A MUM who brushed off her UTIs with cranberry juice ended up in a coma after the infection travelled to her kidney and her brain started to swell.
Carol Hadley, 47, had suffered from since she was a teenager but only ever self-medicated with cranberry juice and never went to her .
But in July, the mum-of-three started having daily before developing UTI symptoms around a month later.
Carol had brushed off these symptoms, but when she fell ill at work one day in August, she was rushed to hospital where doctors gave her the shocking .
They told her the UTI had developed into a kidney infection, E. coli and , causing swelling in her brain which had triggered her headaches.
When the mum’s condition failed to improve, she was placed in an induced coma and remained in hospital for three weeks.
Her family were told to prepare for the worst, but thankfully Carol made a recovery, although she has been left with long-term kidney damage after the ordeal.
A UTI can affect different parts of your urinary tract and can include cystitis, a , urethritis, an infection of your urethra, and a kidney infection.
Symptoms can include pain or a burning sensation when you pee, needing to pee more often than usual, blood in your pee, lower tummy or pain in your back, just under the ribs and feeling tired or weak.
UTIs can be treated with antibiotics, although these are not always needed.
The says that some people, like Carol, take cystitis sachets or cranberry drinks to prevent UTIs from happening, but there’s no evidence they help ease symptoms or treat the infection if it has already started.
Since her ordeal, Carol is urging people not to self-medicate with cranberry juice and visit their GP instead.
Speaking about her experience, Carol, from Sheffield, said: “I’ve had UTIs all my life from being a teenager, as young as 13 or 14.
“It tended to happen a lot after I’d been – going out at weekends with my friends.
“I’ve had them on a regular basis for the last 30 years, I hadn’t really been to the doctors about it.
“I know when one is coming so I’ll buy a carton of cranberry juice and some cystitis powders from the pharmacist that you dissolve in water.
“I just self-treated. I never got antibiotics, it’s just having time to go to the doctors.”
Carol had been ignoring her daily headaches and UTI symptoms as she was “busy at work”, but when she became ill in August, she was rushed to hospital.
Describing her symptoms, she said: “Over the next couple of weeks, I started getting the symptoms of a UTI.
“It was burning while I peed, I was getting a , I just thought it was a normal UTI.
“I was also having back pain, but I genuinely thought it was because I’m on my feet all day. I now know it was my kidneys.
“On August 23, the security guard at work thought I didn’t look well, so checked my but it was coming up with nothing.”
Carol continued: “My temperature was fluctuating and my oxygen levels were low so they rang an ambulance.
“My daughter said when she got to the hospital I wasn’t making any sense. My words were coming out slurred like I’d been .
“Apparently I was very incoherent, I was put into the critical care unit two days later.
“They told my mum and daughter that I’d had a UTI, which led to a kidney infection, which went untreated and led to E. coli and led to . Then I was put in an induced coma.”
The key signs of a UTI
Urinary tract infections (UTIs) affect different parts of your urinary tract and include cystitis (bladder infection), urethritis (infection of your urethra) and kidney infection.
UTIs may be treated with antibiotics, but they’re not always needed.
Symptoms of a urinary tract infection (UTI) may include:
- pain or a burning sensation when peeing (dysuria)
- needing to pee more often than usual
- needing to pee more often than usual during the night (nocturia)
- needing to pee suddenly or more urgently than usual
- pee that looks cloudy
- blood in your pee
- lower tummy pain or pain in your back, just under the ribs
- a high temperature, or feeling hot or cold, and shivery
- a very low temperature below 36C
- feeling tired or weak
Some people who are not pregnant take cystitis sachets or cranberry drinks and products to prevent UTIs from happening, which may help.
But there’s no evidence they help ease symptoms or treat a UTI if the infection has already started.
Source: NHS
Research has previously shown that E. coli causes up to 90 per cent of all UTIs.
This amounts to between six and eight million UTIs caused by the bacteria in the US every year.
Meanwhile in the UK, UTIs are thought to result in 7 million GP consultations annually.
After five days in an induced coma and a week in intensive care, Carol was discharged, but she has been left with permanent kidney damage.
She said: “I was scared. [When they told me I had] 30 per cent kidney failure [I thought] ‘am I going to die?’.
“I just thought of my kids and granddaughters, I didn’t believe it had happened.
“It always cleared up with the cranberry juice and sachets within a couple of days.
“I think when I went to hospital I was hours from death. I had no idea a UTI could even cause this.
“If I do get a UTI in the future, my first port of call will now be the GP because my kidneys are still damaged.”
Carol added: “I’ll never ever ignore a UTI again, I nearly ended up dying in front of my mum and daughter.
“My advice is don’t take them for granted because you’ve had them frequently. Get to your GP straight away and demand to be put on antibiotics.
“Skip the cranberry juice and sachets altogether.”
