Getting Off the UTI Cycle
For many years, I had been helping women at my naturopathic practice rid themselves of urinary tract infections naturally. It was a mystery to me was why these women were so desperate to stop getting UTIs. How bad could a UTI be? Then one summer night five years ago it happened, I had my first UTI. Because the urgency and frequency was so great and every trip between my bedroom and the bathroom seemed so futile, I spent the night on the tiles of my bathroom floor. Naturally the next morning I took out my naturopathic arsenal of UTI combating products, waged war against that pesky UTI and was UTI free in two days without antibiotics. Immediately after I put in my own personal naturopathic UTI prevention plan and have only had one since due to a little too much fun in Mexico.
Because of our anatomy and few other factors (like all the things we manage to put in our vaginas), 60% of women will experience at least one UTI in their life time. Now where the problem really starts is when antibiotics enter the picture. What ends up happening once her doctor prescribes her an antibiotic, the woman now enters the vicious UTI-antibiotic cycle (sometimes the UTI-antibiotic-yeast infection cycle). Basically when we take an antibiotic to eliminate an urinary tract infection, we also kill our precious vaginal flora which is one of our number one defenses against another infection. Women who have fallen into this trap can find themselves with quarterly and even monthly UTIs! If you are on this UTI cycle, it’s time to get you off!
Build Up the Defenses
As I said before, every time you take antibiotics you kill off your natural defenses against UTIs; your beautiful lush vaginal flora!. Antibiotics are not the only things that can throw your vaginal flora off the balance. Drops in estrogen either before your period or as a result of some hormonal birth control or menopause cause a change in your vaginal pH. When the pH changes so do the types of bacteria that can thrive. An acidic environment is actually the best for the precious vagina loving lactobacillus species reuteri and rhamnosus. If you think your vaginal flora is not optimal taking probiotics formulated with these two species is the way to go. They can be taken orally and I often recommend that my chronic UTI patients to also insert probiotics vaginally for a period of time to increase vaginal colonies of lactobacillus reuteri and rhamnosus. Because of estrogen’s role in proper vaginal pH, if you are premenopausal you might consider having your estradiol levels tested or eliminating hormonal birth control all together.
Diet for Urinary Tract Health
The most important element of an UTI preventive diet is plain Jane water. As a general rule, I recommend that my patients drink about a third of their weight in water plus an extra 8oz for every vice ie coffee and alcohol. Let’s actually talk about those vices. In order to prevent UTIs from occurring, we need to eliminate as much as possible sugar, alcohol and refined carbohydrates. Consuming sugar, alcohol and refined carbohydrates such as pastas and breads even if they are gluten-free have a negative impact on our immune system and provide a sugary urine providing fuel for the bad bacteria. I don’t recommend completely eliminating carbohydrates rather we need to be choosy. Starchy vegetables like yams, parsnips, sweet potatoes, cassava, winter squashes and yucca are perfect for building healthy vaginal flora. Choose these instead and increase your intake of other veggies and berries.
Don’t Forget about Hygiene
Perhaps your health teacher, your primary care doctor or even your mother told you about the importance of “wiping front to back.” This is to prevent bacteria from our colon mostly E coli from entering where it doesn't belong; our vaginas. This is not the only way E coli can come where it isn’t welcome and the problem could be something we wear everyday; thong underwear. Thong underwear and G strings act like E coli bridges to our vaginas and it is even worse when we choose synthetic fabrics that don’t breath. Those of us who are more UTI prone, should choose cotton briefs, bikinis and boy shorts instead. UTIs can also be the unsexiest thing about sex for many reasons. Unfortunately one of the biggest disruptor to our vaginal ecosystem is semen. Semen is one of the reasons women complain that they always get UTIs after sex particularly with a new partner. For this reason unless you and your partner are trying to get pregnant you are better off not letting semen inside during ejaculation especially when you are building up your vaginal flora. Lubricants can also be your vaginal flora’s worse enemy and this even includes saliva. Because the vaginal naughty list is so long it is easier for me to just to recommend my two favorite lubricants: Good Clean Love and Lola. Moreover it is super important to urinate after sex to flush out any bacteria. My last bit of sex advice, be aware where hands and toys have been before you let them in.
UTI Action Plan
Again blame anatomy and enjoying life but UTIs do happen even to the healthiest of vaginas. Thats why it is good to have a UTI action plan in place. Often if we catch the symptoms of increased frequency and urgency early enough all we actually need is to drink water to clear a UTI. Drinking large amounts of water at the first signs and symptoms can be enough to flush out at UTI. If this is not enough, I recommend that my patients take a formulated product of d-mannose, cranberry, uva ursi, goldenrod and golden seal frequently over the course of 2-3 days. Though rarely necessary, if symptoms still persist after a 3 day then it is time to move on to antibiotics. Remember the real danger of a UTI is the risk of kidney infection and UTIs that persist longer than 3 days run the risk of traveling to the kidneys.
Want to get off the UTI cycle? Then schedule a naturopathic appointment with Dr Ivy.