Hi all, I was a daily visitor of this community for so long and thought to share my story and give some hope because I think there is a lot more dread than successes because once someone feels better they no longer feel the need to post. Gonna be super long so read if you're interested!
I have struggled with a CUTI for months. I got it from sex and I was also taking GLP 1's during that time and I think it ruined my gut (will get to why this matters). Gut health is immune health. I went back to back to back antibiotics. Tested positive for ureaplasma and got rid of that (even though that was never the culprit causing my symptoms). I took 2 very strong antibiotics azitrhomycin and doxycycline to target ureaplasma which destroyed my gut health even more. I thought that to cure infections you need to fight it with antibiotics and the specific bacteria to the antibiotic. I even got my IUD removed which was a nightmare because the first gyno failed to remove it! SCARIEST experience when he was just digging in there and was like you need a small surgery -- I found someone more competent the next day to do it PHEW!
Month 3-4 -- the gyno who removed the IUD prescribed levofloxacin and said that helped with UTI. My results keep coming back with more 50k Enteroccocus and I went to different doctors and most would give me nitrofurantoin which failed everytime, I did take amoxicilin for enteroccocus but that also didnt work.
Month 5-6 -- I genuinely cannot do it anymore not being able to fall asleep because you have a 247 burning vagina burning pee. Now my enterococcus rose to 100k in one result. Felt pokes in my kidneys so I freaked out and a doctor in the US prescribed the strongest antibiotic - linezolid. I thought this was my savior and my last hope - the strongest antibiotic must be able to finish off the bacteria from this UTI. Never have I been more wrong!! Linezolid probably worsened the kidney pain-- I had kidney pokes along with urinary urgency, pain, burning, everything was on fire. Not only that my heart was beating literally at 130bpm because of eating tyramine foods or serotonin syndrome. I felt like I was dying. Linezolid is not to be messed with. It took me at least 1.5 months after not taking it to feel my vision and heartrate feel better.
At this point I needed to seek help from my family so I flew home and told them everything. I was very embarrassed but I wanted to heal more. I was losing hair and dealing with insane anxiety. I took a break from work and was able to get immediate care at home because in the US you need to book like weeks ahead of time for a doctor and wait days for test results.
The first test showed 100k Klebsiella and I was on linezolid and dying this time but the doctors wanted a retest so they just told me to drink alot of water. I drank over 2L and had alot of clear soup (there is this asian recipe my family made which worked somewhat well). My next couple tests were mixed so there still wasn't a definitive infection. I kept downing water and focused on healing my immune system -- trying to exercise, calm my mind, and NO antibiotics.
Finally the family doctors said they will prescribe the most lowkey antibiotic to not ruin my gut more, amoxicilin culvanate acid. I was doubtful bc I did amoxicilin before but this culvanate acid blocks something to be more efficient to many bacterias. I had long term therapy on it for a month taking the lowest dose after the first week of regular dosing. My doctor said to take it at night after you pee so it is most concentrated in your urine when you have your first pee in the morning. All the while I was taking TCM (worked miracles) and acupuncture. I really think TCM helped me a lot and the doctors said I needed to heal my immune system. I am starting to think the reason why I couldn't heal from my first UTI was because my immune system was so fucked up from GLP's and not working out. The acupuncture was an interesting add and I doubted it first, my doctor didn't do the traditional acupuncture where its multiple needles left in your body, he found the specific pressure point for urinary issues and poked it once really hard each time, like an electrifying feeling. I don't like it but I do feel better temporarily so I kept doing it ahah! My tests kept coming back positive but the WBC counts are normal and I see my mucus threads get lower each time in my urinanalysis (which is great!)
Slowly I am healing, I also gained weight, I am less pessimistic, I am starting to live life and start enjoying things. Getting back to the swing of things at work. Now its been 9 months and the last 2 months I can't lie, I'm still not 100%. I would feel bladder pain before my period and urinary urgency from time to time. Drinking sweet things would flare me. Writing this now I feel a bit or urinary tension and tight pelvic floor. I get massages regularly and would make my bf give it to me hah! However I feel SO MUCH better, I think back to the worst of it and can see how far I've come and I'm so proud of myself. This is a lesson to protect your immune system and to workout and have a good lifestyle so you can fight off bad bacteria. I think GLP 1's although I can't blame it directly, made me starve myself and ruined my gut health because I can't even eat sushi without throwing up. That ultimately made my body so weak that when bacteria entered my urethra I couldn't fight it off with antibiotics and the back to back treatments just kept killing more bacteria. Sometimes it's better to heal your body and not be rash with taking more antibiotics and protect your mental health/ do fun sports that you enjoy.