Can Nitrofurantoin Treat Kidney Infections

What Are The Implications

The review findings support current guidelines that nitrofurantoin can be used to treat recurrent urinary tract infections in adults but it is not necessarily preferable to other options. Clinicians may consider prescribing it to reduce the effects on antimicrobial resistance, but patients should understand the increased probability of more gastrointestinal side effects.

Knowledge about antibiotic resistance continues to evolve, so up to date studies are needed to identify the antibiotics least prone to resistance and yet still beneficial to patients.

Furthermore, research into non-antibiotic treatment of recurrent urinary tract infections would provide an alternative that could reduce widespread antibiotic resistance.

Getting The Most From Your Treatment

• Most people improve within a few days of starting treatment. If your symptoms do not improve despite taking nitrofurantoin, go back to see your doctor, as you may need an alternative antibiotic. This is because some bacteria are resistant to some types of antibiotics.
• Nitrofurantoin can turn your urine a yellow/brown colour. This is quite harmless.
• If you buy any medicines, check with a pharmacist that they are suitable for you to take with nitrofurantoin. Some antacids can interfere with nitrofurantoin and stop it from working properly.
• If you are taking the contraceptive pill at the same time as this antibiotic, the effectiveness of the pill can be reduced if you have a bout of sickness or diarrhoea which lasts for more than 24 hours. If this should happen, ask your doctor or pharmacist for advice about what additional contraceptive precautions to use over the following few days. There is no need to use additional precautions for any bouts of sickness or diarrhoea which last for less than 24 hours.
• If you are due to have any medical or dental treatment, tell the person carrying out the treatment that you are taking nitrofurantoin. This is because it can affect the results of some diagnostic tests.
• Nitrofurantoin can stop the oral typhoid vaccine from working. If you are due to have any vaccinations while you are taking nitrofurantoin, please make sure the person treating you knows that you are taking it.

What Is The Dosage For Nitrofurantoin

• The recommended adult dose for treating urinary tract infections is 50-100 mg 4 times daily or 100 mg every 12 hours for 7 days or for 3 days after obtaining sterile urine.
• Nitrofurantoin can be taken with or without meals. Taking it with meals increases its absorption into the body.
• The suspension can be mixed with water, milk, juice, or infant formula.
• It also is used once a day to prevent urinary tract infections.
• It should not be used in persons with poor kidney function.

Don’t Miss: Does Azo Cure Uti Infections

Antibiotics Used For Complicated Utis

Before getting into how to best treat a complicated UTI, its important to understand which UTIs are considered complicated. Here are some guidelines:

• Urinary tract abnormalities are present
• The patient is a child
• A comorbidity is present that increases risk of infection or treatment resistance, such as poorly controlled diabetes
• Youre a man, since most UTIs in men are considered complicated

Kidney infections are often treated as a complicated UTI as well, notes the Merck Manual.

If a UTI is complicated, a different course of antibiotics may be required. And the initial dose of antibiotics may be started intravenously in the hospital. After that, antibiotics are given orally at home. In addition, follow-up urine cultures are generally recommended within 10 to 14 days after treatment. Not all of the antibiotics approved for uncomplicated UTIs are appropriate for the complicated version. Some that are considered appropriate, include:

Antibiotics Used For Uncomplicated Utis

If you are a healthy individual whose urinary tract is anatomically and functionally normal and you have no known heightened UTI susceptibility youve got whats dubbed an uncomplicated UTI, according to guidelines published in August 2019 in the Journal of Urology. For these individuals, antibiotics are considered the first-line of treatment.

The type of antibiotics you are prescribed and for how long is contingent on the type of bacteria detected in your urine, your current health status, and whether your UTI is uncomplicated or complicated. Depending on which antibiotic your doctor prescribes, women may need a single dose or up to a five-day course. For men, antibiotics are usually given for a slightly longer period of time, notes UpToDate.

Typically, if you are diagnosed with an uncomplicated UTI, one of the following will be prescribed as first-line treatment:

The following antibiotics are considered second-line treatments for UTI. They are generally chosen because of resistance patterns or allergy considerations:

RELATED: The Connection Between E. Coli and UTIs

Read Also: Infection Control Risk Assessment Tool

More Common Side Effects

The more common side effects of nitrofurantoin can include:

Disclaimer: Our goal is to provide you with the most relevant and current information. However, because drugs affect each person differently, we cannot guarantee that this information includes all possible side effects. This information is not a substitute for medical advice. Always discuss possible side effects with a healthcare professional who knows your medical history.

Is It Safe To Be Treated With Macrobid For A Kidney Infection

Ask U.S. doctors your own question and get educational, text answers â it’s anonymous and free!

Ask U.S. doctors your own question and get educational, text answers â it’s anonymous and free!

HealthTap doctors are based in the U.S., board certified, and available by text or video.

You May Like: Medicine To Treat Kidney Infection

Is Nitrofurantoin Safe For Breastfeeding Or People With Kidney Problems

Its not recommended to breastfeed on Nitrofurantoin if a baby is less than one month old. As Nitrofurantoin can pass via the breast milk.

Id talk to your doctor about other medicines that are safer to use with breastfeeding. Specifically penicillin medicines.

The same goes for people who have kidney problems as the medication can build up in the bloodstream to very high levels and other antibiotic choices may be a better fit for you.

Overall, this is really good medicine for urinary tract infections but some people cant take it for the various reasons that I mentioned before. I think it as an antibiotic that its often overlooked but its quite effective.

The more common side effects of nitrofurantoin can include:

Disclaimer: Our goal is to provide you with the most relevant and current information. However, because drugs affect each person differently, we cannot guarantee that this information includes all possible side effects. This information is not a substitute for medical advice. Always discuss possible side effects with a healthcare professional who knows your medical history.

What Other Information Should I Know

Keep all appointments with your doctor and the laboratory. Your doctor may order certain lab tests to check your bodys response to meropenem and vaborbactam injection.

It is important for you to keep a written list of all of the prescription and nonprescription medicines you are taking, as well as any products such as vitamins, minerals, or other dietary supplements. You should bring this list with you each time you visit a doctor or if you are admitted to a hospital. It is also important information to carry with you in case of emergencies.

Also Check: Boric Acid For Recurrent Yeast Infection

Treatment Strategies For Recurrent Utis

Recurrent urinary tract infections, defined as three or more UTIs within 12 months, or two or more occurrences within six months, is very common among women these but arent treated exactly the same as standalone UTIs. One of the reasons: Continued intermittent courses of antibiotics are associated with allergic reactions, organ toxicities, future infection with resistant organisms, and more.

Because of this, its strongly recommended that you receive both a urinalysis and urine culture from your healthcare provider prior to initiating treatment. Once the results are in, the American Urological Association suggests that healthcare professionals do the following:

• Use first-line treatments. Nitrofurantoin, TMP-SMX, and fosfomycin are the initial go-tos. However, specific drug recommendations should be dependent on the local antibiogram. An antibiogram is a periodic summary of antimicrobial susceptibilities that helps track drug resistance trends.
• Repeat testing. If UTI symptoms persist after antimicrobial therapy, clinicians should repeat the urinalysis, urine culture, and antibiotic susceptibility testing to help guide further management.
• Try vaginal estrogen. For peri- and post-menopausal women with recurrent UTIs, vaginal estrogen therapy is recommended to reduce risk of future UTIs.

RELATED: The Link Between UTIs and Sex: Causes and How to Prevent Them

What Drugs Interact With Nitrofurantoin And Bactrim

Nitrofurantoin

• High doses of probenecid or sulfinpyrazone can partially block the kidneys elimination of nitrofurantoin. This can increase the blood concentrations of nitrofurantoin and the risk of toxicity from nitrofurantoin.
• Concomitant administration of a magnesium trisilicate antacid may decrease the absorption of nitrofurantoin, reducing the effectiveness of nitrofurantoin.
• Nitrofurantoin may reduce the activity of live tuberculosisvaccine and live typhoid vaccine. In laboratory tests, nitrofurantoin reduced the effect of quinolone antibiotics, for example, norfloxacin . Therefore, nitrofurantoin should not be combined with quinolone antibiotics.

Bactrim

Bactrim can enhance the blood-thinning effects of warfarin , possibly leading to bleeding.

Sulfonamides such as sulfamethoxazole can increase the metabolism of cyclosporine , and can add to the kidney damage caused by cyclosporine.

All sulfonamides can crystallize in urine when the urine is acidic. Since methenamine causes acidic urine, it should not be used with sulfonamides.

Blood levels of phenytoin may be increased by treatment with Bactrim. This may lead to side effects associated with phenytoin such as dizziness, and reduced attention.

Bactrim also may increase blood levels of digoxin and possibly lead to serious toxic effects.

Anemia, due to a reduction in folic acid, can occur in persons receiving Bactrim in combination with:

You May Like: How To Filter Urine For Kidney Stones

Recommended Reading: How Long Does Tinnitus Last After Ear Infection

What Is A Uti Anyway

A UTI, or urinary tract infection, happens when bacteria enters into any part of your urinary system, which includes the urethra, the bladder, the kidneys or the uterus. If not flushed out of the system, the bacteria can lead to an infection, or a UTI.

If youve ever had a UTI , you probably havent forgotten the symptoms. UTIs are very unpleasant, to say the least, and are often accompanied with one or more of the following:

• A burning sensation when urinating

• A strong urge to urinate often, usually passing only small amounts of urine at a time.

• Cloudy and/or strong smelling urine

Who Should Be Tested For Chlamydia

You should go to your health provider for a test if you have symptoms of chlamydia, or if you have a partner who has a sexually transmitted disease. Pregnant women should get a test when they go to their first prenatal visit.

People at higher risk should get checked for chlamydia every year:

• Sexually active women 25 and younger
• Older women who have new or multiple sex partners, or a sex partner who has a sexually transmitted disease
• Men who have sex with men

Read Also: Is Yellow Snot A Sinus Infection

Types Of Uti And Treatment Implications

The comments that follow focus on urethritis, cystitis, and pyelonephritis. The management of asymptomatic bacteriuria, chronic Foley catheterârelated bacteriuria, and prostatitis is not discussed.

A long-standing issue is whether UTI represent surface mucosal or parenchymal infections or both. Infections of the urethra are viewed as superficial, whereas pyelonephritis is considered a parenchymal infection. Cystitis ranges from mild to invasion of the wall of the bladder. So, which is more important: Adequate urine or serum concentrations of antimicrobial agents?

Data from UTI in animal models are helpful. High urine drug concentrations are necessary to sterilize urine for pyelonephritis, it is necessary to have effective tissue concentrations of the antimicrobial agent. The serum concentrations of anti-infectives correlate with the drug concentration in renal tissue . Glomerular filtration ± net tubular secretion determines urine concentration. Thus, for patients who have renal insufficiency with therapeutic serum drug levels and adequate arterial perfusion of the renal parenchyma, the delivery of therapeutic drug concentrations to both the parenchyma and the urine should not be a problem. For patients with chronic insufficiency and cystitis, there is a possibility that the urine drug concentration may be too low to eradicate the etiologic organism.

Before Taking This Medicine

You should not take nitrofurantoin if you are allergic to it, or if you have:

• severe kidney disease

• a history of jaundice or liver problems caused by taking nitrofurantoin

• if you are urinating less than usual or not at all or

• if you are in the last 2 to 4 weeks of pregnancy.

Do not take nitrofurantoin if you are in the last 2 to 4 weeks of pregnancy.

To make sure nitrofurantoin is safe for you, tell your doctor if you have:

• kidney disease

• an electrolyte imbalance or vitamin B deficiency

• glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency or

• any type of debilitating disease.

FDA pregnancy category B. This medicine is not expected to be harmful to an unborn baby during early pregnancy. Tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant during treatment.

Nitrofurantoin can pass into breast milk and may harm a nursing baby. You should not breast-feed while you are taking this medicine.

Nitrofurantoin should not be given to a child younger than 1 month old.

Recommended Reading: How Much Is Yeast Infection Medicine Without Insurance

Can You Flush Out A Uti With Water

Patients with urinary tract infection are usually advised to drink six to eight glasses of water every day to flush the infection out of the urinary system. The best way to get the infection out of the system is by drinking liquids until the urine is clear and the stream is forceful.

What is the fastest way to get rid of a urinary tract infection? 5 Things You Can Do to Get Rid of a Urinary Tract Infection Quickly

Can dehydration cause blood in urine?

Severe or frequent dehydration can weaken and damage your kidneys and lead to bloody urine, though. But generally, drinking too little water can make underlying urinary problems like infections worse. Those underlying conditions can cause hematuria.

What can cause blood in urine without infection? What Causes Hematuria?

• Urinary tract infection.

When I urinate and wipe theres blood? Bloody urine may be due to a problem in your kidneys or other parts of the urinary tract, such as: Cancer of the bladder or kidney. Infection of the bladder, kidney, prostate, or urethra. Inflammation of the bladder, urethra, prostate, or kidney

How do you know if you have blood in your urethra?

What Does Current Guidance Say On This Issue

A 2015 NICE Clinical Knowledge Summary of current evidence and practical guidance, recommends that women who experience unacceptable discomfort or disruption from recurrent urinary tract infections be given antibiotics to try to prevent them. NICE advises that while there is currently no evidence to recommend one particular antibiotic over another, trimethoprim and nitrofurantoin are preferred antibiotics.

NICE recommends that when deciding whether or not to prescribe an antimicrobial drug, clinicians should take into account the risk of antimicrobial resistance for individual patients and the population as a whole.

Don’t Miss: Young Living Essential Oils For Urinary Tract Infection

What Are The Signs That Something Is Wrong With Your Kidneys

Signs of Kidney Disease

• You’re more tired, have less energy or are having trouble concentrating. …
• You’re having trouble sleeping. …
• You have dry and itchy skin. …
• You feel the need to urinate more often. …
• You see blood in your urine. …
• Your urine is foamy. …
• You’re experiencing persistent puffiness around your eyes.

What Does White Blood Cells In Your Urine Mean

White blood cells in the urine may indicate inflammation of the kidneys or urinary tract due to bacterial infection. It is important to note, however, that contamination of the urine can also cause the presence of white blood cells in the urine, so remember to practice proper aseptic technique when giving the sample.

Also Check: Does Pop Cause Kidney Stones

Also Check: Ear Infection Hurts So Bad

Antibiotic Warnings And Treatment Concerns

The most commonly prescribed antibiotics for uncomplicated UTIs are similar in efficacy. But its important to note that ampicillin, amoxicillin, and sulfonamides are no longer the drugs of choice for combatting UTIs because of the emergence of antibiotic resistance. In addition, amoxicillin and clavulanate has been shown in previous research to be significantly less effective than others when it comes to treating urinary tract infections.

Also, as noted above, the FDA advises against using fluoroquinolones for uncomplicated UTIs. These medicines should only be considered if no other treatment options are available. In some cases, such as a complicated UTI or kidney infection, a healthcare provider may decide that a fluoroquinolone medicine is the best option, notes the American Academy of Family Physicians.

For pregnant women, some common antibiotics, such as fluoroquinolones and tetracyclines, should not be prescribed because of possible toxic effects on the fetus. But oral nitrofurantoin and cephalexin are considered good antibiotic choices for pregnant women with asymptomatic bacteriuria and acute cystitis, according to past research.

Recommended Reading: What To Do If Tooth Is Infected