MicroGenDX & Chronic UTI: It was never Interstitial Cystitis, Bladder Inflammation or Pelvic Floor Dysfunction! It was a Damn UTI!
"You have Interstitial Cystitis. Pelvic floor dysfunction. Bladder inflammation. Use a catheter. Go
on Elmiron. No infection found. You're hysterical so sending you to a psychiatrist." These were the words I kept hearing. But eventually I would find out that they were ALL wrong. At the time, my
gut instinct told me I was suffering an unhealed long UTI. I was right! MicroGen DX found semi-antibiotic resistant e-coli in my urine twice, when over 10 standard lab tests failed to find my UTI!
You can see my recovery progress on these MicroGenDX test results from 1.5 million to 75,000 "superbugs" which I have been doing via natural healing, which I will discuss below.
photo from my Instagram post @vancouverutigirl
In July's post, I had 1.5 million e-coli shown on my MicroGen DX test. They were antibiotic resistant to 1 family called Quinolone back in July. Quinolones include the antibiotics Ciprofloxacin and Levaquin. Now in October, I have 75,000 e-coli, which shows I am recovering. However, you'll notice that the bugs are getting smarter and are resistant to both the Quinolone and Beta-Lactam families, which means I cannot take Cipro, Levaquin, and all Cephalosporin 1st and 2nd generation antibiotics which include Keflex and Cefuroxime.
Why do standard urine lab tests say we have no UTI infection?
My UTI was not picked up in standard lab tests, because you'll see that my count is at 10^6 and 10^4 in those screenshots. One of my microbiologist friends told me that labs only green-light you as having a UTI if your count is 10^8 or higher. So that's why so many of us are told "you have no infection" when we actually do. The urine lab testing method is outdated. In fact it's over 100 years outdated. That is why you see so many women out there with complex bladder problems when
many of them may just have 1 long unhealed urinary tract infection that wasn't treated properly
by a doctor (eg a course that was too short, or the wrong antibiotics, or a doctor who refused to
give antibiotics).
How did you heal your UTI from 1.5 million Ecoli to 75,000 Ecoli?
It wasn't easy. If you read through my old posts, I had 2 failed suicide attempts because I was in excruciating pain. The pain was so severe that I became wheelchair-bound. Specialists and several doctors in Canada told me I had IC, or this and that, or they didn't know, or I could be like this forever. I was so scared I felt hopeless and there was nobody who could tell me what I had or why. I couldn't accept that it was my life because I had a normal happy life before this mess. I knew something wasn't right! Since my suicide attempts had failed, I took it as a sign that I had to live. So I started hunting for answers through IC and UTI blogs, forums, instagrams, facebook groups - you name it. I was able to heal myself with this recovery routine. I had gone on loads of antibiotics which all didn't work, except for Ciprofloxacin which ALMOST cured it, read my story on why and how Cipro failed. If I am given antibiotics in the future for this, will I take it? I probably will, but with caution. If I do, I will update in a future post.
How do I obtain a MicroGen DX test?
First of all, you need a doctor, urologist, or specialist who will be on board with this. I met a lot of resistance from GPs in Vancouver, because they didn't want to get involved with an American lab. The technology was outside of their practice and scope. In June 2018, I had my 1st one signed by Dr. Carley Akehurst at Cross Roads Naturopathic in Vancouver BC. In July 2018, I had my 2nd one signed by Dr. Hsieh, urologist in George Washington University in Washington DC when I flew there to chat with him and to get a urologist onto my medical records so that my Canadian doctors and specialists would follow his notes. In October 2018, I had my 3rd one done a few days ago with Ruth Kriz, an IC and UTI specialized nurse in Washington DC. You can find their contacts on the right hand column of this blog. I decided to start treatment under Ruth Kriz after I met patients who were successfully healed or put into remission by her at WestCoastMint.com and ICBigSister.com. You can read more about how to do a MicroGen test on my posts about them here or on the MicroGen FAQ.