Comments on: How to Treat a Bladder Infection

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.

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).

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!

on 8/8/2006 I treated my urine infection by taking six cranberry tablets (two at a time) and drinking as much water as I could take. I actually sat with a big bottle of water and kept sipping it and urinating. I saw after about a couple of hours that the urine was absolutely full of mucous and blood. I went to the doctors who took the usual test and it came back saying that it looked as if there had been an infection, but nothing was growing there as it would if the infection was still there. I cured myself in a few hours and verified the cure with a lab test. I am a big fan of cranberry pills and water now as I have suffered for a long time with bouts of cystitis.
I feel so much happier if I don't have to take anti biotics on a regular basis.

on 11/22/2005 Put a tablespoon of baking soda in 10 ounces of water. Then drink 10 ounces of water (with nothing in it) every 20 minutes. Then, every full hour do the baking soda mixture and regular water in between. Do this for 3 hours and you will be relieved!

on 11/22/2005 Take the Cystex tablets sold in any drugstore. It is an antibacterial and also an analgesic. Cranberry juice alone will not get rid of the infection! I have found that taking the cranberry concentrate pills you can get at any health food store (much more effective than just juice) together with the Cystex tablets is the fastest remedy. Cystex kills the bacteria while the cranberry concentrate pills helps to wash them out of your bladder. Be sure to drink lots of water with both as well (as much as you can tolerate drinking). This worked for me and is your best bet to cure yourself without an expensive doctors visit.

on 11/22/2005 Take cranberry pills every day, and always urinate before and after intercourse.

on 11/22/2005 I usually buy the cranberry tablets. It is so much easier than trying to drink it all of the time. I would also recommend Uristate. It may not get rid of the infection itself, but it will take the pain away in the meantime.

on 10/1/2007 To treat a mild infection, pick up some cranberry extract pills at the local grocery/health food store and take them according to directions. To supplement them, try to drink 8 glasses of cranberry juice until the infection has been gone a few days. Pure cranberry juice is VERY tart and undrinkable, so get the cranberry cocktails with the highest percentage of juice you can find.

on 7/22/2007 I've been able to cure my bladder infections with nothing more than lots of cranberry juice. The 100% pure cranberry juice is a bit hard to drink, so I just look for the juice "cocktail" because they have other things mixed in for sweetness. They do have 100% juice cocktails, so don't get Ocean Spray, which only has something like 29%. Drink as much as you can stomach every day, and the infection should be gone in a couple days.

on 11/22/2005 If you are tired like me of taking medications, you can try the natural approach. Wiping Chamomile herbal tea over your genital area will also wipe out the infection. This will take about one day longer to cure then the medication, but mine has NEVER returned. Sometimes natural is better. Goodluck.

on 11/22/2005 Go to the toilet to urinate as soon as possible after intercourse. This flushes out any infection-causing bacteria that might have been moved to your urethra.