The Impact of Self-Management With Probiotics on Urinary Symptoms and the Urine Microbiome in Individuals With Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) and Spina Bifida (SB)"

Lower urinary symptoms are a common issue for individuals with neurogenic bladder, commonly occurring in the Spina bifida and Spinal Cord Injury population. In this study, probiotics will be introduced into the bladder to prevent UTIs. Introduction of probiotics will be determined by a validated symptom questionnaire (USQ-NB) and protocol (SMP-PRO).

This study will estimate the strength of the associations between successful implementation of the probiotic self-management program (USQ-NB and SMP-PRO) and urinary symptoms, bladder inflammation, and the urine microbiome. Investigators will conduct an 18-month study in which each participant will serve as his/her own control through 3 phases of study: 6-months usual care (baseline), 6-months probiotic intervention, and 6-months follow-up.

Participants will complete the Urinary Symptom Questionnaire weekly. After 6 months of baseline data collection, participants will receive the Lactobacillus (Culturelle GG, 20 billion live organisms for adults and 10 billion live organisms for children <18 years of age), will be instructed on preparation and intravesicular instillation of the Lactobacillus, and will have a tutorial with a fellow consumer on use of the patient-initiated protocol. The protocol and Lactobacillus bladder instillation instructions (including a step-by-step video) will be available on the study website for 24/7 access and written instructions will be provided at the time of instruction.

For the intravesicular Lactobacillus instillation, participants will be instructed to mix the contents into sterile saline. After mixing, participants will draw up the liquid Lactobacillus mixture into a 60cc catheter tip syringe and instill via the intermittent catheter after fully emptying the bladder. Participants will be instructed not to catheterize for at least 4 hours after the bladder instillation. Participants will receive 10 Culturelle GG at the beginning of the treatment phase. At the end of each month, the coordinator or RA will ask how many remaining tablets the participant has, and if needed dispense the next supply of 10 tablets. Participants will be instructed to complete the USQ-NB weekly.

If/when urinary symptoms occur, subjects will be instructed to follow the protocol to determine whether to initiate intravesicular Lactobacillus instillation or be evaluated by a physician. The self-management protocol will also direct them to discontinue Lactobacillus instillation or be evaluated by a physician if symptoms remit, persist (after 2 instillations), or worsen. The maximum number of instillations is 2 over 28 hours. If participants are directed by the self-management protocol to seek medical attention or s/he feels the need for medical evaluation, s/he will be advised to obtain care as they typically would by their health care provider. Participants will be supplied with letters to be brought to their health care provider notifying them of the study and requesting sharing of urinalysis and urine culture results with the research team. A verified UTI will include those that resulted in antibiotic treatment by a health care professional. An additional urine sample for metagenomics will either be left with the health care provider for pick up by the research team, brought to the research site, or obtained by the RA at a mutually convenient site.