Urine Tract Infections are very common with women and caused by bacteria that enter the urine tract. The causes of UTI’s can vary and be hard to determine sometimes what exactly caused it. In this article, I will provide you with my story and how I cured chronic uti’s in case you can relate, but I will also provide the facts, studies, and solutions that worked for me. I used to suffer from uti’s every month and I haven’t had one in 3 years.
Here is my story:
I’ve always suffered from UTI’s since a teenager, but they became chronic in my 20’s. At 22 years old, I had a kidney infection cause by an untreated UTI. I was reading thousands of articles looking for solutions and seen so many doctors, but at that time, the only solution I had was to take anti-biotics and drink lots of water as soon I noticed another UTI was coming. When I was 23, I was going through a very stressful period in my life and my anxiety was really high. I noticed the UTI’s increasing again and I was getting tired of taking anti- biotics because not only was I building an immunity against it but it was also killing all my good gut bacteria and leading to other problems like IBS. I decided to stop with anti-biotics and look for different solutions. I had a bottle of Echinacea that I kept around in for my immune system. I was never really a big believer when it came to herbal supplements or alternative medicine. I was skeptical so I googled the benefits of Echinacea and if it would work for my recurrent infections. I came across this article where a woman explained how Echinacea cleared her infection within days. I cannot find the exact article anymore, but she explained that when she started to noticed an infection, she drank a capsule of Echinacea every couple hours throughout the day to keep the extract in her system and help her body fight the infection. I started doing the exact same thing, taking a capsule every 2-4 hours a day as soon as I noticed or felt an infection and it worked for me as well. I started taking it regularly even when the infection faded for at least once a day for 6 months. After the 6 months, I would drink it only when I noticed my immune system going down or felt an urine tract infection brewing. We are almost 3 years later… I have stopped taking Echinacea regularly (only take it for an immune boost here and there) and I have not had a UTI since then.
Facts:
- Urinary tract infections occur 70% of the time in women. They are caused by bacteria and can cause pain and discomfort. About 30% of urinary tract infections go away, never to return. The remainder are treated with Antibiotics. Urinary tract infections can re-occur with a different strain.[1]
- According to Dr. Milosevic, recurrent urinary tract infections, are urinary tract infections that reappear multiple times despite using the appropriate treatment. According to epidemiological data, urinary tract reinfection reoccurs once in 30% of women during the first six months after the primary infection, and twice in about 3% of women for the same period. [2]
Symptoms:
- Pain while urinating
- Frequent urination, often with scant urine
- Abdominal heaviness or tenderness
- Cloudy or bad-smelling urine
- Lower back pain near the kidneys
Solutions:
If you are in the category of women that often get uti’s or suffers from recurrent uti’s then prescribed anti-biotics might be your best friend at the moment. If the ant-biotics are starting to cause other problems, then it might be time to switch to something like Echinacea. There are multiple studies done that proof that Echinacea can be used to stop infections when they are first starting out. In Echinacea, Dr Kligler from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, explains the uses of Echinacea in detail. If you’ve taken antibiotics more than 3 times and see no result then it might be worth trying the Echinacea strategy.