How to Know When Your Bladder Symptoms are Coming from a UTI or a Pelvic Floor Muscle Dysfunction

Can anyone relate to this one? Brah... Lemme share my frustrations with y'all about my numerous UTI's in my 20s-30s! It was BRUTAL. Definitely share this blog with a bestie who complains about UTI symptoms all the time!!!

I can honestly say at my worst.... I've thought I had 5-6 UTIs within a month... I'm not even sure that's humanly possible... because (I later found out) it wasn't a UTI. It was because I had a pelvic floor muscle dysfunction! It took a lot of convincing from my pelvic health physiotherapist... I was married to my antibiotics... I took them EVERYWHERE!
to work
on road trips
on vacations
and definitely to my partner's place!
ya know... just in case I got a UTI post having sax AGAIN... GAH.

I think I may have had two real UTIs but I believe allllll the 20+ other times I thought I had UTI symptoms... they were probably just my unhappy pelvic floor muscles asking me for attention!!!!

Ok… so Jane, how can I tell if its a UTI?

  • You notice it doesn’t improve without antibiotics

  • You may notice blood or cloudiness in the urine

  • You get a callback after a day or two saying your urine culture came back positive - the dipstick (litmus paper looking) test isn’t enough to diagnose

What if its a pelvic floor muscle dysfunction?

  • You feel like a UTI is coming on... but then goes away on its own... then seemingly comes back... repeat... (symptoms looks like frequency, urgency, pain with peeing, urine retention, slow urine flow, slow to start stream and dribbles out)

  • Your urine culture comes back negative

  • Your symptoms improve when you’re less stressed, when you work on hip and pelvic floor flexibility, when you get an internal pelvic floor release, when you get myofascial/viscerofascia mobilized

  • Your symptoms worsen with stress, constipation, pelvic floor muscle tension, hip tension, sitting too long, lack of hydration

  • You are more susceptible if you have an existing pelvic health concern like pain with sax/constipation/pelvic pain.

    After a few sessions with my pelvic health physiotherapist... I never experienced my UTI symptoms EVER again....
    my mind was blown... I kept the antibiotics in my medicine cabinet for years (they’re still there) thinking one would come on... and it never did. WAIT A MINUTE... that meant...

    I didn't have to awkwardly explain to my partner about my UTIs...
    I didn't have to take antibiotics prophylactically…
    I didn't have to worry about what the antibiotics were doing to my gut microbiome…
    I didn't have to worry about lack of sleep from bladder urgency…(so annoying)
    I didn't have to run to the bathroom MID-MEETING…
    I didn't have to go to the bathroom 15x a day!…
    I didn't have to cry on the toilet...thinking ‘when will this end!’... and pee one sad drop of urine.

    This could be your story too if you suspect you have pelvic floor muscle dysfunction! Seek help from an experienced pelvic health physiotherapist!
    APTA, Nicole Cozean, and Pelvic Health Solutions all have a pelvic health physiotherapy directory so you can find someone you jive with who lives nearby to you!

    Written with so much love and compassion,

    Jane J. Bai

Registered Pelvic Health Physiotherapist

Jane Bai