Broth Culture question?

[rita45]

Has anyone out there had the broth culture done. I just got my results back and it was positive for Group D Streptococci.

The Phy. Assistant at my uro's office put me on macrodantin as my uro is out of town till Friday. She said group D was a different strain than like strep in your throat. Sounds like it is harder to treat.

I also have a copy of the results myself and it gives a list of antibiotics for example: Ampicillian/Amoxcillian and the result says sensitive...??

I am allergic to penicillian, sulfa, tetracyacaline,. In the results column for cipro it said resistant. Does that mean that cipro would or would not help me. She is going to call me back tommorw.
I had a urine culture done for yeast which was negative and a regular urine culture done which was also negative. I sent it to a lab in Virginia as I live in Erie Pa and just wanted to know for sure. She did give me keflex which I tried for a day and got horrible cramping (abdominal) and the runs. That was weird for me as I usually can take keflex with minimal problems. I have been having problems for over a month, I got an infection on Jan 10th and it seems like nothing is working. I have moderate ic with a very small bladder and the usual pain, frequency, urgency, and burning which has been better lately...Well enough

Sorry to go on and on just need to vent. I don't know of one other person in Erie, Pa that has this disease. When my uro gets back I will know more


Rita

[ICNDonna]

If a bacteria is resistant to cipro, that does mean that cipro probably won't get rid of it. I'm also allergic to penicillin and sulfonomides.

Donna

[rita45]

Broth Culture.

Donna,

I guess I better stay on the macrodantin, although I think it is making me worse at times... Thnaks for the help!

Rita

[MarthaF]

Broth culture

The broth culture is very helpful in finding bacteria but the treatment requires some expertise. Please see the PM I sent you about antibiotic use.

You are certainly on the right track!

[Anthrop42]

About a year ago, I started having recurrent UTIs, & finally the symptoms never went away. I was diagnosed in Jan with a Hunners Ulcer & possible IC. The urologist put me on 50mg Macrobid per day to make sure it wasn't bacterial but my symptoms got worse.

I had a broth culture done a few weeks ago at United Medical Labs in VA also. It came back positive for Strept D (enterococcus). Tetracycline is resistant, cipro semi-resistant, ampicillin/amoxicillin, vancomycin, nitrofurantoin all sensitive. I have a friend who's a nurse practitioner (but not a specialist in urological problems) - she was kind enough to give me a prescription for amoxicillin. Its only been a week & I haven't seen improvement but will give it time.

[MarthaF]

It sounds as if you are on the right track. If you have read some of my other posts you know that I think often chronic bladder symptoms diagnosed as IC are really a bacterial infection that is not found by the typical culture. The broth finds more species and Enterococcus is the most common. Augmentin/amoxicillin are good antibiotics usually. However, this is not an easy infection to treat and I think it would be helpful to work with someone who specializes in this. If you wish to PM me I can give you more information. There are some fine points to the treatment that most of us found to be successful so it is wise to work with someone with experience since this is not like a typical UTI in which 10 days on an antibiotic is all that is necessary. And Macrobid is not strong enough to really knock Enterococcus out.

Feel free to write if you wish to know more about finding some specialized help.

Martha F

[knkeek]

I have been doing injections of bicillian LA 1.2 million units once a week for 3 months. It took almost 2.5 months to see improvements which are now DRAMATIC. I could eat virtually nothing without tremedous pain and could not take any supplements including those made specifically for IC. I had 24 hour extreme pain, could not wear pants and looked forward only to sleep so that I woudl not know I was in such pain! I also had a broth culture from united medical positive for enteroccocus. My NP told me it was a 'mother load" or something like that although everytest I had with traditional medicine showed nothing.

[jen74]

I have strep B in my urine cultures. I was told that this is only dangerous in women who are pregnant. I am sure what strep D is though. I also am allergic to pennicillin and erythromycin and flagyl. I remember my gyne telling me that the strep B is only suseptible to pennicillin. Strep D might be different though.
Did your uro do the broth culture? Where do you get this done? I have never heard of it. Is it more sensitive?
Jen

[MarthaF]

Broth culture and antibiotics

Knkeek -

Am glad you posted about the Bicillin injections. I have not heard of anyone using injections of antibiotics but it should do as well or better than oral. Maybe you could switch to oral now that the worst seems to be over. Most of us who have used oral antibiotics stay on them for several months. It is my feeling that although the bacteria may be eradicated the bladder wall takes time to heal and staying on antibiotics will keep new bacteria from invading and irritating the damaged bladder until it heals. Strep D is now known as Enterococcus faecalis which is the most common found in chronic bladder symptomatic patients. I believe many have this but not everyone suffers symptoms - depends on the state of the bladder or the immune system, hormones, etc. We still don't have all the answers. I think bacteria are in and out of our bladders all the time but some can tolerate it.

Jen -

United Medical in McLean, VA (703-356-4422) will do broth cultures for any patient - you do not have to have a doctor's referral. Strep B is not as common as Enterococcus but still can cause symptoms for some. Almost any bacterial species can cause symptoms depending on the condition of the bladder, as I mentioned above. The lab will do an antibiotic sensitivity report and send this with the culture results. Usually there are several antibiotics that the bacteria are sensitive to so the doctor can prescribe something that you can tolerate. If you would like more information on the treatment please send me a PM or email and I will fill you in.

The routine lab tests do not find many bacterial species since they do not let the culture grow long enough or there are not enough colonies present to show. Some labs dismiss Enterococcus as a "contaminant" but it should not be dismissed if there are symptoms. The broth is a nutrient that encourages the growth of some kinds of bacteria that are not easy to grow. United also lets the culture grow longer than 24-48 hours which is important since all bacteria do not grow that fast. But nothing will show on a culture if it was not in the bladder in the first place. Careful washing prior to collection will prevent contamination from the outside.

Martha

[Anthrop42]

I've been taking amoxicillin for Group D Strept (enterococcus) for 28 days now & most of my symptoms are gone. I started taking 500mg 3 x day, & I started experiencing improvement after 2 weeks. I even drank a Sprite yesterday as a test (first soft drink I've had in 4 or 5 months) & I'm not in pain! (gone back to water though just in case - healthier anyway).

My fiance, (we both had broth cultures at United Medical) has enterococcus also. He took our results to his German Air Force doctor a week ago who gave him the usual speech -- everyone has enterococcus in their systems & on their bodies, all urine cultures will show entero, etc. He did admit that entero does affect some women badly, but he doesn't believe its sexually transmissable. He also said the only way for a woman to know for sure what bacteria is infecting her is to have a bladder biopsy done to show what's imbedded in the bladder walls.

Anyway, at first the doctor wasn't going to help at all, but he finally agreed to give my fiance amoxicillin (1000 mg 2 x day) but only for 10 days. He said he wanted to see my fiance after 10 days & the German AF will do another broth culture for him (they use a lab in San Antonio, TX). He also gave him more amoxicillin for me & told me to take 1000mg 3 x day! At first I thought he must be crazy, but I did some research & 1000mg amoxicillin tablets are normal in Germany & other European countries, & for severe infections, doctors there will increase the dose to 6000mg per day if necessary. I decided to try the higher dose for several days but lower the dose if I had side effects. I also increased the probiotics (I take femdophilus & acidophilus). Sure enough, the lingering symptoms I had after 3 weeks on the lower dose disappeared almost immediately. I've been taking 3000mg a day now for 7 days & haven't had any problems. So maybe a higher dose of antibiotics is warranted in some cases if a person can tolerate it. They seem to like hitting infections harder & faster in Europe - hey if it works, I'm not gonna argue!

[boukie]

i will be doing my first broth culture next wk. i believe ic is from bacteria. let me knwo what the dr says when he gets back from vacation.