If you’ve experienced a urinary tract infection (UTI), well, you understand there’s a reason the acronym rhymes with “cry.” You sit on the toilet darn near blubbering because you can’t pee but you feel like you have to-oh how you feel like you have to! And when/if you do manage to get a little out, it burns with the fire of ten thousand suns. Then you go about your day crunched over and cramping and absolutely miserable. So, when that happens, here are some of the best home remedies that should help.
Drink a lot of water
This may not sound like the most extraordinary remedy, but it is one of the most important things you can do when you have a UTI. It can help flush out bacteria, and (almost) more importantly, it gives you something to actually push out when you pee! A lot of home remedies for urinary tract infections are drinks because you should always be flushing fluid through your system to give it a helping hand in getting rid of the nasty bacteria.
Go pee!
It may sound obvious, but when you need to pee-UTI or not- do it! If you hold it in, you increase the chance that bacteria will develop and multiply and cause an infection. If you do have a UTI, every time you pee you get out a little bit more of that bacteria. Even though it can be uncomfortable, peeing every chance you get is a vital part of recovering.
Enjoy parsley water
Aside from the fact that it makes a wonderfully refreshing after dinner drink, parsley water can help relieve a urinary tract infection and speed up the healing process by acting as a diuretic. Diuretics are used to treat a number of problems, and work by increasing the amount of sodium your kidneys excrete in urine. When they excrete sodium, they take water along with it, and the amount of fluid in your blood goes down.
Drink soda
No, not soda as in a sugary soft drink, soda as in baking soda, that miraculous substance that can help anything from heartburn to, of course, UTI’s. Baking soda is an alkaline substance-the opposite of acidic-which means it can help neutralize or lessen the acidity of your urine. If you find yourself resisting the urge to pee because of a burning sensation, baking soda can help ease the discomfort.
Chew some celery seeds
Celery seeds also act as a diuretic, due mainly to one of the constituents of celery oil, butylphthalide. If parsley water just isn’t your thing, chewing a handful of celery seeds can help increase the production of urine. If you want to get some more fluid, make celery seed water (follow the method for dried parsley.)
Eat cucumbers
This is an easy one for me-I love cucumbers! I don’t know why, but they’re one of my favorite snacks. While other kids at lunch were busy swapping candy bars, I was eyeing the cucumber slices. Thanks to their high water content, cucumbers are a great way to get to get extra fluid through your system when you find yourself having a hard time drinking enough water.
Ginger tea
No list dealing with any condition that involved any kind of inflammation would be complete without ginger. Its chemical make-up allows it to block prostaglandin synthesis, a process which creates little messengers (aptly called prostaglandins.) Prostaglandins communicate about a variety of biological processes, such as inflammation. They also transmit pain signals to neurons. It can therefore help to prevent inflammation, reduce current inflammation, and reduce pain. This is the same process that OTC anti-inflammatory medications-just without all the nasty side-effects!
Urinary tract infections are some of the most frequent clinical bacterial infections in women, accounting for nearly 25 percent of all infections. More than 50 percent of women will develop a UTI and UTI symptoms in their lifetimes, and because antibiotics are the most common conventional treatment for UTIs, bacteria have become antibiotic-resistant and recurring infections are a major concern. For this reason, it’s important to use home remedies for UTIs that eliminate bacteria completely and reduce the risk of developing recurrent urinary tract infections.
