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December 29, 2015

Home Remedies: How to Beat Urinary Tract Infections with Over the Counter Supplements.

bathroom

It’s difficult to write this, but for an entire year I had chronic UTIs.

I’m not embarrassed about the affliction as much as I am embarrassed it went on for so long. The truth is, I’ve wanted to share this story. I don’t want what happened to me to happen to others. Once I broke the cycle, I realized how easily a UTI could be fixed, and I believe everyone should know how to do it.

For those who don’t know, UTI stands for urinary tract infection. These infections occur when E. coli makes its way into the urethra.

Each person who has a UTI experiences a different sensation. For me, I feel like I must go to the restroom one moment, but then when there, nothing comes out. It’s uncomfortable to the extreme and one of the absolute worst sensations I’ve ever felt.

During my year-long battle with UTI’s, the antibiotics were not fixing the problem. My symptoms would only go away for two to three weeks at a time before they came roaring back.

I realized that I would need alternative remedies to treat my infection. That’s when I decided to use over the counter supplements, and it worked! My UTIs were gone within days, and they never again came back.

These were the three supplements that helped me break the cycle.

Cranberry extract:
Most people know that cranberries help bladder infections, and they believe all they need to do is drink cranberry juice. (I’ve heard of women getting kidney infections by just drinking cranberry juice when they have a UTI, and they don’t know why that didn’t fix the problem). They do not realize how much organic, no-sugar added juice they’d need to drink for the infection to go away. It’s impossible on cranberry juice alone.

Instead of buying the juice, cranberry extract supplements will do the trick. When I was in the throws of a UTI, I would take three of these daily.

However, my UTIs could not be solved on this pill alone. I needed the extract supplemented with the two tablets below to successfully eradicate the chronic UTIs.

Probiotics:
I used a twelve-strain pro-biotic labeled: “Ultimate Probiotic: 12/12 formula.” Instead of an anti-biotic, it was essential that I take a pro-biotic to end my infections. It placed good bacteria in my system to help build my immune system during the contamination. For more information on the benefits of probiotics from a reputed source, click here.

Probiotics can be fairly expensive, which is the only downside. However, for me, they were an essential component when breaking my perpetual UTI’s.

D-Mannose:
Finally, I used D-mannose. This is a miracle pill. If you cannot afford all three, I highly suggest buying this supplement above the other two to be your treatment. This was the real kicker that got rid of my infections for good. It is supposed to get certain bacteria causing the problem to stop clinging to the urethra—and it really did.

For more information on D-Mannose and its health benefits, click here.

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From this experience, I tell any of my friends with a UTI to not solely rely on antibiotics. They are necessary for immediate treatment such as with a kidney infection, but for the most part, at home remedies will solve the problem more quickly and efficiently than prescribed antibiotics.

I hope my story has helped you, as well. I can’t believe it was a full year before I realized that the antibiotics were not solving the problem. If anything good can come from my experience, I hope it comes from this retelling. I do not want anyone to have to go through the torment that I myself went through with my year-long infections. I don’t want others to spend the amount of money that I did going from doctor to doctor.

All I want is for women to realize that there are ways to promote and maintain a healthy urinary tract, especially in times of infection, with at-home remedies. Antibiotics are not the end-all be-all treatment.

I hope this helped you, and that you will consider these remedies the next time you feel a UTI coming on.

Here’s to you, this story, and happy bladders all around! If this story was helpful, please leave a comment in the comment section. I would love to hear some feedback!

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Author: Brittany Ann Bandemer

Editor: Caroline Beaton

Image: Flickr/Karyn Christner

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