How to Remedy Bladder Infections

Have you been spending your time making your way to the bathroom? You need to go often, but when you try, not much happens? Five out of ten women will come down with a bladder infection at some point in their lives (Men get them, but it’s so rare that bladder infections are considered a primarily female affliction). Bladder infections are caused by bacteria known as E. Coil that take up residence in the vagina and consequently make their way to the urethra, the tube through which urine passes. In the vagina, the bacteria are no problem; trouble only starts when they enter the urinary tract. Medical professionals say bladder infections are really infections of the urine itself; the bacteria irritate the wall of the bladder, kind of like the bladder’s equivalent to bad sunburn.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Fluids
• Aspirin
• Hot bath
• Vitamin C

1. Drink lots of fluids is probably the best advice, for two reasons: comfort and health. Many of the women afflicted get a bladder infection and think; it only burns when I go to the bathroom. Leading them to the conclusion that they won’t have to go to the bathroom if they don’t drink, so they don’t – which is the absolute worst thing they can do. Drinking water will flush the bacteria out that are causing the burning inflammation, the sooner you drink; the sooner the pain will stop. One hint is that if your urine is clear you’re drinking enough, if it’s coloured, you’re not drinking enough.
2. Take a hot bath to help relieve the pain associated with a bladder infection, it’s not understood just yet why this will help, but a hot bath often seems to help where there’s inflammation.
3. Take an aspirin or acetaminophen; these are anti-inflammatories, and they reduce the inflammation in the bladder, and the less inflammation, the less burning.
4. Take about 1000 milligrams of vitamin C a day; this will acidify the urine enough to interfere with bacterial growth in the bladder. This is especially effective if you’re having reoccurring bladder infections or have a recurrence in the middle of nowhere without access to medical attention. Make sure to consult your doctor before starting on this advice, and make sure to tell him how much your taking, vitamin C is not toxic, but 1000 milligrams is a large dose and should be approved by a doctor.
5. Go to the bathroom before engaging in intercourse, a man’s penis can massage bacteria present in the opening of the urethra into the bladder. Voiding fluids can effectively rinse out the bladder. Data shows for certain that bladder infections occur more frequently in sexually active women and knowing how to protect themselves, by urinating before intercourse, will help.
6. If you use a diaphragm reconsider this option; diaphragms have been documented as major contributors to those who have stubborn, repeated bladder infections. Bacteria can colonize the diaphragm itself, which is then inserted deep into the vagina, and the diaphragm interferes with bladder emptying, which means that bacteria already there aren’t flushed out.
   If this is you, ask your physician about alternative birth control methods, other than the diaphragm.
7. Use pads instead of tampons. No one’s absolutely sure why certain women seem more susceptible to re-infection, but vaginal manipulation of some sort, sex, inserting the diaphragm, putting in a tampon, always seem to precede a bladder infection. Health professionals suggest that those patients experiencing chronic infection at the time of menstruation to quit using tampons and replace them with pads.
8. Practice good hygiene at all times during your life. Good hygiene means you wear cotton underwear that keeps you dry, avoiding tight pants that decrease ventilation, and most of all, keeping clean, but sensibly clean. Bathing to remove bacteria in the perinea region, between the vagina and rectum, helps to lessen the risk of repeated infection, but too much can be as bad as too little.
   The point is to be clean, but don’t obsess over it.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have blood in your urine immediately consult your doctor
• If you experience pain in the lower back or flank you should also immediately consult a physician
• If you have a fever this is a sign of something serious could be wrong and you should again consult a doctor
• If you feel nausea or vomiting a doctor should be consulted