Mixed Growth in urine during pregnancy

[AR23]

hi, I'm 14 weeks pregnant and went to see GP last week because I thought I had thrush. Turned out I did, but the GP also took a sample of my urine to check for infections.

I went to see the GP again 2 days later because I still felt some discomfort and wasn't sure if the thrush should have cleared up, but this time I met another GP who said my urine test results showed "mixed growth" and so gave me antibiotics. I called the GP today (after another 2 days) to confirm the results from the urine test from the lab, but the receptionist said it showed no infection.

So I argued and asked why I was given antibiotics. She in turn passed on a message to the doctor to ask. They returned my call and said though there was no infection, there was "mixed growth of culture" and so I should continue taking antibiotics.

Did a bit of googling and it seems that "mixed culture growth" generally means a contaminated sample (i've been asked to repeat my tests throughout this pregnancy about 3 times already). I insert cyclogest pessaries into the vagina (due to 2 past miscarriages) so I wonder if that is causing the contamination. But also worried about pointlessly taking these antibiotics. The GP did say that they were safe to take during pregnancy (but I guess that's if you actually have an infection).

Any help/guidance would be much appreciated.

Mixed growth does normally mean contamination - and that can literally be (normal) bacteria from your vagina that’s at your urethral opening or from how you’ve collected the sample etc. It could also be because of the thrush. In my experience, some GPs will treat because the mixed growth may be hiding the bacteria causing the issue, others will to ask you to thoroughly clean the area with soap and water and provide a sample as a ‘clean drop’ straight away to minimise contamination. I’ve had experience of both.

I would personally continue the course because if there is an underlying infection and you stop the antibiotics early then you could be creating a problem as the bug could gain resistance to the safe antibiotics which is a bad thing - which I would suggest is why the Gp has said to continue anyway just in case as they can’t be sure there is no infection without another sample etc.

I have a lot of uti/bladder/kidney issues outside of pregnancy xx

@keyboard91

Thank you for your reply and shedding some more light on the topic. Yes I guess better to complete the antibiotics than to find out there was an infection which developed into something more serious.

I will try to collect a "clean" sample for my next test which they've asked me to repeat after finishing the antibiotics. It's just a little hard because I insert these cyclogest pessaries into the vagine twice a day, and even after cleaning/showering, whenever I go for a wee, I still see the waxy white residue from the pessaries throughout the day when passing urine.

Ah lord pregnancy!