Uterine Staph infection

[Travel27]

Hi all

So after my last failed donor transfer the doctor took a biopsy of my uterus. When the results came back, it showed 89% staphylococcus and 11% lactobaccilus in my uterus. Apparently lactobaccilus should be greater than 90% under normal conditions so the values were basically reversed from what they should have been. I've found some papers written about this and the issues it can cause to fertility including implantation problems but it seems a relatively new thing for them to look for. Just wondering if anyone had any experience/insights? I've had no symptoms whatsoever, last time I had BV (which is a staph infection) was 2011 and I'm now wondering if I've had it ever since and thats the cause of all of my fertility woes...

intechopen.com/books/genita...

I was put on a course of antibiotics for 10 days and some probiotics and I'm heading for donor transfer #3 in the next couple of weeks so wondering if there is anything else I can do to help the issue, or even if I can do anything else.

Probably no one has come across this before, but as the doctors don't explain what this means I end up researching myself and looking to see if anyone else has similar experience.

I already took a course of antibiotics in Feb to try and get rid of anything that might be there (without a biopsy diagnosis), but either the anti-biotics were targetting something else / they didn't work / I got reinfected.

Thanks for any experiences

[LCharlton]

Hi lovely - I don't know about this specific issue but I do know about microbiomes. After taking the antibiotics, you must take a good course of probiotics in order to restore the balance. The antibiotics will kill the good lactobacillus as well as the staph, so you need to get the good bacteria back in there. You should take oral probiotics and probiotic vaginal pessaries - I think we're not allowed to mention brands on here but if you google "vaginal flora probiotics" you should find good oral ones to order online, and if you google "probiotic vaginal capsules" you'll find the pessaries which are usually available from Boots or Superdrug. Together with a healthy diet - you particularly want to avoid too much sugar which throws your good bacteria / bad bacteria balance off, it's a good idea to not have anything sweetened more often than once or twice a week max - this should help get your lactobacillus population back up. Wishing you lots of luck xx

[Travel27 in reply to LCharlton]

Thanks. I hadn't thought about vaginal pessaries, so that's a good shout. I've been taking lactobaccilus for the past 2 weeks at least.

[LCharlton in reply to Travel27]

OK great - do check what strain/s of lactobacillus are present in your probiotic. Lactobacillus acidophilus mostly hangs out in the intestine so is good for digestion, but much less useful here. Strains that are more likely to populate the reproductive tract would include any of: lactobacillus crispatus, lactobacillus rhamnosus, lactobacillus reuteri, lactobacillus plantarum

[Travel27 in reply to LCharlton]

Thanks! This is super helpful information. I would have never known/considered it otherwise. Perhaps this might help with a successful transfer this time...

[LCharlton in reply to Travel27]

I don't know how much it actually affects it, but healthy bacterial balance can never hurt! Fingers crossed xx

[IvfStruggler in reply to LCharlton]

This is such an interesting question and some really useful answers- thank you both. I'm someone who often struggles with thrush (also oral) which gets especially bad with all the artificial hormones during IVF. In addition I get really anxious about how this may impact implantation. I haven't done any official tests (cannot afford them) but I thought some extra probiotics won't do anything bad even if I don't need them. But I had already bought acidophilus and now I'm questioning if they are any use. Then when I looked online I found rhamnosus it said that you should discuss use with your doctor if you take medicine (currently taking burserelin in preparation for an FET after which I will have lubion and progynova). Is that warning still relevant? I can't imagine it would have an impact. When I asked the nurses before about probiotics they weren't able to offer any advice so any information would be so helpful xxx

[LCharlton in reply to IvfStruggler]

If you are taking an antibiotic or antifungal medication, you should wait till you finish the treatment to start probiotics - but there shouldn't be interactions with other types of medication x

[IvfStruggler in reply to LCharlton]

That makes total sense! Thank you so much xxx

[LCharlton in reply to IvfStruggler]

Oh, and acidophilus should help with the oral thrush xx

[rb6541]

I got a staph infection last month from the egg retrieval procedure. I have gotten the same lack of direction and lack of answers (which is horrendous since they gave it to me)...tons of time trying to do my own research too. They gave me 7 days of antibiotics and sent me on my way...saying hopefully it's just a one time thing (as if I am just going to let it go when I was freezing my eggs to preserve my fertility for medical reasons- not to ruin my fertility). Anyway, they gave me augmentin. What antibiotic did you receive? How long have you been getting these infections? Did you have symptoms during the one in 2011 and did you take an antibiotic back then? They should've done a culture to see what kind of antibiotics would work. Unfortunately my antibiotics don't seem to be working as I still have the same pelvic symptoms. I am so with you here that no one at my fertility center has told me anything about this despite my repeated and panicked questions.