UTI turned nightmare

Late last year I got my first and only UTI to date (fingers crossed) and it was a nightmare. I’m only 23, I’ve never experienced it before. But I knew from the first day I started peeing a lil more than usual with no change that something was wrong and I scheduled in with my gyno.

Queue a few days later. By now it’s painful, my pee was definitely discolored, there was visible culture in my urine and my entire vulva/anus area was swollen (which was super odd). There was no doubt. But my gyno said my UTI test came back negative despite all the symptoms and she ignored my pleas. She didn’t send me home with meds that day. She sent my urine for a culture. I excepted results within a day or two. She didn’t listen to my pleas..

The results didn’t come. 3 days go by before I’m hospitalized for the first time. At that point, my urine was SATURATED with blood. I couldn’t pee without crying. It hurt. It felt like I was literally on fire. They put me on meds right away. And they were so confused how it was not caught at my gyno.

But those meds didn’t work. I was hospitalized again a couple of days later. By then I couldn’t pee but once a day. Believe me I tried but the mental part of the pain set in and I was beyond terrified to use the bathroom unless I was heavily medicated to the point where I was barely awake. ATP it had been into the next week and my gyno finally called back as I was in the waiting room of the ER to tell me I did in fact have a UTI (no duh) and that they would prescribe me X medication because it reacted with the culture. I told the ER staff the medication and they sent me home with that. The hospital staff were beyond angry at my gyno for the neglect at this point. (My saint of a mother called my gyno unbeknownst to me and ripped them a new one too for it)

Those meds didn’t actually work and yet again days later I was hospitalized. It was straight up blood at this point. I would nearly pass out using the bathroom. And I could no longer pass a bowel movement. I slept with ice in my pants to try and relieve the pain. I wouldn’t eat or drink because I was too scared to. ER staff was yet again amazing and put me on some insanely strong antibiotics that finally did the trick.

But I think by then the damage was done. I no longer have the same bathroom habits. I have a weakened bladder and pee sometimes 10+ times a day. I can’t fully release my bladder when I do go and have to concentrate insanely hard to go. The really random swelling and constipation actually gave me hemorrhoids. I am still scared to use the bathroom because I’m worried I’ll suddenly feel pain again and the cycle will repeat. I now struggle with yeast infections more than I ever have (sometimes mucus will DRIP OUT OF ME LIKE A FAUCET when I am peeing and you can visibly see a ton of bacteria in it). It’s made me scared of sexual intimacy because the constant infections and hemorrhoids. I am 23 years old and I feel as though I am shackled down by my bladder/vaginal health due to what I believe was 1000% medical negligence.