bit short fused” and “bad tempered” and this could transfer to work situations. At the time, she felt as if she was on a “treadmill” of repeated antibiotic treatment with no one asking why she was constantly getting another infection: it was a “repetition of a pattern that wasn’t working”.
Clare also developed a range of menopausal symptoms that affected her quality of life. Although she was prescribed hormone replacement therapy (HRT) she did not want to take it because she says, it “turned me into somebody else”. One of the menopausal symptoms was “terrible migraines” which were so bad that they almost stopped her working. Clare also started to experience painful intercourse and, although her husband was supportive and understanding, was extremely worried about the effect that this would have on their relationship. Her symptoms went on for several years.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Clare found the time to do some of her own research and started to think that her symptoms were linked to the menopause. She asked the GP to prescribe her a specific HRT and her GP was receptive to her ideas. Almost immediately after starting this medication, Clare described her life as “back to normal”. Although Clare is really pleased that her symptoms have gone, she adds, “it’s a good story but …it took eight years”. Clare really hopes that other women will find an answer to their problems sooner than she did. She feels that women often “try and battle through it” and don’t pursue help. She wonders whether a urologist may have made the link with menopause earlier, but they also might have “sent me off for some nasty investigations” which she would rather avoid. Her advice to other women is to “make yourself a nuisance” and keep going back until you have an answer. Clare feels that GPs can be hesitant to prescribe self-start antibiotics and that you have to be persistent.
Clare feels that GPs do not know enough about the menopause and that they need more guidance: “I was relying on [the GPs] to have the knowledge but they didn’t have the knowledge either so we weren’t going anywhere”. Clare understands that GPs cannot know everything, and that they do not always have enough time to put “the pieces of the puzzle together”. However, she feels positive that they are “hungry for information”. She would like health professionals to ask more questions when prescribing repeated antibiotics. She wonders whether a symptom checklist for menopause would be a useful time-saving aid for doctors during a consultation.
Clare asked her GP about going on hormonal replacement therapy to see if her urinary infections were related to menopause. She feels “life has gone back to normal” since starting the treatment.
Clare asked her GP about going on hormonal replacement therapy to see if her urinary infections were related to menopause. She feels “life has gone back to normal” since starting the treatment.
In the last two years, I’ve been doing some research myself. I’ve been on the Internet. I’ve found a couple of good websites. I’ve looked into the many effects of the menopause and the urogynae complications, was there, that was listed so armed with information now I’ve returned to the GP and explained that I feel, I feel this is part of the menopause. There are new types of HRT out now and these are the ones that I would like to try. She was fine with that, prescribed the HRT I’d asked for, and in the last year I feel as if my life has gone back to normal, so intercourse is no longer painful. I no longer have infections and there’s no discomfort or vaginal dryness. I don’t feel any side effects from the HRT apart from maybe breast tenderness and if anything, my libido has returned, so a result.
Clare found some “extremely good information” on medical charity and non-profit websites.
Clare found some “extremely good information” on medical charity and non-profit websites.
I just looked at the symptoms and then as you do when you’re looking at Dr Google, you follow each link and then you end up with a group of links so going from migraines to menopause to hormone replacement and then you, you eventually find a site that’s not profit making, that’s always key for me because when you go onto Dr Google a lot of people on there are, are selling things, this is all self-promotional money making. But the menopause, yeah, I won’t mention names but there were some sites specifically that were charity-based government funding The Menopause Society and then you can get links from there for people that do give free advice. It’s not for money, its charity, non-profit making, and I found some good, very good sites that had got some extremely good information on them and that’s helped me immensely.