Urinary tract infections, or UTIs, impact the lives of roughly 50-60% of women at some point during their lifetime. The sheer frequency of these, often, recurring UTIs necessitates proper UTI prevention. Caused by unwanted bacteria in the urinary tract, these infections cause nearly constant discomfort. What’s more, they pose a significant health risk and have the potential to successfully travel to the kidneys or bladder to inflict further damage.
Women experiencing a UTI often report burning, itching, and/or pain when urinating and also cite an increased frequency to urinate throughout the day. UTIs can be the result of a complex intersection of factors, ranging from gender to age to diagnosable health conditions. Unfortunately, women are simply more susceptible to the occasional UTI than are men, due to contrasting lengths of each gender’s urethras. Luckily, many women have found solace in utilizing probiotics that restore balance in their bodies and succeed in
Treating UTIs
UTIs can be caused by improper wiping techniques (aka wiping back to front), as well as infrequent urination after sexual intercourse. However, many women find themselves susceptible to UTIs regardless of their preventative strategies. In these cases, Austin urologist will recommend a few common methods to deal with urinary tract infections that make an unexpected appearance.
Cranberry juice
If you’ve ever dealt with a UTI, chances are high that your doctor recommended drinking a good amount of cranberry juice. While some believe this age-old classic is yet another medical myth, cranberries have been scientifically proven to contain proanthocyanidins that help prevent the harmful bacteria associated with UTIs from spreading to your bladder or kidney.
Aside from their UTI-fighting properties, cranberries are known to have numerous other health benefits, as well, including boosting heart health and combatting kidney problems. Regularly consuming cranberry juice or incorporating a supplement with cranberry extract should be a top priority for any of these vulnerable populations.
Stay hydrated
Those prone to UTIs also benefit from staying hydrated. This can be difficult if your lifestyle includes frequent travel, back-to-back meetings, or caring for multiple children. However, there are many ways to purify drinking water on-the-go in order to stay hydrated and avoid UTIs.
For many women and vulnerable populations, staying hydrated also means cutting back on substances that are dehydrating, such as consuming caffeine and/or alcohol. Not only does alcohol deplete moisture in the body but can impose its own damage to the kidneys, as part of the urinary tract system. Overall, it’s important to regulate your intake of these substances, especially if you are actively experiencing a flare-up of UTI symptoms.
Probiotics for UTIs
Despite these home remedies available to UTI-sufferers, many women find the lifestyle requirements necessary to avoid frequent UTIs to be restrictive or ineffective. For women who frequently experience UTIs, regardless of the preventative measures they adopt, probiotics offer a unique solution.
Probiotics are developed with beneficial bacteria that balance your body’s natural bacterial ecosystem. This means counteracting bad bacteria with good and effectively restoring your body’s natural bacterial balance. Ingesting good bacteria will actively fight the bad bacteria that threaten your body during a UTI.
Many women who are prone to UTIs will find this difficult to conquer their back-to-back UTIs without the assistance of probiotics. Taking a small number of probiotics daily offers a simple solution for UTI reduction. With a single pill, a UTI-sufferer can escape the versions of their daily lives defined by chronic pain and discomfort.
While probiotics are often taken in order to promote digestive health, they also work to keep your heart healthy and can even lessen the impact of annoying allergies. No matter the purpose, incorporating probiotics into your daily life can be highly beneficial.
Probiotics vs. antibiotics
Doctors often prescribe antibiotics to those experiencing an active urinary tract infection. However, taking frequent rounds of antibiotics or continuously relying on antibiotics that are prescribed to be taken after every event of sexual intercourse can actually weaken your immune system.
Substituting antibiotics with probiotics is a great way to build up your immune system in a natural way, while still fighting off unwanted UTIs. Take your health into your own hands. Don’t let antibiotics dictate your course-of-action