Hidden Embers – ‘it’s not just a UTI!’
Anonymous (voiced by an actor but told in her own words)
“My UTI story needs to be shared. It’s a lonely place with stigma and cultural pressures… lack of understanding.” Anonymous woman, 36, London with a recurrent, resistant urinary tract infection (UTI).
This is the story of how a recurrent, antibiotic resistant urinary tract infection (UTI) turned a young woman’s life upside down.
The storyteller is far from alone. Around 50%-60% of women have at least one UTI in their lifetime.1
With each failed attempt at antibiotic treatment, the recurrent UTI gradually stripped away another part of her life – work, social and personal life. Her career in finance dissolved, the joy with her belly-dance group turned to pain – mental and physical.
The UTI was …” deeply ingrained and trapping me in an endless cycle of recurring UTI’s, resisting one antibiotic after another,” with pain that was, “raw and raging, clawing at my insides… nothing like I had ever felt before. I desperately reached for another course of antibiotics to extinguish the flames, but this time, the antibiotics didn’t work.”
Triggered by physical intimacy with her boyfriend, her family, community and society’s strict cultural expectations brought loneliness. “The hidden shame of UTIs is suffocating, but I know that by making this story, ironically, like my UTI, I am resilient and resistant too.”
Like a wildfire that consumes everything in its path, this personal story shows how the impact of antibiotic resistant infections can devastate far beyond the physical. “It’s not just a UTI!” she says.
UTIs, particularly antibiotic resistant ones, have far-reaching impacts on people’s lives – mostly, but not exclusively affecting women.
Both medicine and society can significantly reduce the prevalence and impact of UTIs on women’s lives through nurturing a supportive environment among healthcare providers, and encouraging positive community and societal attitudes and behaviours.
StoryBug would like to thank the patient organisation, Live UTI Free, for their help recruiting the storyteller for this digital story.
References:
1. Al-Badr A, Al-Shaikh G. Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections Management in Women: A review. Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J. 2013 Aug;13(3):359-67.
“I want people to understand how horrific a UTI is because people are like, oh it’s a woman’s problem, everyone has a UTI.. just have some cranberry juice.”
