Your at home UTI emergency guide
UTI’s are THE WORST. For a long time that was the one thing I would JUMP on an antibiotic for because they cause so much pain and discomfort! In fact, over the period of about a year to a year and a half, I had three. THREE!!!!! So I was VERY relieved when, after I became an FDN and started working on my gut health, I NEVER got them again….
That is, until January 3. Happy new year to me. You’ve beaten cancer, now let’s fight a UTI.
Let’s start at the beginning.
Disclaimer: This post is not intended to diagnoses treat, prevent or cure a disease. The author is not al licensed medical provider and should not be viewed as such. The advice listed on this website should not be taken for medical advice or in place of your doctors recommendations.
What IS a UTI?
A UTI is a bacterial infection. It can be located anywhere in your urinary tract system and all the way up the kidneys if it’s particularly bad. Usually if you are catching it quickly, you find it mostly in the urethra and bladder.
The most common bacteria that causes UTI’s is E coli (about 90% of cases) but could also be klebsiella or other opportunistic bacteria. This does make a difference in the approach.
Why do you get UTI’s?
Contributors may be:
Dehydration - not drinking enough water to flush the bacteria through your kidney and bladder fast enough.
Low beneficial bacteria or yeast. When we have a healthy balance, the good guys keep the bad guys in check.
Over-use of antibiotics (see above reason)
Poor hygiene
Suppressed immune system
Too much sugar
If you’re like me, you may find certain patterns or perhaps identify changes you made recently that can set you up for the imbalance. In this particular instance there were several changes that I think compiled….I recently switched probiotics, I dropped a supplement that fights gut pathogens extremely well, I allowed myself to get dehydrated, AND I ignored the initial warning signs.
I felt the UTI coming on, but ignored it since I hadn’t had one in so long. I should probably take things more seriously after chemo!!
Since I had SO many drugs pumped into my system in 2019, AND I had some MAJOR antibiotics thrown in on top of that due to an infection during round two, my gut bugs may not be totally restored….
What can you do about it?
You have several options. You can go conventional, non-traditional, or a blend of the two.
Conventional:
Actions: Go to the urgent care, or get an appointment with your regular doc asap.
Approach: Kill the bacteria (remembering that antibiotics don’t discriminate and will kill the good bacteria as well).
They will take a urine sample, send it off for a culture, and in the meantime provide you with an antibiotic and pain killer. In my previous experience, one of the reasons I would jump to this is because the antibiotics works very quickly for me an otherwise I would be stuck on the toilet because of the burning an discomfort.
Often, UTI’s recur leading to multiple antibiotic doses in a short time, or a long term low dose antibiotic. This may lead to other imbalances such as yeast infection, gastrointestinal symptoms, c diff and more…
Non-Traditional:
Actions: Hit a Whole Foods, health foods store, or your at home medicine cabinet.
Approach: Flush our the bacteria, hydrate, kill biofilms, increase beneficial bacteria, support immune system.
I am a believer in giving alternative therapies a strong effort when possible. Just like getting sick as a child helps the child build their immune system and create a resilience and resistance to disease, the same happens in adulthood.
Chemo is not only a major stressor on the body (obviously) but it can also create some antibiotic resistance. Hello - your body BEEFS up after getting exposed to dangerous things! So I really want to save my sensitivity for any future emergencies that may happen. In those instances I really want the antibiotics to WORK!
When you google at home UTI remedies you’ll find all sorts of recommendations like chew garlic and drink straight cranberry juice. While many suggestions are helpful and accurate, they may work for some and not others, or you may be in so much pain you don’t feel like they can be of any use whatsoever! I get it….you’ve got to weed through and find what work for you.
HOWEVER. Many natural remedies are REALLY effective. And I often believe that if you go natural, it’s best to do a combination approach or choose products that combine several ingredients so that you have the best chance of responding well.
Natural remedies and the reasoning behind them:
D-Mannose: Binds to e.coli and keeps it from adhering to the bladder wall. This helps flush it out! Works fairly quickly and if this is an e.coli UTI (90% of them are) this should work fairly effectively. Check out UT. Vibrance for a blended powder with other supportive herbs.
Uva Ursi: Several chemical compounds in this pant are shown to fight infection - best at the beginning of an infection and cannot be taken at high doses or for long periods of time. A study demonstrated it to be helpful in preventing recurring UTI’s when combined with dandelion. UT Vibrance includes D Mannose, Uva Ursi and dandelion together!
Cranberry: Controversial at best many studies think it’s better as a preventative than a treatment. The tannins are thought to be responsible for helping you fight a UTI. Capsules have a stronger concentration than juice does, so you have to drink more juice. However, you get the added benefit of hydration when choosing the juice option. If using cranberry, I would not recommend it as the only approach. Choose 100% organic and unsweetened cranberry juice and mix with pure water to dilute. *it may cause diarrhea in some.
Vitamin C: Vitamin C can make your urine acidic limiting the growth of some bacteria. It has also been suggested that Vitamin C is bacteriostatic (stops the bacteria from proliferating). If nothing else, it supports your immune system. Avoid the gastrointestinal upset with high doses of Vitamin C by choosing a liposomal version.
Biocidin: This is by far my favorite, and had I not been trying to give my body a break from this supplement it would have been my go to. This is an herbal blend which acts as an antibacterial, antibiotic, antiviral. Yes, it’s basically magic in a bottle. It kills bad bugs while sparing the good guys. It also busts biofilms. This supplement is particularly great because it would target E coli AND other bacteria covering your bases if you fall in that 10% of different bacterial infections. An acute dose would be 10 drops on the tongue, 3x/day for 10 days.
*I do feel the need to make a special note, and that is….be smart! If you feel that your infection is not improving and/or you feel pain in the your back like it’s spreading to the kidneys, go to the doctor immediately!!!! Or go to the doctor FIRST and get antibiotics as a back up so you don’t have to wait if your home remedies aren’t strong enough!
What I did:
I often take a very moderate, middle of the ground approach. I avoid medicine when I can, but appreciate it and accept it when necessary.
So I got an appointment with my doctor right away and got my backup prescriptions. Plus it was a Friday so better to be prepared over the weekend. The problem was that this pain began at 6am, and I couldn't get in until 11:55!! They would not send a prescription order to the pharmacy (new regulations I think) and I cried when I got off the phone because I had been experiencing SO much discomfort through the morning!!!
I got to work doing as much WOO as I could get my hands on in the house.
I took CYSTEX. Now, this is cheating a little bit because it’s technically an OTC medication for UTIs. It includes a pain killer an an antibacterial. I always recommend that if someone wants to go the natural route but is in a lot of discomfort or pain to try a few doses of this while everything else “kicks in”.
Dosed up on liposomal Vitamin C and biocidin. Often, a few pain killing doses of CYSTEX and a 10day round of biocidin will completely knock a UTI out. I’ve recommended that to people and they have seen great results. I’ve been almost DEPENDENT on that supplement for 3 years (every time I try to get off of it I get some kinda sick….case in point). So while I have that as a backup, I actually wanted to personally find another alternative. I was also already taking some liposomal Vitamin C, so I just kicked it up a notch.
Drank a TON of water with 100% cranberry juice. Yes, it is incredibly tart, but it really does seem to be useful. (In addition to helping you stay hydrated)
UT Vibrance. Like I said, normally I would just stick with my trusty biocidin but I wanted to try something different. So I ran to Whole Foods to get D-Mannose which tons of women swear by. Thankfully, I came across this product called UT Vibrance which includes D-Mannose, Uva Ursi, dandelion, and more…. It’s a powder that you mix in liquid 4x/day. Once I took that, my symptoms subsided an other than keeping up on my vitamin C and my cranberry hydration, I didn’t need anything else! The UT vibrance seemed to kick in very quickly and by the time I got to the doctor I was comfortable.
Probiotics. I had recently switched from my favorite long term probiotic Megaspore which is a spore based probiotic. But I knew that with some things going on in my gut recently that I needed another probiotic with a different blend. So I switched to Klaire labs ABX which is beneficial for balancing you out after a round of antibiotics. When the UTI started, I brought megaspore back in and did 1 tablet of each in the morning and another in the evening for a total of 4 tabs/day.
If I had to narrow it down to the bare necessities, it seemed that the combination of probiotic therapy + UT vibrance was the most effective for me. I only took the biocidin the morning it started and as able to drop it after that.
Conventional vs. Non-traditional/out of the box/alternative/holistic/whatever-you-want-to-call-them treatments.
As you can see, there is a time and place for both. I often fall somewhere in the middle, exhausting natural options before hitting medication if I need to.
The pros to medication are that it works fast and when it comes to pain killers you can get a stronger dose. The cons however are that the antibiotic might not work for your body or for that particular infection which means you may have to go through 2 or even 3 antibiotics before seeing the results you want. This can be devastating for your gut health in the long run. Even if an antibiotic does work, you can become resistant to it, and it kills the good bugs with the bad bugs….so depending on the balance that is left one it’s done, the stress you are under, how well you eat, what kind of water you drink etc….the opportunity arises for pathogenic bacteria to have a greater opportunity to overgrow taking you back to square one… One round of antibiotics can devastate some people and lead to more frustrating symptoms and long term side effects.
The pros to natural methods are:
There are typically no negative side effects (except occasionally things like bloating or diarrhea when taking high doses)*
You can mix and match until you figure out what works
They normally SUPPORT your body instead of FORCING the body to do something
They don’t damage beneficial gut bugs
The CONS however are that sometimes they are weaker, take longer to take effect, or in some cases might not be effective at all. This is why I usually take a blended approach when it comes to natural remedies instead of choosing one herb or ingredient.
*Any time you go in and shake up your microbiome things like diarrhea and bloating may occur. While slightly annoying, its not necessarily a bad thing. Diarrhea is your body getting things OUT, and as bad bugs die and the balance shifts, bloating may occur. I had both when I was at the highest dose of UT vibrance (20g of d mannose in a day). It was a small price to pay to kick the UTI and I lowered the dose as the days went on, regulating my poop and getting rid of the bloat!
What now?
I always recommend making a doctors appointment to confirm. Simply having a diagnosis can point you in the right direction. It can also provide you with emergency back ups if you DO need to use those prescriptions. If you have had UTI’s many times and are looking to support your body’s natural defenses and kick it for good, the natural approach may be more beneficial. If you are prone to UTI’s then stocking up on some of recommendations above may be helpful so you can tackle it as soon as you feel it coming on.
Always listen to your body, be smart about it, and don’t be afraid to use a combination therapy when needed! For example: should you need or choose to use the antibiotic approach, including a probiotic therapy at the same time can help mitigate the negative and long term effects. Work with a practitioner to make the best recommendations for you!
Interested in working together? My 1:1 clients get full access to me throughout our time together so if anything like this comes up, you can reach out and get support immediately!
If you are struggling with more chronic conditions like:
Recurring UTI’s
Recurring sinus infections
Diarrhea/constipation
Bloating
Acid Reflux
Mood swings
PMS
Fatigue
Then let’s talk! I work with my 1:1 clients very closely to make the best recommendations in testing and personalized protocols for their unique situation and needs. If you are serious about investing in your health and taking dramatic steps to feel your BEST, then click the link below to sign up for a free functional health assessment call where I can find out more ab out you and y our goals and struggles, share my process, and find out if working together is the right fit!
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Sources:
http://pennstatehershey.adam.com/content.aspx?productid=107&pid=33&gid=000278
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3370320/
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/urinary-tract-infections
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3784967/