★★★★★
Hi everyone, I'm a long time reader on Earth Clinic and thought I'd post in case anybody is experiencing what I have been going through. Sorry for the length, I tend to be a bit wordy.
This all started 5 years ago when I got a new partner. I had dated this individual before and had gotten regular UTI's when intimate with him. This time, I got 3 (tested positive) UTI's in a row, over a period of maybe 6 months. So I spent a lot of time on serious rounds of anti-biotics. The symptoms would subside briefly and then I'd have another infection. After about 7 months, the tests for UTI's started coming back negative, but the symptoms were still very, very strong.
The doctor told me I had "cystitis" which if you don't know is an "incurable" inflammation of the bladder. I learned to live with the symptoms. It was quite unpleasant to say the least!
I also began to develop on and off vaginal yeast infections, which I treated with yogurt suppositories mostly. I began getting kidney pain, having regular shortness of breath, random abdominal pain and migraines. My previous partner and I had broke up at this point (infidelity issues on his side, which may or may not be relevant.) I went to the urgent care for random kidney/abdominal pain, who suggested possible appendicitis. That didn't feel right to me and I went home and continued having issues.
I became friends with a nutritional healer who told me I had a systemic candida infection. I went on a very strict diet for about 10 months, and all symptoms improved dramatically. Less pain with urination, much fewer headaches, abdominal pain gone, etc. However, when I recently went off the diet, all of the symptoms came rushing back! Kidney pain, yeast infection symptoms, and UTI symptoms. Well, all of these together do of course point to an infection of the urogenital system. But I had seen maybe 7 doctors and gotten nowhere.
I looked into trichomoniasis (which despite being incredibly common is not usually tested for), yeast, scar tissue in the vagina, bacterial vaginosis (even though I didn't have symptoms for that). A common way to treat all of them is with a hydrogen peroxide douche, 3% hydrogen peroxide mixed half and half with distilled water, 1-3 times a day. I told my nutritionist friend that I was going to do this - he recommended doing a douche with probiotics at night to re-inoculate the vagina.
I went out and bought one, I know we can't say the brand name but its very important that it's these specific strains so I'll write the strains: Lactobacillus rhamnosus GR-1 and Lactobacillus reuter RC-14. I think I read years ago that these two strains were actually initially cultured out of the vagina of a healthy adult female.
I did the hydrogen peroxide douche last night, followed by two probiotic capsules orally and one in a tablespoon of water vaginally. This morning, I douched with the hydrogen peroxide again and took another probiotic orally. I'm planning on douching twice more today and doing a probiotic douche before bed.
The yeast infection symptoms are 98% gone, and the UTI symptoms have also subsided. This is the first time in 5 years that I've been without the UTI symptoms. I just browsed this article http://cid.oxfordjournals.org/content/52/suppl_6/S452.long, which is about fungal infection in the bladder, kidneys, and vagina.
My guess (although of course it is a guess) is that I developed a fungal infection from all of the anit-biotics I took to clear the documented bacterial UTI's. Although I ate extremely large amounts of probiotics through supplements and fermented foods while on the candida cleanse, I think I did not get the right strain to colonize the vagina in all of my efforts.
I hope the good effects keep lasting, and hesitate to write so early as I don't want to get anyone's hopes falsely up. However, when I look at the reviews of this specific probiotic on amazon, it seems to help SO many people with any sort of women's troubles - UTI, yeast, vaginosis, that I thought I would write now just for that. It seems as though it may be akin to having a fecal transplant for patients with severe intestinal issues. I believe that the probiotic is helping more than the douching.
I hope this helps someone; this site has helped me so much. Good health and blessings to all.
