Invisibility cloaks and urinary tract infections

As quite a few of you know I am a pharmacist as well as being a nutritional therapist and have always been puzzled as to why when people are suffering from a urinary tract infection and they provide a sample it comes back as negative even though they are experiencing symptoms.

A couple of months ago I read an article about the discovery of biofilms which are very clever little blighters and are made up of fibrin. I tend to describe them as an invisibility cloak and the bacteria in your body hide under them so that when the sample is taken there is nothing to detect. This made so much sense to me as the number of men and women I know you quite seriously think they are going mad as they have the symptoms has been numerous over my career. If this is not cleared then long term damage can occur to the bladder wall which further contributes to further pain and discomfort and thus the cycle repeats.

The technology is there to dissolve the biofilm and release the bacteria and that that point we can test and treat. It may have to be repeated over several sessions but it made me happy that for this group of people there is hope.

The other factors that can get overlooked is that we can alter the PH of our urine and by making it more alkaline it makes it inhospitable for certain bugs to survive so reducing the chance of recurrence.

Lastly one of our most important supplements is Vitamin D as this this plays a role in generating the antimicrobial protein cathelicidin which directly binds to the bladder wall and protects it from bugs and microbes.  Before supplementation always do a simple test to gauge the correct dose.

Please contact me if you need support or know of anyone who suffers.

This condition is thoroughly miserable and affects lives on many levels.