Alternative Medicine: Urinary Tract Infections

Disclaimer:  I’m not a doctor or anything remotely close to a doctor.  I took a chance to try an alternative method to curing an infection and this is my opinion of what worked for me.  You are responsible for anything you try.

I get frequent urinary tract infections.  I got my first one when I was in middle school and starting in college, I got them more frequently.  They’re terrible and nobody understands the whole situation unless they’ve experienced it themselves.

Here’s how it usually goes:

• Wake up on Saturday morning – “Oh crap, I think I have a UTI.”
• Only choice now is to go to the emergency room where I’ll be chilling with sick kids for an hour before I’m seen.  There’s also a higher deductible/cost for using the ER.  Decide to wait until Monday – UTI starts getting worse.
• Pop a couple Azo to dull the pain.  Drink lots of water and feel like a bloated cow.
• Wake up on Monday morning.  Call to make an appointment with the doctor.  “Oh, well she can maybe squeeze you in on Thursday afternoon.  Would you like me to try to double book you?”  Oh, I don’t get bumped up because I know for sure that I have an infection?

At this point I’m fed up with this crap.  It’s embarrassing to go into the doctor because they want to see if you’re pregnant, then they want you to pee in a cup under pressure, then they give you a nice embarrassing lecture.  Hm, I’ve been getting them two to three times per year for the past decade.  Do you think I purposely bring them on so I can come waste two hours of my time listening to you lecture me every few months?!

So, here’s what worked the first time:

• Loads of cranberry juice.  The real stuff – not the “cocktail” because it has other stuff in it.  If you hate drinking cranberry juice like I do, get some cranberry pills.
• Azo definitly helps with the discomfort, but the disadvantage is that it turns urine a dark orangy color.
• Cystex has some antibacterial properties.  You’re not supposed to take it longer than three days and is only meant to “help inhibit the progression of infection until you see a doctor.  It is not intended to replace a doctor’s care.”  I did take it longer than the three days and nothing bad happened – in fact, the infection went away in about one week.

Doing some research, I found some alternative method of treating the UTI.  Arctostophyllos uva-ursi is a bush that has been used for centuries as a urinary antiseptic.  “Its leaves were officially a drug for urinary antiseptic in the U.S. Pharmacopoeia and the National Formulary from 1820 until 1950.”  You can purchase “uva ursi” at your local health food store in caplets or a tea.  I tried the caplets from Nature’s Way.  A couple things about uva ursi:  acids can hinder its effectiveness, meaning you shouldn’t be taking acidifying cranberry products and you shouldn’t take it longer than two weeks.  In addition to the uva ursi, I also took effervescents which help make your urinary tract basic due to the sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) in it.  It also has a pain killer in it.  If you don’t want to go out and purchase the effervescent, you can try one teaspoon baking soda per glass of water.

This is what worked for me.  I was impressed by the effectiveness of the uva ursi and have been suggesting it to friends and family.  And although it’s really hard to do, you need to keep pushing fluids until the infection is cured.  Feel free to let me know what has or has not worked for you.