Rotating Antibiotics & All My Treatment Plans So Far

If you read my last few posts at MicroGen DX Re-Test Finds Antibiotic Resistant E-coli & Flight to Dr. Michael Hsieh, Aperiomics Test Result: What A DNA Next Generation Urology Test Looks Like, and MicroGenDX Confirms I Don't Have Interstitial Cystitis: What A DNA Next Generation Urology Test Looks Like…. you and I will have found out that there were pathogens floating in my bladder and that IC was ruled out for me. Which of those pathogens are the culprit? We don't know for certain. Are those pathogens causing the bladder pain, chronic UTI symptoms and IC mimicking symptoms? Maybe some, maybe one, maybe all. Again, we don't know for certain. The science of the bladder microbiome is pretty new. But what I know for certain is that there is a lot of stuff going on in my bladder and urine. Urine is NOT sterile. Repeat after me. Urine is NOT sterile. Just look at my Aperiomics test and see how much stuff is floating in my urine. Just google "Urine is not sterile". That's why Dr. Hsieh recommended me the Jarrow's Fem Dophilus probiotics for my lady parts to help the good guys fight the bad guys naturally and safely. But then I decided to add on a new antibiotic treatment plan this week, haha, which I'll talk more about it below.

Treatment Plan Attempt #1 - FAIL
Feb 2018 - April 2018: Mass of Antibiotics
They were curing me up to 90%, 40%, 20% then none as seen in my original post. Had I just finished that first batch of Cipro like I always did for previous UTIs, I would not have gotten into this mess. I didn't finish it and this giant mess happened. I was thrown more random antibiotics which then threw off the microbiomes in my bladder, creating pathogens to run amok and giving me chronic UTI / IC symptoms. But at the time, I did not know this. A doctor said, "You have Interstitial Cystitis. Sorry, there is no cure!" A few other doctors said different diagnoses. Everyone was certain that I had NO infection, including my Vancouver BC urologist because she and everyone else tested and re-tested my urine with standard culturing. But I felt I had one! I decided to take matters into my own hands to research further.

Treatment Plan Attempt #2 - PARTIAL SUCCESS
May 2018 - present: Pelvic Floor Physio
This helps so much. She found a painful area that made me yelp in pain, and has been releasing the tight pelvic muscles. It's a storm of UTI causing me pelvic muscles to tighten from the trauma, and it in turn, circles around back to making my UTI symptoms continue. I am definitely continuing on with this, but I still have frequency so I knew I had to keep finding answers.

Treatment Plan Attempt #3 - MOSTLY FAIL
May 2018 - present: Supplements by following people's blogs
Don't DIY your supplements. You could end up harming yourself or wasting hundreds of dollars. Please see a practitioner or naturopath to help you through IC and chronic UTI. I tried D-Mannose (only works for E-Coli), Vitamin C (oh hell no - it's like putting a fire in my bladder b/c the one I took had ascorbic acid or citric acid in it), some random supplement that burned my bladder and it was so traumatic I forgot the name now, cranberry tablets (screw hell no - flared the living crap on me) and organic Marshmallow Root for 3 weeks that made things worse! So many ICers swear by Marshmallow Root but it really flared me. As soon as I stopped taking it, my bladder calmed down. But still give Marshmallow Root a try, seriously 90% of the people I talk to swear by MMRoot. After this, I was like, "forget trying to DIY supplements, I need a naturopath to guide me to the right supplements safely." I still take D-Mannose in powder form, it has been cited by practitioners that it's perfectly safe for prevention and treatment of e-coli UTIs, so why not?

Treatment Plan Attempt #4 - PARTIAL SUCCESS
June 2018 - present: Traditional Chinese Medicine
When my bladder pain suddenly intensified to the point of putting me into a wheelchair, I did TCM. It helped a lot, no seriously it did. In fact, my mom's friend's friend was HEALED her chronic UTI by the same TCM doctor that I'm seeing. Even though I can still barely walk, he dulled the pain from "I want to die, please kill me now" to "I'm in pain when I walk more than 10 minutes, put me in the wheelchair". This stuff is not cheap. I'm paying about $700 a month for it. I will continue taking it, but I have stopped it for the duration of Treatment Plan #5 so I don't dangerously mix anything.

Treatment Plan Attempt #5 - FAIL

Aug 7 - 21, 2018: I started 2 rotating antibiotics for 14 days. This was decided between my naturopath doctor and Ruth Kriz. I am taking Bactrim twice a day, and Augmentim (Amox-clav) 3 times a day, together for 2 whole weeks. Ruth Kriz advised me to do the 2 weeks of Bactrim for the fungi found in my Aperiomics test. Another patient I spoke to also had fungi in her urine from doing an Aperiomics test. She did the 2 week Bactrim, also advised to her by Ruth Kriz, and her fungi was gone in the next re-test. Ok, so you're wondering why I'm also doing Augmentim? It's because it's an antibiotic that I have NEVER done before, so my quinolone antibiotic-resistant e-coli may have a chance at being slaughtered by this. (We don't know for sure, but fingers crossed). Also, Augmentim was labeled as one of the recommended drugs to go after my specific e-coli here. Yes, Bactrim was labeled as a recommended one too, but I have had Bactrim before that couldn't kill my UTIs, so we're using the Bactrim for the fungi part.  The pharmacist was really afraid for me, because she said my whole microbiome is going to get wiped and I could get C. Difficile. I already did get a mild C.Difficile back in May, which I cured naturally. The pharmacist recommended that I take the max amount of Florastor probiotics during the antibiotics. I take Florastor 2 hours after I do the antibiotics, so that the antibiotics have cleared through my system and then the probiotics come in to re-populate. Although Florastor claims their probiotics don't get killed by antibiotics, I just want to play it safe and take them 2 hours after antibiotics. My naturopath, the pharmacist, and my pelvic floor physiotherapist also recommended the 2 hour thing too. I wanted to add in a biofilm buster like Kirkman Biofilm Defense or Interfase Plus to this, but I couldn't get them in time!

This was my  antibiotic & probiotic taking schedule:
10am: Bactrim & Augmentim
Noon: Florastor probiotics
5pm: Augmentim
7pm: Florastor probiotics
10pm: Bactrim & Augmentim
midnight: Florastor probiotics & Fem Dophilus probiotics

Aug 24 update: In the end, these antibiotics didn't do anything for my symptoms. My symptoms are still here. I ended up more fatigued and have been struggling with diarrhea since I started them. But at least I tried a new method! Like I said, I will try everything and record the results. Don't let my antibiotics failure hinder you. There were plenty of patients who healed successfuly with antibiotics via Aperiomics, MicroGenDX, Professor Malone-Lee etc, and there are patients who have no success or partial success. Every person's body reacts differently. We just need to find the right antibiotics, or the right natural method, or the right method! :) Apparently, it was a success for some IC patients here! (not on the same antibiotics, but very similar treatment plan)

Are you afraid of getting Diarrhea or C.Diff on antibiotics?
To minimize the impact of C.Diff, I figured out if I spread out the probiotics like the antibiotics, it would help.  I'm eating rice and bread to help slow down the diarrhea, organic leafy greens and raw vegetables which soothe my bladder and to provide nutrients to the gut, and organic high quality meat (fish and eggs) because Ruth says we need protein to heal the bladder. I don't eat red meats because they are the most acidic to bladders. I started avoiding chicken and turkey now, because e-coli strains in UTIs have been linked to chickens having the same e-coli strain (just google it).