How to Treat a Bladder Infection

Bladder infections, sometimes knows as cystitis or UTIs (urinary tract infections), can cause painful urination and an urgent need to urinate. Bladder infections become serious once they spread to the kidneys, so early treatment is important.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Cotton Underwear
• Celery
• Cranberry Juice
• Parsleys
• Watermelons
• Acidophilus
• Vitamin C
• Vitamin C

1. Call your doctor and describe your symptoms. Depending on how acute your infection is, your doctor may want to see you or prescribe a short round of antibiotics.

2. Drink about a quart of pure cranberry juice per day (avoid juice drinks that are mostly sugar and water) or take cranberry capsules.

3. Drink plenty of other fluids. Try to drink at least one 8-ounce glass of water every hour.

4. Take Vitamin C every day (as directed) to acidify your urine. This helps to destroy bacteria. Take acidophilus to help regain normal bacterial flora in your body.

5. Avoid sexual intercourse while you have a bladder infection - it can exacerbate symptoms.

6. Limit intake of alcohol, caffeine and carbonated drinks, which can prolong symptoms.

Tips & Warnings

• Over-the-counter pain relievers are available specifically for urinary tract infections.
• Make sure to complete the full course of antibiotics if your doctor prescribes them.
• Taking acidophilus is especially important if you're taking antibiotics.
• Eating parsley, watermelon and celery can help cleanse your system.
• To relieve pain and irritation, wear cotton underwear, avoid nylons, and try taking a soothing hot sitz bath.
• If you also experience nausea, fever, chills, or back pain, call your doctor right away. You may have a kidney infection, which requires medical attention.
• Bladder infections are fairly common for women. When they occur in men, though, doctors recommend a more thorough medical evaluation.
• If symptoms persist or if you have specific medical conditions or concerns, we recommend you contact a physician. This information is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice or treatment.

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[herbieangel]

on 12/17/2007 Herbal remedy, UVA URSI. It comes in a liquid, dropper bottle. Found at health food stores. 30 drops in water, drinking the water all the time, cured my uti within that day. Careful with cranberry pills, they cause constipation. "Cran-bladder Releaf" also found at health food stores can be taken everyday for prevention. Pure UVA URSI should only be taken for 7 days.

[LynnCP]

on 11/30/2007 There's a website called usjuice.com where you can buy unsweetened cranberry juice powder. While ounce for ounce it's about as expensive as the 100% juice you'd buy in bottles at the health food store, it's certainly more store-able (you can buy the powder by the pound) and more portable, if you're traveling, etc. AND it doesn't taste bad. It's sort of boring, really. It's not sweet, but it lacks that tartness that makes the regular stuff undrink-able. You can always dilute either with water as well. The more water the better for infections anyway, so it won't hurt to dilute. The powder is good (and you can read more about it on the usjuice.com site) because it has the fewest preservatives of any cranberry alternative (well, aside from the capsules maybe, but those often don't contain much cranberry extract anyway).

[Susie2005]

on 1/9/2008 ive been suffering with bladder pain more than 8 months, my urine and blood test are clean, my doctors arent doing much to help me, they gave me uristat, they are not trying to give me an antibotic, the pain is severe on my left side of my stomach! anyone know what i can do? my immune system is so weak now and im going know where with these doctors ):

on 1/28/2008 Taking cranberry pills to treat or avoid UTI is bad medicine. Medical studies (e.g. U of Alabama) find no therapeutic value from use of cranberry pills. UTIs can be very dangerous - if you have one, see a doctor so that the infection does not spread to other organs such as kidneys or liver, or to infect the blood, which can be deadly. These infections should be treated using the appropriate antibiotic only after the bacteria type has been identified through a culture. Cranberry pills used as a therapy to prevent UTI can have dire consequences. Cranberries contain oxalate and this substance is concentrated in cranberry pills and can cause more than a 40% increase in oxalate levels in the body. Increased oxalate levels contribute to kidney stone formation.

Bottom line: drink cranberry juice, which has indeed been found to be effective, to help prevent UTI, but see a doctor if you have one.

on 8/8/2006 The key is prevention, because once you have a full-blown infection, nothing but antibiotics will work. At the very first sign (you feel a little odd in your bladder region, but it doesn't hurt or feel like you constantly have to pee yet), begin drinking lots and lots of water and mega dose on cranberry concentrate pills (found at drugstores--Target carries a concentrated pill by Origin which is much more potent than most). Take a large amount of these pills. I've gone so far as to take almost half a bottle in one day (when I thought an infection was starting) and no adverse side effects have cropped up. If you worsen, get to your doctor for antibiotics--the longer you wait, the worse it'll get. Some doctors offices say that Uristat interferes with the urinalysis, but if it truly gets unbearable, take the Uristat --I've taken the urinalysis with this drug and the doctor didn't complain Uristat alleviates the constant need to pee and the pain--be aware, it also colors your urine bright orange and can stain underwear. Cystex is another product that says it helps with burning and painful urination, and also has an antibiotic to control infection until you get to the doctor--I haven't tried it yet, but it doesn't claim to help with the feeling of constantly needing to pee (which to me is the worst part). But I cannot stress enough how important it is to try to prevent these. If you are prone to them, take cranberry pills every day, drink lots of water, always urinate before and after sex (washing off the genitals after sex helps, too), wear cotton crotch underwear, and never hold your urine too long. Go when the urge strikes you. Waiting too long to pee can cause bacteria to multiply in the bladder. Good luck!