Does anyone use the OTC test strips to test at home? Are they remotely accurate? I'm sure a culture is more effective but I was thinking they may be handy in a pinch.
Yes, I have done so a couple of years ago. This was the first line "test" to get my then-reluctant PCP to prescribe an antibiotic for DH. He was not familiar with silent UTIs and very skeptical that I might be self-diagnosing based on an online caregivers' forum lol.
It was mid pandemic, and appointments were weeks out, but I couldn't just scoop up my (with UTIs very cranky and uncooperative) DH and run to an urgent care or other lab appointment to do a urine sample and culture anyway. The home test strip turned deep purple within less than a minute so... combined with the sudden downturn and off the wall behaviors, it was my "proof" that we should treat for UTI despite no traditional symptoms.
It got to the point that I ultimately switched to a geriatric PCP who was much more experienced with these type of issues as well as all the things that can come with dementia, and importantly, how to trust and support a 24/7 primary caregiver in more of a palliative care approach (now in-home hospice). We later got a culture when suspected UTI and at one point upgraded his antibiotic, as Bactrin was not clearing the UTIs completely. Cephalexin, at least for my DH has worked much better. He went from 3-4 in a year, to only 1 in the last year.
Go for it. It was easy for me doing a clear catch with my guy. Not sure how easy it is trying to get a sample if one's LO has to sit and is not understanding (or just not compliant). Good luck!
Thanks @ButterflyWings!
My understanding is they are not accurate and you risk a false negative which doesn't really help your situation. Alternatively, your provider may give you some sterile collection cups to collect a sample at home and drop off at the lab if getting your LO to the clinic is difficult. I have done this many times for both parents. If you go this route be extremely cautious with cleanliness or you will cross contaminate the specimen and they won't be able to read it. Wash hands before handling the cup.
MN Chickadee's recommendation is even better. You definitely don't want a false negative and getting a lab with culture is always the best. We were in a homebound situation - could not get him out, could not leave him alone, and had to do something to get some info for the PCP to at least consider. He felt comfortable with that strong positive test strip result after stonewalling for more than a week, while DH's behavior just kept going through the roof.
Several months later, even palliative care would not help facilitate the sterile cup drop off and pick up for transport to lab except 1x, and it took so many days that DH was really escalating and likely miserable. I asked if we were just supposed to wait for sepsis, so they advised I call 911 (which defeats the purpose of palliative care,) but we had no choice. Sure enough, UTI was back (or possibly never cleared the first time). So we got the culture, doc changed the antibiotic and things are much better than that period of recurrent UTIs.
Note, our palliative nurse did suggest I keep the strips on hand just in case and we did that for a while. Since he has been on in-home hospice, they just prescribe the antibiotic as a precaution if there is any suspicion of UTI or infection of any sort but again, we got a handle on it pretty much with the med change, and have not had the recurrence like a few years ago. Good luck to you.
yes, we use them on a regular basis as my grand daughter has frequent UTIS due to several spinal cord surgeries. They are reliable, and of course, then need to be followed up by a lab culture.
There is a new UTI test for home-use that was announced recently. I hope it may be more convenient or reliable compared to the older strips.
I'd like to emphasize the importance of following up test strip results with a lab culture.
I had a UTI, went to my PCP's office, gave a sample. A few hours later the nurse called and said yes, I had a UTI, and antibiotics were prescribed. Went to pick up the prescription and started taking the antibiotics.
The following day I got a rather panicked-sounding call from the nurse. The culture showed I had a very serious, potentially fatal UTI bacteria. It was resistant to the antibiotics I had been prescribed the day before. So a new prescription was given and I started those antibiotics, tossing out the antibiotics prescribed the day before.
Moral of story: always follow up with a lab culture.
