Kidney Infection

[Jenna]

Hello. I'm looking for some advice. My mother is 59 yrs old, severly obese, and has been suffering from kidney and bladder infections on and off for the past 8 months. She takes a pillcase of medication each day to regulate her blood pressure, potassium, etc. Each time she experiences symptoms of infections, she calls her doctor who, without seeing her, calls in an antibiotic prescription to the local pharmacy. She is so ill from the current infection that my father will be taking her by ambulance to the local hospital tomorrow.

I think that her doctor has been remiss in her care of my mother. Hopefully she will be seeing a new doctor at the hospital, and I am wondering what questions I need to be asking to get my mother on the right path. Are there tests that should have been done? Are chronic infections a sign of something more serious? Is her weight affecting the condition? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thank you,
Jenna

[amonday9]

there are some test they may run on her- one is ultrasound of her kidneys- the other is called a vcug- this is where they fill your bladder and look on live xray as she eliminates to see if there is any reflux ( where urine goes back up into your kidneys) i am no doctor so i'm not sure if the weight thing affects her?? myself and my two daughters have chronic problems with uti's and all have reflux- slowly we are getting us all taken care of- it has taken 29 yrs for doctors to possibly correctly diagnose me so i feel your frustration!!! another thing look into "dyfunctional elimination syndrome" if your mom tends to be constipated, or her weight may effect this too- i know when i was pregnant the pressure from the baby on my bladder gave me constant uti's- i hope this helps you some! good luck!!! i hope she gets better soon!!!!