Wednesdays - 122. UTI SPECIAL: Does Cranberry Juice Actually Help? All Your Burning Questions Answered!

Episode Date: January 21, 2026

Heyyyy Tinies!This week, we’re tackling a topic that’s way too common but rarely talked about: UTIs. Melissa knows the struggle all too well, so we thought it was about time to open up the conversation and share some expert-led insights for anyone who’s dealt with them.We’re joined by the amazing Beverly Sarstedt, a nutritional therapist who specialises in chronic UTIs, to bust myths and share the best tips for prevention and care. Does cranberry juice actually work? Do men even get UTIs? We answer all your burning questions. In this week’s dilemmas, one Tiny opens up about living with UTIs for nearly a decade and asks how to rebuild a positive relationship with her body after years of pain and discomfort. Another listener wants to know about diet and lifestyle tweaks that could help keep the UTIs at bay. Enjoy the episode xTo learn more about Nourishing Insight’s visit: www.nourishinginsights.comIf you seek any further advice on UTIs, go to the Live Free UTI website HERE Got a dilemma, some personal advice for a fellow Tiny, or a follow-up to a previous one? Send us a voice note or message on Insta @wednesdayspodcast, or drop us an email at [e-mail] | https://www.instagram.com/wednesdayspodcast/TikTok | https://www.tiktok.com/@wednesdayspodcastEmail | [e-mail]:Executive Producer: Ewan Newbigging-ListerProducer: Helen Burke & Magda CassidyAssistant Producer: Issy Weeks-HankinsVideo: Lizzie McCarthySocial: Anthony Barter & Amber Hourigan Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we talk about Melissa's experience of UTIs. It's a really interesting episode, but of course, please do seek your own medical advice. Guys, on today's episode, we have the UTI special and we have the expert, Beverly, from Nourishing Insights joining me today, who is going to talk all things for UTI. Just before we start, please subscribe to our YouTube at Wednesday's podcast. Thanks. Hi, guys, welcome back to another episode of Wednesdays. This is going to be different today because it's.

My UTI special, this is a really important episode for me because some of you may know, have heard me moan that I suffered with this like UTI from hell in the summer, wouldn't go away for three months. And I've gone on a bit of a journey and I'm very thrilled to be and happy to be saying that I have found light at the end of the tunnel, I've got a solution and I've got to the root cause of the issue through functional medicine, which is like my favorite thing. You guys know I know I talk about all the time. But I want to talk about my journey in a bit more detail and stuff with the lovely Helen,

who is our producer on Wednesdays and she's sat with me here now. Hello. So you already know a lot about what's happened to me anyway because I just don't shut up about it. But yeah, that's true. For the tinies, I'm going to go through it all like in a little bit more detail because obviously I've moaned about it in like updates throughout 2025. And now we're in 2026. and I've got a solution I want to talk about exactly what's happened to me, where I'm at now.

Yeah. And just let you guys know basically because you guys are so sweet and I couldn't believe how many people replied to when I spoke about it before and sent me DMs. I actually had found the Live UTI website through a tiny who had sent it to me, which is great. Live UTI free is basically a charity that has so much information, new information, new research, you name it. So when did you first get a UTI? And how did you know it was a UTI? I was in Lanzarotti on a family holiday with my boyfriend. And we were obviously in separate rooms, but they were next to each other and, you know, whatever happened. And certain activities sparked on, I remember we were out for dinner and I honestly went through like 10 times. And my sister

was like, you're all right. Why do you keep me to do? And my mom was like, oh my God, Mills, I think you've got a UTI, I think you've got cystitis. That was the start of the whole thing really. I think then throughout me being with that boy, I think I was with him for like two and a half years. I had had a UTI a couple of times, went on antibiotics and it went, wasn't scared of it really because it was played down so much. Like everyone gets UTILs and they first start having sex or whatever. And, you know, it happens to girls all the time, you just go on antibiotics and it goes.

I guess as I got older and it was always. sex triggered for me, it then became more recurrent, I guess, like thinking about it now. Since I was with Tobs, I met him when I was 24, got them loads in the beginning because there's a lot of activity in the beginning. And again, wasn't worried. I was like, I'm just one of those poor people that suffer from them, didn't know anything about an embedded infection. Yeah. I then spoke to Pibba Campbell came into my life. Right. And she was like, tell me everything about you. And I was like, well, you know, I really do stuff with the UTIs.

are really annoying. Get them every now and then. And, you know, I get them maybe like four or five times a year. She was like, that is too often for it to be like considered normal. Once a year maybe is like not a big deal. But five times is a lot of antibiotics. Anyway, we worked on my full body, like health as such. Figured out that I had huge snips on my DNA for vitamin D,

which we now know is so late. linked to why you get UTIs. So I was put on high vitamin D levels, supplements, all these different things. I've got the rest of my body essentially in good nick and in harmony and in a bit more of an optimal state. Yeah. And I then didn't suffer from a UTI for two and a half years. So I really think that that is down to that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I thought, oh my God, it's solved my UTI issues. This is fantastic. Anyway, fast forward to this summer just gone. 2025, I'm at a wedding. and boom, the UCI hits at Mount Bronte's wedding in the middle of Croatia. Had to go to hospital that night with my friend who took me and we got some antibiotics. Then it went away. I was like Fab. I was on five days of antibiotics.

Soon as I finished them, it came back and I was like, oh, God, this is not good. Why is it come straight back? And now I'm older and wiser. I know that like that's not right. And it really, really ruined my whole time there, the whole time I was at the way. I had to leave the wedding. Toby was an usher. And I was like, this is actually really like impacted something quite important, which I don't know, it maybe affected me mentally quite a lot more as well as of also it then coming back. So I don't know, like that whole experience was just quite like, oh, bad. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It sounds awful. So then went on the antibiotics, finished them. Infection came right back. Obviously at this point, I was back in the UK. And at this point, I'd done like a urine sample and they'd sent it off for this culture. came back with E. coli and something else. Strain to bacteria. They were like, yeah, we can see them in there. This is the antibiotics you need for that. Took the antibiotics for a week. The infection came back again.

Then I was put on two weeks' worth of antibiotics. And at this point, I had seen a urologist who had said to me, look, your urine cultures are now coming back completely negative. So there's no bacteria in there, but you do have white blood cell count, which would indicate you do have an infection, but we can't see an infection. Right, okay. So we're going to give you these antibiotics anyway because we obviously believe that you have an infection. But if it comes back after this, we think you might have something called instatial cystitis. And what's that? Instatial cystitis is basically when you just get symptoms of a UTI, but you don't have a UTI.

Right, okay. So your body is, their taste they're basically telling you your body is mimicking symptoms of an infection. But you don't have an infection. Right, okay, got you. And I was like, oh my God, because I had read about this awful thing called Institutional Society's women who suffer so badly. And they're literally just told, like, there's nothing that we can do to help you. You've just got to learn to pain manage for the rest of your life. And I was like really hoping that this guy wasn't going to tell me that's what I was going to have.

And he said, well, you might have that. We just don't know. He said, you need to go on these two weeks worth of antibiotics and then we'll see where we're at. I obviously was sat there in his office like, no. So what happens if I do have institutional cysticitis then? like surely there's something wrong with me and he was like, he's like, we just don't know. And for someone who's like, I really like to understand things so fully and get to the bottom of them and understand why they've happened, for me, this is just like my worst nightmare.

Someone going, we don't know. You just have to deal with this for the rest of your life. Like, or it's antibiotics every day. All of these things was just like, that is surely not a solution. No, not at all. How were you feeling in yourself and also how was it? kind of effect. Was it affecting you and Toby? It was affecting me. I was very anxious and very stressed. He was just so sweet and understanding. And weirdly he was like, I know exactly how you're

feeling because it's how I feel about my anxiety. So he was like could so relate to me about how stressed I was about it. And obviously he was like so sweet and understanding. He's so gorgeous, lovely. So that was never like an issue. Yeah. It feels. like I was in a bit of a sort of fog mindset for those four months because I was so panicked about it. I then thought, oh my gosh, I'm going to get sepsis. Oh, God. And I'm going to die. Yeah. Because you can get sepsis from it. Like, it's such a serious thing, which is why it's so bad people are turned away and told they don't have an infection. Like, it's really bad. I then took to the internet of, like, TikTok and Reddit. It changed my life. Tell me more. So when I got all

this information from this urologist that I was going to have nuances and blah, blah, blah, I took to TikTok and watched this girl do a whole thing on how she was given the wrong antibiotics, then it basically gave her an embedded infection, and then she found this fancy test called microgenyx testing, which will test for however many hundred or thousand bacteria that she sent off to America, and it came back that she had all these different infections that were the reason why she was having pain, even though her doctors told her she didn't have an infection. Oh, God, wow.

So I was like, right, okay, well, this is obviously what's happening to me. This is making sense. This is so strange. Then I read more about an embedded infection and understood about biofilms. And I was like, right, how the fuck do I get rid of these biofilms? Because this is obviously something that I've got wrapped around all these bits bacteria that are embedded themselves in my bladder wall.

Is that what biofilms are? Yes. Okay. So a biofilm goes around a piece of bacteria. Like bacteria are so smart. It's like scary. I guess they've been on the planet longer than we have. Yeah, that's true.

And they wrap themselves around and build this fortress around bacteria. Yeah. So there's all of these like little bubbles, like a wall in my bladder that are protected by this biofilm. Right. Okay. Got you. Oh, horrible.

Take antibiotics, right, for a bit of bacteria for cystitis. It gets rid of all the floaters. But there is still the stuff in the bladder wall protected by the biofilms. So you take antibiotics, won't touch the ones that are embedded. It just slips off because they're all protected by biofilms. Right. So you're never going to get to those ones in the bladder wall unless you break down those biofilms. Okay. All right. That makes a lot of sense. So this is what I was reading and understanding I was like biofilms, right? This is the thing that's fucked me over these biofilms. Yeah. So then I researched people, specialists in biofilm, like breaking down biofilms. And then underneath that, you know how on YouTube it says like suggested?

It was like UTI chronic embedded infection specialists, but it didn't have many views, obviously, because this is so niche. I clicked on it. It's this woman called Ruth Chris. Right. Talking all about her story. She had a UTI for 30 years. I think she basically went to scientists and was like, I will be your guinea pig.

Anyway, broke down the whole thing of like how you get a UTI, why you would get a UTI, why your DNA affects that. The biofilms protecting the bacteria and why it's important to break that down. It just made so much sense and was like such a breath of fresh air and like such, I can't even tell you the sigh of relief after watching this video. I was like, this is the answer to all my problems. I need to get this woman. She's going to fix me.

Like she's healed of these people. It makes so much sense. It's so science-backed, blah, blah, blah. I then found that she had done a podcast with the Live UTI free people. And I was like, oh my God, that's the website that the tiniies had sent me before. Should have listened to the bloody tini's in the first place. So I went back onto the website and then I messaged the Live UTI free people. And I said, can Ruth Chris do any treatments?

Because she doesn't have a website anymore. She's retired. Oh, I see. And I was like, oh my God, the dreams being crushed. Yeah, literally. And they were like, she here's her website and then found, but she. She doesn't do treatments. She just does training, and then she recommends people that she has trained in it to do treatments across the world.

Okay. So they sent me this link, typed in the UK. Lo and behold, I found nourishing insights, which is like a functional medicine practice run by a woman called Beverly Sarsed. And they just specialize in treating chronic UTI infections. And I've started my journey with her now. Okay. And so rather than gate keep Beverly, you wanted to bring her on the pod. Absolutely. We need, we need, Beverly needs to treat anyone who's suffering. But I just want to say, I obviously understand that I'm in a very fortunate position that I can afford to do this because it's not something that's available in the NHS, which is so frustrating. So I really feel for those people that can't afford to do this. But it's like so shit that this is like the route that I've had to go down. And the money that I've had to spend and the time.

That's what's really great about the fact that we've got Beverly on today because she's actually going to go through absolutely everything with you, isn't she? And talk you through kind of like what a UTI is, kind of like debunk some of the myths surrounding UTIs and also help answer some of the listeners dilemmas as well, which is really great. Absolutely. And please don't feel like there's no hope because there is hope. The live UTI free website, Instagram is really good.

Yeah, and lots of support there is. well. There is. They will talk to you. You can email them. They're really fantastic. Okay. So should we get Beverly on the pot? Let's do it. Okay. Let's listen. Let's go. This is a very exciting episode for me. This is our UTI special. I'm joined by Beverly from Nourishing Insights, who is a nutritional therapist who specializes in chronic UTIs. And I thought it would be really great if you were on the podcast today, just talking us through all things UTI. Can you tell us what a UTI is? Yeah, I mean, most people think of stestitis, don't they, with UTI? And I think, you know, they say about 60% of women will have had an experience of

UTI at least once in a lifetime. But there are people who sadly have another one and another one and another one and they go on for years and years and years. And when we're thinking about symptoms, then people tend to think about frequency, urgency, needing to go to the toilet The obvious things that most people know about or they might think of honeymoon cystitis, which can cause those sorts of things. Honeymoon cystitis. Have you heard of that? I haven't.

Well, obviously, if there's increasing sexual activity, then that can be a trigger for that's what I have. Cestitis. Honeymoon cystitis. And so that can, I mean, that's something is kind of one of those, yeah, old-fashioned terms, I suppose. I've not heard that one yet. But definitely, that can be a common trigger for young women.

and that can be a temporary thing and it's gone and that's it and they move on with their life. But then, you know, Ruth always wondered why there are those people who have one, two, three, but they then continue to have more and more and more. What is it about those people? What is it about their genetics, for example, which sets them aside from others where they can't seem to get rid of them and they end up with what actually become chronic embedded infections? Which I think is what I have. We're yet to find that out during my treatment plan, but it sounds.

Like, that's what I've got. So just the common symptoms of a UTI is burning frequency bladder pain. Definitely pain. Pain is the most significant symptom, really. Okay. And the most, it can be the most utterly miserable. You know, the pain, the burning. And the pain, of course, can be in the lower abdomen. It can be in the back. It can be basically across the whole pelvic region, but it also can be in the urethra, in the vulva, in the vagina. so it really extends, you know, far and away more than what you might expect. So we've had a lot of listeners sending questions about UTIs.

So I'm just going to go through and ask you the questions and you can answer true or false. You always feel burning if you have a UTI? Not always. And the interesting thing about burning is that there are, it is a very common one, is extremely common, but there are things that can exacerbate that. So, for example, if someone, I mean, we all should be eating or able to eat foods with oxalates, so high oxalates, things like almonds and, you know, spinach and dark chocolate, all the foods that are good for you. But if, for whatever reason, your gut is not breaking down those oxalates properly, then high amounts of oxalates can actually lead to severe pain and burning.

And that could be urethal pain. It could be that there's an issue with them breaking down oxalates. Oxalates become too high. that puts them at risk of vulvo vaginal pain burning, also kidney stones. So those sorts of things we look at as well. Drawfos, do men get UTIs? I do, very much so. We work with men and women.

And, yeah, for them, similar sort of experience, really, and that whole pelvic region can be affected. Interesting. It's good to know that we're not the only ones that are suffering. Cranberry juice is an amazing remedy for UTIs. can be helpful. Amazing remedy might be stretching it a bit, but it can be helpful. The thing about things like cranberries that contain anthracinins, they're good for you, good antioxidants, but these sorts of things. It's the same with Dumano's that can prevent bacteria adhering to the bladder.

I also would like to just comment on the cranberry juice thing. The cranberry juice that you get from your local missa that you mix with vodka is not the type of cranberry juice that gets rid of UTI. And the amount of people that go, oh my God, just have a glass of cranberry juice. And I'm like, Firstly, that's just literally 1% cranberry and the rest of sugar. Absolutely. Real cranberry juice is really bitter and difficult to drink. And if you're saying it's not even necessary, it's not going to cure the UTI. No, it's not.

It's not, no. Fine, it's more of a prevention maintenance thing. It can be preventative. If somebody hasn't got a chronic embedded infection, they have fairly mild symptoms, then something like that might be helpful. But again, you've got to watch out for the sugars, you know, and I think for a lot of people they would buy maybe a cranberry supplement rather than I've had that a demonos supplement.

Also just to explain what de manos is. De Manos is a common supplement that is it works by preventing bacteria like specifically E. coli from adhering to the bladder wall. So that's where it can be helpful if you've got an active infection. If you haven't got E. coli, we wouldn't bother. Fine. Okay, this is going to be my favourite one. If antibiotics don't work, it's not a UTI.

Oh, not true. So not true. The problem we've got is the testing, because the testing is looking for fast-growing bacteria. So if you happen to have a bacteria which is not fast-growing, are you going to find it on that test? No. So the test is going to come back negative. In fact, there's lots of reasons why the test comes back negative. The test that one would do, which I have done a million times, as you go to the doctor, you do a urine sample, and they send it off for just, what do they call it? Culture. Culture. And it comes back within 24 or 48 hours. And the last few that I had done came back negative. But I obviously had a UTI.

I was like, oh, I'm in so much pain. I know what a UTI feels like. Stop trying to gaslight me and tell me that I've just got institutional cystitis. But they did say my white blood cells were high. So I feel like this is what happens to girlies a lot. And you get given, I've been given nitrophurein, an antibiotic specifically for UTIs. It's nitifurin tool and it is.

use for other things, but it's very commonly given for UTIs. And to be fair, when I've used it, it's always just seemed to have gotten rid of it until the next UTI comes along. This past year, that wasn't the case. But prior to that, it would always kind of get rid of it. But they do a lot of guesswork and just give you antibiotics. And if it doesn't work, I think from what I read, a lot of girls do get gas lit and to say, okay, well, that's not a UTI then because we've given you the antibiotics that match up

with your culture test. Yeah. But the question is, what have they not found out? It may be they've discovered one of your bacteria, but that might not even be the dominant player. Commonly they would be treating you for E. coli, because that's what that test will find. But if you've got, you know, 5% E. coli and 95% something else, are they treating you no? You're just going to take antibiotic after antibiotic. You're just going round in circles, plus the fact that you're now developing resistance to that antibiotics. It all becomes, yeah. It's just a bit of a nightmare.

So our listeners have sent in some dilemmas for you to help answer. So should we do dilemma one? Hey Melissa and Beverly, thank you so much for covering this topic. It's so needed especially for me. I've been getting UCI symptoms for the past 15 years. I often go to the GP and explain the issues I'm having. They dipstick my urine sample and tell me there is an infection. But then when the sample is sent off to the lab,

It comes back showing no bacterial growth. So I'm told it's not a UTI. So because of that, they won't prescribe me antibiotics. The problem is I still have all the other usual UTI symptoms like burning, stinging, blood, etc. I'm really at a loss and I'm not sure what my next steps should be. Any help would be hugely appreciated, XOXO. That is exactly the sort of thing that I have been reading about online over and over again

watching girls' TikToks, the frustration. Also, someone having blood, I don't know how you can turn someone away. It's difficulty because I think that, you know, in the mainstream system, they are trapped with what they've got. I mean, it is inadequate testing. There's also a lack of training, of proper training, so that people don't really understand what they're working with. And if all they've got as a test, which is saying it's negative, then it's negative.

There's nowhere to go with that. And first of all, I'm sorry to hear about the lady that wrote that message in, because that's all too common. But even if you did the correct test, it's possible you could run that and not find what you're looking for because they're hidden in a biofilm. And that's where you get into a whole new area of science looking at the fact that these bacteria, they want to survive. They are surrounded by these very clever structures called biofilms. And inside the biofilms, if they're trapped inside a biofilm, that's what happens when we're talking about chronic embedded infection. So they're actually embedded in these biofilms.

So unless you break down the walls of those biofilms, then you're not going to release the bacteria. And therefore, if the bacteria are not free floating, you're not going to find them on a test. So the big part of our work is working on breaking down the biophones before we even run a test. So let's say this girl comes to you. You just look at the big picture of their whole life, I guess. Yeah. And try and break it down and then do testing from that conversation. Is that how you would do it?

Yeah, very much. So obviously you take a full medical history, which is looking at, when you're looking from a functional medicine model, it's all the body systems. So you're looking at their immune health, their nervous system, their hormones, their gut health, etc., etc. And so everybody's slightly different because you would prioritize different things, but that's where we would look first.

And then let's say someone like this girl or like me has a chronic embedded infection with several different strains of bacteria in their bladder wall. you break down the biofilms, then we test the Microgen DX testing. Yes. And that will test for how many, that's an enormous amount of bacteria that it would test for. It does. But they basically have access to a database of over 50,000 pathogens.

Wow. So whatever you've got, they're going to find it. So then after that, we would be looking at what's been found, and then that information we send to our prescribing pharmacist. And when you say prescribing, that would be antibiotics. Antibiotics, yeah. And is that taken alongside more biofilm disruptors in order to treat that bacteria? Because if it's protected by a lot of biofilms, is it harder to treat?

Yes, very much so. You have to be able to penetrate the biofilm and antibiotics are not going to do that. So this is another challenge in mainstream. Even if you happen to get the right antibiotic for the right pathogen, you've still got the problem of accessing that pathogen because you've got to break down the walls for the antibiotic to get in. You know what? I think my GP did say to me a few years ago, I think that this might have embedded itself in your bladder walk because I know it can do that. And I'm thinking, oh my gosh, what on earth does that mean? And then when I was taking the antibiotics and I didn't feel like it was worth it. I do think maybe there's some biofilms there. But then the scary thing is they then don't have the answer for the next stage. Yeah. So, okay, right, there's a biofilm around this bacteria and it's not responding to the antibiotics. That means I'm never going to respond to the end of antibiotics because I'm immune from the intervertex or whatever bacteria is. So there is no other option. But it's really good to know that these biofilm disruptors will

will break down that biofilm and you can treat it. There is like at the end of the tunnel with that. Absolutely. This protocol and testing that you guys do is amazing and I'm very fortunate that I can afford to do it. But obviously it is one of those things that costs. Is there any thing that you could recommend for people at home or any how would we I know there's there is charities like live UTI free but

I'm so desperate to help people because of me speaking about it and girls writing in and things like this dilemma with how people suffer so much what they can do if they can't afford to do all this yeah because it's so hard

it is so hard you're absolutely right and it's something I think about a lot but definitely vitamin D would be number one because that's easy to test that optimise it, I'd certainly do that they could use demanders. There's absolutely nothing wrong with using that and they may have, you know, if they have

happen to have E.coli, they don't know if they have or they haven't. Why not take it? It's certainly not going to do them any harm. So I think there are things like that that they can do. But the other thing which we haven't mentioned it is diet. Okay. And that's a big part of this because of course, you know, eating

clean, as we say nowadays, trying to avoid sugars, alcohol is a big no-no, looking at some of these aspects can be hugely impactful. And even just a change in diet can actually reduce pain significantly without an antibiotic in the early days. And, you know, these are things that don't really cost anything that they do both for us all. So to just give this lovely girl a bit of advice, my advice would be vitamin D. I've also said to take a good probiotic that's good for the vagina bacteria. Yes. Yes. I'm using one that I put up my vagina called, I think it's called V probiotics. Yes. Yeah, the Fembe one from the Vival. Yeah. Yeah. And get on top of the diet, try and as you, try and keep the rest of your body like in as much healthy knit as possible. But ultimately, I feel like if there is,

no other option that you're getting from your doctor, I would turn to the LiveUTI free. It's a charity. That's right. And they are finding all of the experts and people that are doing their best to find everything out about it around the world. And they are so full of knowledge and they really want to help people. They have a page where you can email, say your issue and they will help you find someone that will help you get treated. that's ultimately their goal. So that is what I would do as my next port of call,

but be prepared for it not to be cheap, as what I would say, because unfortunately these things aren't on the NHS, but I really do think that it would be worth it for you. And I'm sending you so much love because I so understand how awful it is. I mean, I have not suffered 15 years. That is absolute hell, and I'm so sympathetic because those three months that I suffered just was awful. I can only imagine what you're going through and I, you will be fine. This will be sorted out and we will get to the bottom of it. But it's just one of those horrible things that we have to suffer for a long time before we can find the answer.

Right, should we do one more dilemma? Dialama 2. I'm Melissa and Beverly. Last year, completely out of nowhere, I got a UCI, my first one. And it escalated so badly that I ended up in the hospital. I was vomiting, going in and out of consciousness, and I couldn't feel my arms. It was honestly one of the scariest experiences of my life. Since then, I've become very anxious about anything down there, periods, bodily sensations, especially sex.

When I tried to have sex with my partner, I became hyper aware of everything and convinced myself that I could feel another UTI starting. I was so afraid of the pain. My heart was racing. My body tensed up and I had to stop because I was panicking so much. Sex has now become a huge mental block and is starting to affect my relationship. So I just feel so embarrassed, terrified of my own body and feel really stupid for being so affected by just a UTI. I'd love to know if there was any advice on how to de-stress the body during these moments and how to rebuild trust with your body after something medically traumatic like this, thank you so much. I mean, that's a tough one, isn't it?

Really, your heart goes out to people because it is very distressing, very painful, utterly miserable. And as well, when you're trying to get back control in your life, you think, well, I know I'm not going to do that because that's just going to make it worse. But again, you know, what can you do about that and all there are things that you can do? And I think there are some cases where, you know,

the best thing would be to maybe refer on, to somebody who's more specialist in that side of things who can support her with those sorts of issues. I mean, there's possibly more to that story than we know. And there may be things that, you know, if she was to see a psychotherapist or whoever that might pull those issues out and actually get to the root of that because there could be many other areas that need addressing. But obviously, our side of things is really supporting more the pain management.

And yes, you know, we can do breathing exercises and we can talk about meditation and these sorts of things, but sometimes they need that extra layer of help and to find exactly what's going on in the background. So for this girl, I would say, I think it's more traumatic for you because the infection obviously was quite severe and escalated from zero to 100 and you're in the hospital, etc. So that is, in a way, good news that it was hopefully just a one-off and this is not, I don't, I really hope that this isn't something that you continue. to suffer with. However, there are obviously things you can do preventative and supplement-wise to make sure your body's in a better place. So hopefully you don't get another UTI.

Yeah. And would you suggest, again, looking after the gut, vitamin D, all of those things. D cleaning up the diet, using a vaginal probiotic, definitely. You know, sometimes things that are inexpensive like opt-a-bat for women is a good, well-known one that's good for prevention of UTI, so definitely she could try something like that. I take that. Or the InVo FemVMVE product, which is a nice one as well for vaginal health and prevention of UTI. So anything, in fact, among the probiotics that includes lactobacillus, crispartis especially.

Okay. Because that's a particularly good one as a vaginal probiotic for prevention of UTI. So she could look out for that. But you're right, it could be a one-off. Obviously, it's very traumatic, the impact that it's had on her. And I think that the trauma side needs to be dealt with in itself. But yeah, definitely these sorts of things. And she could do good old de manos.

It's certainly not going to do her any harm, and it might just be useful. But if, you know, the fact that she did become very suddenly so unwell does make you wonder what else was going on. Because often when people become suddenly so unwell, you think, well, what's going on with their immune system? What's going on with the nervous system? had there been some stress before that, because often when any of us become particularly unwell, it can be a period of severe stress that precedes that and that you just become very run down, very vulnerable, and therefore you end it with a nasty experience like that, potentially. Okay. Also, I'm hoping your partner will be very understanding because I think this is

something that obviously happens a lot with people that also just have embedded UTIs because every time they're having sex, they're getting a flare-up or a re-or or a real or a real or, re-infection. Yeah, both sides. And in fact, again, that makes me think of another issue, which is that the active sex anyway, even if they were using a condom, for instance, or even that was genuinely no infection being passed on. Ruth's view on the subject is that the movement, the vibration involved in that can actually trigger biofilm release. So that can actually trigger, even if there wasn't a bacteria, that can trigger a flare-up of symptoms because you're actually releasing the biofilm so they are releasing some bacteria and so they begin to feel

uncomfortable again. Which I think is what has happened to me. We have come to the conclusion so far that I had had an embedded infection from quite a young age initially from sex. I got the infection from sex. It wasn't treated correctly and it became embedded. And I've had flare-ups from sex, which would have been effectively vibrating or touching my bladder wall or affecting my bladder wall, which had then created a vibration, which had flaked off a bit of my embedded infection, which is then broken out of the biofilms, and then it's floating around in the bladder, which then feels like a new infection, because, I mean, it's still an infection. And then it's another UTI, so I take more antibiotics, so it gets rid of that bit that's floating in there.

But it's never going to get what's in the bladder wall. So then I guess at that point, that's reinforced the biofilms that are already in the embedded infection. then I've been fine for a bit and nothing's really happened because it's not every single time I would have sex. It was random but I knew it was always from sex. And I was so careful with going for a wee afterwards and making sure I was hydrated and all of these different things. But it's a real thing and I think thank God for social media in cases like this because it's mean I've been able to find out about you guys and about Ruth. But it means a lot of girls are actually talking about these issues on the internet. And even if they're not at this stage where they've figured out that there is a cure and there is a solution,

there's a reason why they're getting it. They are hopefully making people feel like they're not alone because it's such a lonely place thinking like, oh my God, I'm just an unlucky girl that gets at UTI and I can't ever have sex and I can't ever have a partner again. It really is just so awful. I sympathize so much with these girlies. But I promise the relief. that I have from knowing that there's these things wrong with my genetics and there's a reason why I have them and that you can solve and get to the bottom of it. I can't even tell you how

that just makes me so relaxed. I'm now like I actually don't mind if I have another UTI again because at least I know why I've got them and how I can get rid of it permanently. Yeah. So guys, to wrap that up, anyone who is struggling with the UTI or if you know anyone that's struggling with the UTI, my port of call would obviously be to go and see Beverly. But also the charity Live UTI-Free is brilliant. They have so many different experts and parts of information and advice and help on there. Thank you, Beverly, so much for coming on Wednesdays. It's meant so much to me, and I'm sure to the listeners that suffer.

Where can people find you? If they look us up as nourishing insights, that's the best thing, just to look for the website. We are on social media as well, but the main thing would be the website. Okay, lovely. Thank you so much. It's been really wonderful. Okay, bye. Thanks for listening, guys.

Love you. That's it for this week, Wednesdays. But, God, don't you just fancy some more, Melissa? Yeah, I'd really love a follow-up to some of those dilemmas. I want to know what happens. Well, then, Tynies, we have got some news for you. We have launched a premium version of Wednesdays. Now, listen, subscribers get access to the podcast ad-free.

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