GETTING THE UTI ANSWERS YOUR DOCTOR CAN'T, WITH PCR AND NGS URINARY TESTING
Struggling with interstitial cystitis and UTI-like bladder pain and feeling worn out from battling with your doctor who just keeps saying your levels in the tests they have run show up as normal?
What if you want to go deeper; you’ve seen online advanced PCR and NGS urinary tests but you’re unsure how to access them, let alone interpret them, and you know the GP will only give you more of the same eyeball rolling responses if you dare ask about them. That’s so frustrating. Because a “negative” urinary culture test isn’t necessarily the full picture.
In this blog post, you’re going to find out how to get the answers to your chronic bladder pain that your GP can’t. I’ll be talking about the urinary test I use with all my clients and how it differs from the test your GP and urologist runs. Plus, I’ll show you how this also relates to vaginal health and vaginal microbiome testing - a crucial step in bladder flare prevention - and how you can make big improvements in your bladder health, without the guesswork.
Those tests your GP doesn’t have access to? They’re called functional testing. This is usually done when all your regular diagnostic tests keep coming back normal, but you know there’s more going on than meets the eye. It’s a helpful screening tool to assess your health. It isn’t diagnostic (only your doctor/consultant can diagnose) but it can help identify risk factors and imbalances in your health that might be contributing to your symptoms.
WHAT IS FUNCTIONAL TESTING AND WHAT DOES IT DO?
Functional testing is a range of tests that look at imbalances in the body which could be driving disease and symptoms. It’s an incredibly useful screening tool (not a medical test - which is used to diagnose a disease).
Functional testing tools may include:
Vaginal microbiome testing (INCLUDED) - looks at the balance of bacteria in your vagina as this could be driving your urinary symptoms and responsible for those pesky UTIs you keep getting. A normal swab might just look for candida, whereas a functional vaginal microbiome test will cover a multitude of yeasts, vaginal pH, the good bacteria as well as ureaplasma and bacteria associated with UTI.
Comprehensive stool testing - looking at your gut health and how this could be driving your bladder and bowel symptoms e.g. diarrhoea, constipation, gas, bloating. If your colonoscopy and endoscope looks clear, functional stool testing can help because it looks at bacteria, parasites, digestive markers like enzymes and bile - stuff that won’t be visible with traditional ‘camera’ investigations.
SIBO breath testing - looks at levels of non pathogenic bacteria in your small intestine because high levels can increase your risk of bloating.
PCR and NGS urinary microbiome testing (INCLUDED) - read on to find out more!
All of these additional indicators could have been missed with your doctor because they’re not included in standard testing.
Functional tests help plug this gap and identify what else could be going on at a microbial or pH level. Although your doctor (in the UK and Ireland) won’t acknowledge functional tests because they don’t form part of the medical model, functional testing is necessary because there are so many limitations to traditional tests. Those traditional tests you’ve already probably been through a dozen times are focused on diagnosing disease but a bit of bloating from a digestive enzyme deficiency, for example, is not a disease, it’s an imbalance that can be easily supported with nutritional and supplement support.
Functional testing helps take away the guesswork, put an end to elimination diets (way overused) and gets you that much needed relief.
HOW I DO FUNCTIONAL TESTING DIFFERENTLY
All my clients on the Heal your Bladder programme get a urinary and vaginal microbiome test that uses gene technology. That means we can discover bacteria that are not culturable or may be in relatively low levels and not detectable using traditional methods.
We now know that the bladder is not sterile so we should be looking at what’s happening in there more closely. I’m not just interested in the bad guys - the pathogens - I consider the overall microbial balance. I explain more about this in this free webinar.
If all you’ve been doing is nuking bad bacteria over and over with antibiotics, it’s probably time to look at replenishing the good bacteria to restore health to the overall bladder environment. Why? Because good bacteria actually produce antimicrobial byproducts which help prevent UTIs and bladder flares so it’s important not to overlook this step.
Functional testing helps us distinguish between potential chronic UTI and IC - something I’ve talked about in more depth over in this blog - and take the right treatment approach. For example, I’ve had clients who thought they had a chronic UTI but their urinary results came back without pathogens but they were neglecting the protective bacteria. And I’ve had clients who’ve been told it’s IC but on testing, find they have been walking around with pathogenic bacteria. One client came to see me thinking she had IC, because all her culture tests were coming back normal. But when we ran a urinary microbiome test she had higher than average levels of E. Faecalis (a bacteria associated with chronic UTI and catheter use) so we incorporated natural antimicrobials into her plan along with immune support and her pain/symptom score went from a 5 to a 0 in five months.
Vaginal testing is also particularly important because the vagina can act as a reservoir, harbouring bacteria that can seed into the bladder and trigger UTIs and symptoms that feel like a UTI. You might be saying things like, “Oh I’ve just got a touch of thrush” and that’s exactly the kind of mystery vaginal testing will help solve; because it’s more likely that you’ve got an imbalance in the vagina which is not necessarily Candida (thrush), and this could be contributing to your painful peeing and bladder flares.
Imagine your body as a neighbourhood. Sometimes, bacteria from the vagina, like Gardnerella vaginalis, sneak into the urinary bladder. When this happens, the bladder cells start shedding, creating a comfortable space for E. coli (another bacteria) to grow and cause infections. Interestingly, the initial bacteria, Gardnerella vaginalis, kind of escapes the area.
This whole process highlights how closely connected the vagina and the urinary bladder are when it comes to repeat urinary infections and/or bladder flares. It's like a sneaky bacteria plot where one bacteria opens the door for another, causing trouble in your urinary neighbourhood.
Sometimes, doctors might overlook your vaginal health, or simply give you fluconazole or antibiotics without running any swabs or even doing a physical exam. It's crucial to test because we need to know what we’re really dealing with!!
Imbalances in your vagina could be causing your urinary symptoms and increasing your risk of UTIs. When we are armed with this knowledge it allows us to think beyond just antibiotics to find healing.
FIND THE FREEDOM TO LOVE LIFE AGAIN
The goal is to set you on the path to improvement, reduce those pain scores, and free you from the persistent concerns about bladder pain.
Ready to get serious about addressing your bladder pain? Explore the Heal Your Bladder programme and find out how this whole-body approach might be your breakthrough. Stop hesitating – your journey to relief starts here!
*If you only have urinary tests from your doctor, urologist, or even privately at Harley Street there’s a high chance they are still relying on culture methods. Many bacteria won’t grow in this environment so it’s not an accurate test for UTI. The NHS recently updated their website to acknowledge this.
Free resource
Do your tests look '“normal” but peeing still hurts like hell? You can now access my free webinar with advice on what you should do next.
References:
https://inews.co.uk/news/nhs-updates-official-advice-chronic-uti-pressure-campaigners-2552776?fbclid=PAAaZRCBo-VabttJUXx2ILdNOZTsL1lhF6tfgm35vLbpy9nMM1pSu286Oh5K8_aem_ASJeMxHgd6szIDf_xi1QD8Iaj3T9zl9xrbLu16YBcbr2ljupXC4Q8khiW4e0tZgQzns
