Bladder Fulguration - Why It Takes Time to Heal
The trending topic lately for embedded UTIs is bladder fulguration. These are the 3 names popping up often. In alphabetical order:
Dr. Stewart Bundrick in Louisiana, US
Dr. Cuneyd Sevinc in Instanbul, Turkey
Dr. Philippe Zimmern in Texas, US
Every Patient is Different
In the discussions, there are a very varied difference of responses. "She felt better by day 3, but I'm still in pain on month 2, why did it fail for me?" Some ladies felt immediate relief and no pain right afterwards. I was messaged that 2 ladies could go out to the market or walk around even after the surgery. Then there are those who feel pain, or swollen bladder after, or need to rest a lot according to posts I read in the Facebook groups. There was 1 lady who felt very good and went right out to town but ended up in ER afterwards when she suddenly felt a lot of pain. After I heard that, I guess if you feel good right after, take it easy just in case. Everybody is different, the level of fulguration will vary between different patients, and how long your bladder disease was going on for may an effect on how you heal after your fulguration.
"You Won't Feel Healed/Healing Until After Month 3, 4 or 5 or later?"
I don't know but this is what I hear from some people. There are some ladies who have finished the fulguration and felt panic and discouraged right after. Some feel bad or worse several months later and think the surgery has failed. If you have read about Marnie Simpson, she had the bladder fulguration with Dr.___ (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to list the doctor here, I will ask for his permission first). At first, she thought it had failed. She felt so bad that she got depressed and even broke up her relationship. She thought her bladder had not healed and she was in agony. I heard that she contacted the doctor worrying that the surgery had failed and to ask for her bladder to be taken out instead. By month 4 or 5, she started feeling that it was recovering. Here is her article ‘I was so depressed after a bladder operation I pushed everyone away – and even dumped my fiance’, written on July 12, 2021. On her Youtube video (I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post it here, so I will ask her permission first), she happily talks about how she was feeling 90% around month 6! By the time I write this article, I think it would be her 9 months at this point. I saw on her instagram she was having wine of some sort, so I guess she is healed? I will try to get in contact with her or her peers to find out and get an update to post on here.
Why does it take so long?
The bladder fulguration needs 9 months to recover, because that is the length of time it takes for the bladder shed. So while it sheds and heals, it will be a very up and down process of healing and takes time.
A few ladies got acute UTIs after the bladder fulguration
There were a few women reporting in that they had or are battling acute UTIs after the fulguration. One lady got it and did her IV and it went away and her recovery is going smoothly. But there are some who are battling the UTIs so this is something I want to know more about and find out.
Doctors' Opinion: I'll ask the doctors for their opinion on this and post on here.
In my own opinion: Please remember that I am not a medical figure and what I say could be wrong. This is in theory only. I would say a few weeks of antibiotics may not be enough. Or it could be the wrong antibiotic. After your tissue gets fulgurated, I would imagine maybe all the pathogens are loose and as they get flushed out, maybe a few still stick around. If it were me, after my fulguration, I would continue on antibiotics I know that work for me and are catered specifically to my pathogens. I was able to find this out via Pathnostics (please search my old posts about it and how to do it -- don't add me on Facebook to ask questions that I have already answered and written about in my blog). I would probably continue it for 3-6 months after bladder fulguration to ensure no acute UTIs appear. I would also get a script on hand for extra antibiotics so once you feel that acute UTI come, you can be ready. One lady who is recovering, told me that she had acute UTIs after her fulguration and she immediately did a broth culture to get the results of what the pathogens are and nipped the acute UTIs quickly with the right antibiotics. For me, my plan is that if I get the acute UTI(s) at all after the fulguration, I will send off a Pathnostics and broth cultures asap to find out what they are. I have the order forms and kits sitting at home all ready to go should that time come, so I don't need to wait to order them. BE prepared is always my motto. But to be honest, I don't know what to do if I have acute UTIs after the fulguration. I can't really speak on this since I don't have bladder fulguration (yet).
My bladder was fulgurated years ago and it never healed me. It didn't work! How come?
I was told by patients that they say it's because "your bladder was not fulgurated correctly by your previous urologist." Please see the above doctors I have written in this blog post, it's better if you ask them about it in more detail. I'm sure they will have all the medical terminology to explain, since I am not a medical person! I read a post about how the doctors above had to fix incorrectly-done fulgurations by other doctors. They use something called the Loop Tool, or maybe it was Dr Bundrick and Dr Sevinc who uses Loop Tool and Dr Zimmern something else? I don't know all the medical terminology, and this is just info I collect from what people say. Again, right now, I can't confirm everything because this is just what I hear and it's all over the place of information.
I'll add more to this post in the future when more things get clarified.
Edit: I did not go do bladder fulguration. I was going to, but then my bladder ended up doing so well that I didn't go. Plus it was really expensive and I couldn't afford to do the procedure at the time.