How to naturally cure those dreaded UTIs!

[Islamicelt]

Hello ladies (and gents)

A few years ago, I used to get UTIs quite often and always had to go in to get the antibiotics from the doctor but after they became a regular occurrence, I had to think of a new plan. Alhamdulillah (a THOUSAND times) I haven't had one in years and I wanted to share some of my secrets to help anyone else who might suffer from them now and then.

First of all- going to get antibiotics for UTIs isn't always the best idea since antibiotics kill ALL the bacteria "down there". That includes bacteria that fight off the naughties and keep us safe from future infections. Of course, if it gets so severe that you need to go to a doctor, please do. I know how evil they are and how awful they feel and if mine didn't clear up within a day or two, I went to the doctor and got the meds. A girl can only have so much patience.

The first step is to know how to prevent them:
-Baths are NOT a girls best friend: The bathtub and hot tub may feel like heaven, but they are also a hot spot for UTI occurrences. I pretty much was guaranteed a UTI after a bath. However, I did find that putting a few drops of essential lavender oil in the water really helped and I was able to take baths without having a UTI afterwards. Lavender oil is a natural antibiotic AND it makes your skin smell wonderful If you must have a bath, use the lavender oil to prevent infection.

-let the poor girl breathe: Wear cotton underwear. Aint nobody wants underwear that wont allow for air circulation.

-Use the bathroom before AND after intercourse: This is probably the most important rule. Always always always use the bathroom before and after sexual intercourse. Urinating before clears out the urinary tract AND can create a sterile barrier for bacteria that may get pushed in. Urinating after (even though I know this is difficult to do after you've just went) flushes out any bacteria that may have found its way in. This is the golden rule of all UTI infections. Dont forget to pee TWICE--not just after and not just before.

if you gotta go, GO!!- "holding it" is one of the worst things that you can do. If you have to pee, go immediately. Never hold it. It's not good for you and you are risking a UTI big time.

If you happen to get one....

Lay off the cranberry juice. In fact, the amount of cranberry juice that you would need to drink in order to truly make any significant change would be gallons and gallons and gallons of it. Drinking cranberry juice really doesn't help, just like drinking orange juice really doesn't cure a cold. In fact, it probably does more harm than good considering the sugar in the juice is bad for a UTI. If you must drink cranberry juice, go for unsweetened even though it tastes like gasoline. Bacteria likes sugar (and Ive noticed that I got UTIs after I ate a lot of candies as well.)

WATER!!! WATER, WATER, WATER!!- Water is the best cure that Ive ever found for getting rid of UTI's. After I got them continuously, I was able to figure out when they were coming and I would drink water glass after glass until I was peeing every few minutes. You can literally flush it all out even before it comes. After it's already come, again, drink water constantly. CONSTANTLY.

unsweetened yogurt- Again, stay away from sugary foods if you have a UTI and since yogurt is a probiotic, it is a good way to get the good bacteria working again to fight off the bad bacteria that is causing your UTI. If you went to the doctor to get the antibiotics, eat the yogurt to replenish the poor guys that were being killed off.

[LoneWalker]

Surely if your blood sugar is so high after drinking cranberry juice that you've got glucose in your urine then you've got bigger problems than the UTI?

[Islamicelt]

Surely if your blood sugar is so high after drinking cranberry juice that you've got glucose in your urine then you've got bigger problems than the UTI?

???

[LoneWalker]

Normally the kidneys reclaim all the glucose from the blood as it is filtered so none gets into the urine, the exceptions to this are very high blood sugar levels usually due to diabetes or a problem with the kidneys ability to reclaim the glucose. Therefore sugary drinks shouldn't have any effect on the sugar available for bacteria in the urinary tract. If you find a correlation between high sugar intakes and UTIs there may be another problem.

[Islamicelt]

Normally the kidneys reclaim all the glucose from the blood as it is filtered so none gets into the urine, the exceptions to this are very high blood sugar levels usually due to diabetes or a problem with the kidneys ability to reclaim the glucose. Therefore sugary drinks shouldn't have any effect on the sugar available for bacteria in the urinary tract. If you find a correlation between high sugar intakes and UTIs there may be another problem.

Oh, I see what you are saying. I had a doc tell me something about unsweetened yogurt and to stay away from sugars. That's why I included it

as for sugary snacks leading to UTI's...idk. It used to happen with me sometimes.

[Aigeann]

I'm speechless about cranberry juice not helping. I was told decades ago by a nurse to drink as much unsweetened as I could to clear it up when I would first feel it come on. I've never had a problem with UTIs since I started self medicating. Everyone's different, I suppose!

[katie bridgewater]

If excess sugar triggers UTI symptoms, then you are probably suffering from candidaiasis, or a sufeit of Candida Albicans (sometimes known as Thrush) in your system, and not a bacterial infection as the main problem (although it can be a secondary effect, for sure).

It's important to get a proper diagnosis of the cause of a UTI, not just blindly take antibiotics (which will usually make candidaiasis worse, not better, if that's what you have). And no amount of herbal self-treating will do any good if you are suffering from an underlying chronic condition that you don't know about, so a visit to a sympathetic and thorough GP is of utmost importance to ascertain the cause. If it is something like Candida Albicans then there are stringent dietary and lifestyle changes that can be made to bring it under control but they need to be followed strictly to do any lasting good.

Candidaisis is also connected to skin problems, which you have brought up on another thread. Perhaps you could look more holistically at the different symptoms you are experiencing and see if there is an underlying cause that once addressed would bring several improvements?