It really makes me sad to hear so many women who are suffering from continuous bladder infections from bladder slings and using antibiotics to TRY to stop them. If you understand anything at all about any drug, you must also understand that over a period of time they either stop working altogether, or you will be given many types of the same thing without good result. You will become frustrated and will feel constantly unwell. Infections make you feel irritable, out of sorts, headachy and upset. What the real problem is, it is the sling that is causing these complications.
Sling removal is complicated and not easy and takes time to get an appointment with a good surgeon, in fact if a doctor is questioned about removal a good one will tell you outright that slings are not meant to be removed. Your immediate thoughts are “Why do they put them in if this is the case?” Believe me it continues to cross all our mind but this blog is about self help.My sling has been in well over two years and from day one, I had non stop UTI infections. Antibiotics did not touch them and I felt ill all the time. My daughter hates to see me living unwell so she began to research. I can tell you this much. Once I began taking this supplement, within a month I did not have an infection and my tests were clear. I have lived on this this supplement without complications or side affects, only stopping it once a few months ago and within a month I felt the symptoms reappear. So I went back to it immediately and have been fine ever since. I am unable to deal with the pain and complications of my sling without removal, but at least clearing infections helped me somewhat.
I recently talked to a pediatrician neighbor who was shocked I had cleared my infections and she wrote down the name to help her small patients. There is no magic wand and you have to try this and stick to it to clear the infection to know if it is right for you. If you are taking other medications, you should check into reactions. Leave no stone unturned. This is something that helped me but I cannot guarantee it will help you.
First though, constant use of antibiotics will cause you yeast infections. This too will make you feel very unwell. This happens because drugs have killed off all the good bacteria that keeps you feeling well and you need to put them back. To counteract and clear your system you need a really good probiotic. Not yogurt. Not a drink with a probiotic in it, but a good probiotic capsule taken daily, and a full time regiment of self help. You may think it is expensive, but if you were to put the cost of drinks together which are not enough for someone who has a problem, is isn’t costly at all. You are worth it and you need to get better to do the other things you need to do.
To understand types of probiotics, please go to this link, read and learn and then make a decision of what to buy. http://www.webmd.com/digestive-disorders/tc/probiotics-topic-overview
Everyone has to think for themselves and often that means taking a plunge and trying something. My exasperation and decline in health from constant UTI’s left me with the attitude “I will give anything a try” You have to decide what you want to do. The inexpensive herb I take every day in capsule form is by Nature’s Way. It cost no more than $5 for a month’s supply. You don’t need a mixed product with a costly name and a line of promotion attached to it. The herb is called Marshmallow Root. Read up on it and decide for yourself. Here is a link to help you.
http://www.herbs2000.com/herbs/herbs_marshmallow.htm
I truly believed this product has kept me going all this time and I have not had the immune problems many women have. I hope it helps you.
UPDATE!
I try to update my blogs if I find a site that can explain more. I recently found this site about marshmallow root and I loved it. If you wonder what people did before all these prescription drugs, this will explain about how marshmallow root was used. I have heard from so many women who have kidney stones after mesh and it took me awhile to realize there is a correlation. When urine cannot be dispelled, stones can form. So when you read this article and wonder what ‘grave’ is, it is the old word for kidney stones. I also loved that this doctor treated his son with marshmallow root.
http://www.woodherbs.com/Marshmallow.html
I have not used this myself but I also found this site about a natural antibiotics. You may find it very informative. http://the-health-gazette.com/293/natural-antibiotics
I was just going to e-mail and ask you about he probiotic’s! You must have been reading my mind!
Thanks so much Linda, I will be checking out your links.
Linda in MI
I use probiotics daily as prescribed by my Boston immunologist. I have a primary imune disease and am on prophylactic antibiotics daily and found the probiotics acidophilus etc helpful in stopping yeast infections.
Pingback: Taking a Break from Mesh « Bladder Sling Surgery
I started the Marshmallow Root on September 27, 2012. I have had chronic UTI’s ever since TVT-O implant in 2006. I had just had two surgical consults for vaginal mesh erosion and on one was catherized for a “clean catch”. Sometimes a simple exam can bring on an infection, as well as, being catherized. Not too long after these exams, I started to have that familiar sharp pain down center of abdomen and thought, “here we go again”. Then I read your blog about this supplement. It’s working! So far no infection (knock on wood)!. I have tried many things over the years, cranberry tablets, Ester- C, and follow the Interstital Cystitis diet (even though I have not been officially diagnosed with IC). I think it was a Catch-22 with the cranberry supplement and Vitamin C because they make your urine more acidic to prevent bacteria from adhering to the bladder but if your bladder is sensitive as mine is then the higher acid level causes pain. I would have to take baking soda and water to acidify the urine to lessen the pain or Pyridium. This Marshmallow Root is a godsend so far. No infections and no bladder irritations. Thank you!
Oops! Correction to prior email. I meant to say, “I would have to take baking soda and water to alkalinize the urine…”
I know how you feel. It is a miracle and at first you cannot believe it. I took it for 2 years before my full sling removal surgery at UCLA twelve days ago October 11th 2012 and now I am taking it again to make sure I will be fine. Antibiotics do not work well on me and although I took one I am not allergic to for one week, I knew to take the marshmallow root in -between taking the antibiotic to be on the safe side. Now this testimony will SHOCK you. They told me to stop taking all vitamins ect 2 weeks before my surgery. I take many suppiments to stay well and healthy, and those did not worry me to stop. However to stop Marshmallow root was the hardest, so I hedged and stopped one week before. It took only a couple of days and I felt it come back. By the time I had tests the day before surgery I was so sick and they had to give me a shot of antibiotics to get me well enough for surgery. All I could think of was “Thank God for marshmallow root or I would have been in terrible shape. I am so happy it helped you get better. You should know however, that until the mesh is removed it is only a bandaid. This is because when the did the Urodynamics test on me the day before surgery, I found out why thi was happening. My bladder never emptied and because of that infections continue. In time the infections cannot be cured by any antibiotic and you will die a slow death if nothing is done. Please go to Dr. Raz and get FULL sling removal. Mesh and arms/anchors is full mesh removal. They will tell you it is impossible to remove the arms and that is true if they do not have the skills. They could injure you more if they try. So go where you can get the help and it is done right.
That is incredible that in just one week off the marshmallow root your bladder pain/infection would be back. But then again, as soon as I started the supplement my sharp bladder pains/twinges stopped and I have not developed an infection. Amazing really. Forever grateful to you for this piece of advice. It’s so nice not to have the constant irritation in the urethra as well.
I am trying to get Dr. Raz to understand the importance of this little herb. Someone took a video of me talking about it and I am going to mail it to him.
Linda can you Email me your address and i will make some copies and send them to you to look at. Thank You
My sister-in-law (62) has been referred to Dr. Shull in Temple, TX. for repair after a mini arc sling was only partially removed. The Dr lied: told her he had successfully removed the entire sling 4 months after the installation. Painful complications have remained relentless for these past three years.
Last week she was again given hope by a new doctor who told her that the affected part of her vagina and bladder may have to be removed but that the vaginal tissue appears in good condition for success with this rebuilding type of surgery and was referred to Dr Bobby Shull with strong recommendations.
Does anyone have any comments/reviews on Dr. Shull’s work or evaluated his skills relative to Dr Raz for this type of condition? Having tests and the procedure in Texas would be more convenient, but not at the expense of greater risk of further reducing her quality of life. Her marriage was effectively destroyed, she already suffers many of the problems described here and had given up all hope after unsuccessfully trying hormones, physical therapy, and treatments for interstitial cystitis which ‘coincidentally’ manifested after the sling. (I’m going to bring her some marshmallow tea tomorrow hoping it will give her at least partial relief. )
This is an enlightening blog – thank you all.
I left this doctor’s name here because you are asking about his skills, and not determining that this doctor did anything wrong. However, if anyone leaves a bad comment it could be detrimental to this blog, so I would have to remove them. So I do not think this will help you. I have never heard of this doctor as having skills that could remove the entire sling with arms/anchors and I live in Texas, but I could be wrong. Look to the right and print out questions to ask the doctor before you have removal. Take them when you see him. Mention Dr. Raz name as well and see the response. Most doctors know of him and they should be aware how good he is. One woman told me when she mentioned his name, the doctor told her if you can get in with him, he is the best. After listening to hundreds of women who went to doctor’s with these questions, no doctor answered he could do it and had done many. In Houston I am not aware of any doctor who can do it without leaving mesh, arms/anchors in and that is why I went to UCLA. It is hard to do I know but she will have the best results. I was determined not to have surgery after surgery to remove it all because I know how this takes your body down. Also many surgeons take many, many hours to do the surgery. That too is hard on your body. My mesh was caught up in my nerves and muscles so Dr. Raz had to make an incision across my pelvic area and untangle the mesh. Even then it only took two hours and I was no more nerve damaged than what had happened before surgery. That is skill.