Hype Press Limited

A young woman has told how she spent her teenage years and early twenties trapped in a living nightmare, running to the toilet constantly, being dismissed by doctors, and even being told her agonising symptoms were ‘just anxiety’. 

Lara Meyer (23) from Manchester, UK, says she lost her freedom, her confidence, and some of the best years of her life after developing a chronic urinary tract infection (UTI) that left her in constant pain, leaking urine, and feeling completely abandoned by the healthcare system. 

Her ordeal began in 2016 when she was just 14, but by 16, her life was already being controlled by her bladder.

“I had my first UTI when I was about 14,” Lara explains.

“But it got exponentially worse when I was 16 or 17, and then it never really stopped.”

Despite crippling symptoms, Lara says she was repeatedly told there was “no infection” because her urine tests were negative, and was instead misdiagnosed with anxiety, overactive bladder syndrome, and interstitial cystitis.

“I was told it was psychological. I was told I needed therapy,” she says.

“I was even told I couldn’t keep coming back every time I had a UTI.”

One medical professional allegedly told her she needed to stop Googling and ‘listen to doctors’.

But Lara knew something was wrong.

“I had 24/7 symptoms, urgency, leaking, hesitancy, pressure, pain,” she says.

“I was constantly running to the toilet. Sometimes I fell asleep on the toilet because I was there so long.

“I would wake up, run to the toilet, try to sleep again, just so I didn’t have to feel it.”

She describes living in a constant state of exhaustion, fear, and despair. 

“I cried all the time. I was angry. I felt completely abandoned,” she says.

“The worst part was thinking: this is my life forever.”

For six years, Lara had no proper diagnosis or treatment. Instead, she was repeatedly given short courses of antibiotics, sometimes just three days at a time, before being sent away again.

“It would calm the symptoms temporarily, then they’d come straight back,” she says.

“I was stuck in a cycle of flare, antibiotics, flare, antibiotics.”

Eventually, she discovered the concept of chronic embedded UTI through her own research, a condition where bacteria embed themselves in the bladder lining, causing long-term infection that doesn’t always show on standard urine tests.

“If I hadn’t done my own research and gone private, I still wouldn’t have treatment today,” she says.

At 20, Lara finally found a chronic UTI specialist and began proper treatment.

She underwent 20 months of long-term full-dose antibiotics, alongside Hiprex (a urinary antiseptic), to treat the underlying infection.

In total, she estimates she has taken thousands of antibiotic pills.

“This could’ve been prevented with proper treatment at the start,” she says.

“It’s the difference between a couple of weeks of antibiotics and a couple of thousand.”

The physical symptoms were devastating, but the psychological damage cut even deeper.

Lara now suffers from medical PTSD after years of being dismissed and gaslit.

“I replay what doctors said to me in my head,” says Lara.

“I can’t sit in silence. I have to have noise, TV, YouTube, music, even when brushing my teeth.

“I get dizzy and faint before appointments. I can’t attend doctors’ appointments alone anymore.”

She admits the trauma left her with suicidal thoughts at her lowest point.

“I felt hopeless,” admits Lara.

“When no one believes you, you start to believe you don’t matter.”

The condition destroyed her social life, education, and independence.

“I missed college and university,” she says.

“I stopped making plans because I was scared of not knowing where toilets were.

“At my worst, I couldn’t leave the house.”

It also shattered her relationship with her body.

“Being a young woman leaking urine feels humiliating,” Lara says.

“It makes you angry at your body. You feel powerless.”

Even now, Lara says many people don’t understand how serious chronic UTIs are.

“People think UTIs are minor, a one-week illness,” she says.

“They don’t understand what it’s like to live with one for years.”

Today, Lara is two years antibiotic-free and managing her condition with Hiprex, but still lives with pelvic floor dysfunction caused by years of damage.

Despite everything, she’s turned her trauma into purpose, using social media to raise awareness and help other sufferers.

She now runs awareness pages under the name @chronicutifiles on TikTok and Instagram, supporting thousands of people who are going through the same thing.

“It’s my mission to make people aware,” she says.

“Chronic UTIs aren’t recognised by NICE guidelines. Patients are falling through the cracks.

“People are suffering needlessly.”

Her message to doctors is direct:

“Negative urine tests do NOT mean no infection,” she says.

“Stop dismissing patients. Stop blaming hygiene. Stop calling it anxiety.

“Chronic UTIs exist, and people are losing years of their lives because of denial.”

And to women suffering in silence, she says:

“There is hope. There is help.

“There are doctors who will listen.

“Suffering doesn’t have to be forever.”