Urinary tract infections (UTIs) happen when bacteria get in the organs that make pee and help it pass out of your body. These infections are treated with antibiotics.
Sometimes a UTI can come back right after antibiotics are taken, or antibiotics don’t clear up the symptoms. In this case, your healthcare provider may suggest a different antibiotic or make sure you are taking the medication correctly. They may also check for other conditions, in case your symptoms aren’t related to a UTI.
This article is about why the symptoms of a urinary tract infection (UTI) do not always go away after treatment.
Women get UTIs more often than men do. There are a couple of reasons why. First, women have a shorter urethra than men do. Second, in a woman’s body, the tube where pee comes out is close to where stool is stored at the end of the intestine (rectum).
About 60% of women will get at least one UTI in their life. Only 12% of men will get a UTI in their life.
Common UTI Symptoms
If you have a UTI the tubes and your bladder get red and irritated (inflammation). You may also have other symptoms, including:
- Urgent need to pee
- Burning sensation or pain when you pee
- Pain, pressure, or aching in your lower abdomen (pelvic area)
- Cloudy or dark pee
- A little bit of blood in your pee
- Pee with a strong or foul odor
Why Symptoms Don’t Go Away With Treatment
If you get a UTI, your doctor can give you medication to make the bacteria causing the infection go away. These medications are called antibiotics.
Recap
UTIs are common infections that happen when bacteria get in the organs that help you pee. The bacteria causes irritation and can make you feel sick.
You will usually need to take the medicine every day for about 2 weeks. You should also drink plenty of fluid to help clear the infection from your body.
Even if you take the medication the way your doctor tells you to and drink a lot, your infection might not go away. There are a few reasons why this can happen.
Taking the Wrong Antibiotic or Taking Them The Wrong Way
Antibiotics are medications that attack bacteria. Since UTIs are caused by bacteria, your doctor may give you an antibiotic to make the infection go away.
Sometimes, the medicine is not good at fighting the infection. If you take the medicine and still feel sick, tell your doctor. There is more than one UTI treatment. If the first one does not work, you can try a different one.
You might get the right medication but make a mistake when you take it. If you take the medication the wrong way, your symptoms might not get better. You could also get a UTI again or get a worse infection.
In one study, researchers looked at 670,450 women with UTIs. About half of the women were given an antibiotic that did not work. Many of the women also took the medications longer than was needed to make the infection go away.
Here are some important things to know about taking antibiotics for a UTI:
- Keep taking your antibiotics even if you start feeling better. You need to take all the doses to make sure the infection goes away. Do not “save” any of the medicine for later.Only take the medicine your doctor gave (prescribed) to you.Do not give your antibiotics to other people.
Antibiotic Resistance
When an antibiotic is used a lot, it can stop working. This is called antibiotic resistance. This is a reason why some UTIs do not get better with treatment.
There are a few reasons a UTI doesn’t go away after you take antibiotics. The medication might not have been good at fighting the bacteria. If this happens, you might have to try a different one.
If the medicine you’re taking is not fighting the bacteria very well, your doctor might give you a different one.
Chronic or Recurring UTIs
Some people get UTIs more often than others. They might have UTIs that last a long time (chronic) or that come back more than 3 times in a year (recurring).
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that antibiotic resistance is becoming more of a problem. About 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections happen every year in the U.S.
You might have heard that cranberry juice or cranberry pills can help if you get UTIs a lot. Some studies have tested whether cranberry products with the fruit sugar D-mannose benefit people who get UTIs. More research needs to be done to see how well they work.
When It’s Not a UTI
You might feel like you have a UTI but actually have another medical or health problem. Here are a few conditions that have some of the same symptoms as a UTI:
- Overactive bladder
- Kidney stones
- Sexually transmitted infections like chlamydia, gonorrhea, or genital herpes
- Vaginitis
- Endometriosis
- Bladder pain syndrome (interstitial cystitis)
Some cancers also share symptoms with UTIs, including:
- Bladder cancer
- Kidney cancer
- Prostate cancer
- Penile cancer
- Vaginal or vulvar cancer
If you have one of these conditions, you might also have other symptoms like:
- Fever and chills
- Nausea and vomiting
- Pain and tenderness in specific spots
- Irritation, breakouts, or sores (with sexually transmitted infections)
- Erectile dysfunction
- Losing weight without trying
- Weakness or numbness in your legs or feet
- Loss of bladder or bowel control
- Blood in semen
Summary
A urinary tract infection (UTI) happens when bacteria get inside organs that help you pee (like your urethra, bladder, and kidneys). When you have a UTI, your doctor can give you medicine to make the infection go away. These are called antibiotics.
If you are not feeling well, your doctor can figure out if a UTI is causing your symptoms. If it’s not a UTI, they will look for other reasons why you are sick.
You might need to take more than one antibiotic if the first one does not work. You need to take the medication just how your doctor tells you to. If you don’t, your symptoms might not get better or the infection might come back.
You might take the medication the right way and still feel sick. Or you might start having more symptoms. In this case, you may not have a UTI. Other health conditions can feel like a UTI. Tell your doctor about your symptoms so they can figure out what is wrong.
A Word From Verywell
If you get UTIs a lot or your symptoms do not get better with treatment, you might be worried that there is a serious problem. Share these concerns with your doctor. They can help you understand why you get UTIs often or take longer to heal.
Some people just get UTIs a lot. Others need more time to feel better when they get a UTI. There might be some things that you can do to help keep UTIs at bay or feel better sooner if you get one.
If you follow the treatment for a UTI and still do not feel better, you might not have a UTI. There are other conditions that have some of the same symptoms as a UTI. That’s why you need to tell your doctor about any symptoms you have. They will use this information to figure out why you feel sick and make sure you get the right treatment.
