It’s rather interesting how three different medications that serve the same purpose (blocking estrogen) can create three different side effects! Over the weekend I developed a urinary tract infection, which I’m about 95% sure was caused by Anastrozole. Lack of estrogen really dries up the body and can cause all kinds of havoc! I haven’t had a UTI for over five years, and I’ve been faithfully taking cranberry extract pills ever since so that I would (hopefully!) never have to go through that again. It’s such a miserable sensation. Fortunately my general practitioner’s office has a walk-in clinic with regular office hours over the weekend. I was able to go in Sunday afternoon without any wait time. They took a urine sample and found trace amounts of blood, and will send it off to get cultured. Those results take several days. In the meantime, the doctor gave me a prescription for cephalexin and I picked up the AXO urinary pain relief tablets (over the counter) that I used for my last UTI.

I took my first doses of both medications around 3:15pm and wasn’t feeling any relief, so took my second doses around 6:30pm and I was finally starting to feel a little better. Took my third doses at bedtime and still wasn’t feeling great, so it took awhile to get to sleep. Fortunately, I didn’t have anything I had to get up for this morning, so I slept in and have felt pretty good. Well enough to make soap for sure – the photo above is from earlier today.

I messaged Dr. Corum’s nurse yesterday and she was able to get back to me today. I am to continue the Anastrozole for now and let them know if the infection doesn’t resolve. Since I’m a member of a Facebook group about side effects from the hormone blocker medications, I had seen several people mention bladder issues and recommendations to take D-Mannose along with cranberry extract. I ordered the D-Mannose from Amazon right away and it should arrive this evening! I’m also trying to drink more water than my usual two liters as my urine sample showed that I was also a bit dehydrated. Kent and I had gone to the pool yesterday morning, so that could have been part of the reason for my dehydration.

Anyone who has ever had a urinary tract infection knows they aren’t fun, or anything to mess around with! I appreciate prayers that this will be the last one!