Hi as someone who has struggled with chronic UTI's and bacterial resistance i really appreciate your post. As a physician do you think alternative treatments can help us with this problem? For example I have been able to manage symptoms though drastic dietary changes and I am also seeing a traditional chinese Herbalist, taking probiotics, drinking kambucha, exercising, taking cranberry pills and plenty of water. I am also taking a drug called methanamine prescribed by my urologist. I know most Western doctors will be against alternative treatments but I personally have decided to stop taking antibiotics, and let my immune system recover. I still don't know if I am bacteria free but I can tell you I feel so much better physically. My symptoms are also at this point vary atypical for a UTI.
My next question is if there is any data about correlation with gender. Could lack of political will be related to the fact that this is a problem affecting mostly women? Are men equally affected by antibiotic resistance? I think this is a very important conversation that we need to start having.
I also think necessary to generate more information about what we can do as patients. At this point I only take antibiotics after a urine culture. I never skip a dose and I avoid alcohol at all costs when taking antibiotics. And yet after a week or so the infection comes back. I think we also need more information about how antibiotics affect our bodies (for example digestive and immune system) in order to find real solutions to this problem.
Again thanks for your post!