[Aleria]

I am currently on this list of medication:
Elavil(Amitriptyline) 75mg at night
Valium as needed (usually 15mg during onset of panic attack)
Sprintec(birth control)
Tylenol Rapid Release(Acetaminophen)1000mg as needed for migraines
Potassium Gluconate 99mg daily (I've always shown lower than average potassium levels whenever I've been sick enough to wind up in the hospital)

I've been noticing ever since I reached my doctor's recommended level of 75mg of Elavil every night before bed that my urine seemed to have an extremely strong odor, even when it was of normal color, even to the point that my fiance was able to smell it from another room in the house and didn't believe me when I told him thats what the smell was. But I'm also experiencing darkened urine and now frequent urinary tract infections that like most go away within 24-48 hours but I'm getting them on an at least weekly basis. I've always been prone to get UTI's because of the fact I have a hard time forcing myself to drink large amounts of fluids, and now with the Elavil its basically super dehydrating me. But short of constantly gulping down bottles of water I don't know what to do to stop the dehydration and urinary tract infections. And getting off the Elavil is not an option because it is one of the first medications that has actually had an impact on my ptsd and panic disorder. Is there anything out there I can do to keep myself hydrated or to keep the dehydration from causing these chronic urinary tract infections? My biggest problem is just the burning in the urethra and the urgency even when I don't have anything left in me, those are the only two symptoms I'm experiencing that are really bothering me. And because of the fact that I have been unable to work for over a year now and have no health insurance I can't afford to make trip after trip to the doctor to be put on antibiotics for the infection. So does anyone out there have any suggestions? And I do apologize for the length and rambling of this post, but I really need some suggestions here.

[pharmd06]

the elavil can cause you to hold your urine. this will increase the risk of infection bc the urine flow is a natural barrier to infection.
and if you are having sex, that itself also causes more frequent infections

first, if you have an infection, you should seek a treatment with antibiotic. if the infection spreads up to the kidney it can become serious. if you get frequent infections you can even talk to the provider about prophylaxsis treatments.

you can decrease the likelyhood of infection by drinking more water, drinking cranberry juice, and taking 500mg of Vitamin C twice daily to acidify your urine.