So How Can Acupressure Treat A Uti
After extensive research and several discussions with different acupuncturists, I discovered and learned about many acupoints that were spread all over the body. Each acupoint was associated with a meridian or a pathway that was linked with an organ. I found out the right pressure points that were supposed to treat my UTI and learned how to perform acupressure at home.
Basically, its a massage technique in which you have to apply pressure with your fingers or thumb on pressure points, and thats all. The best part about this natural therapy is free from any side effects, unlike conventional medicine.
It helps strengthen the urinary tract area and boosts the immune system to provide relief from UTI.
In TCM, most UTIs are regarded as a damp-heat present in the lower jiao. To treat damp-heat in the lower jiao, TCM uses acupoints for urinary tract infection clear heat, dispel dampness, and promote urination.
The lower jiao is part of the San Jiao meridian and is compared to a draining ditch because it transforms, separates, and excretes fluids. The lower jiao is the area below the navel. In TCM, it contains the kidney and liver and the urinary bladder. When this lower jiao does not work properly, it develops a damp heat in the body, which results in painful and burning urination.
Avoid Scented Soaps And Hygiene Products
While scented personal care products may smell good, the truth is that these fragrances can irritate your urinary tract and upset the delicate pH balance in your body, increasing your likelihood of developing an infection.
To avoid a UTI, stay away from scented body washes, lotions, douches, and feminine hygiene products. Instead, reach for mild or unscented soaps and choose products made from all-natural ingredients to avoid harsh chemicals that may irritate your body.
Dealing With Uti Post Covid: Tips To Prevent The Infection
- Post Covid, a lot of patients are complaining of urinary tract infection due to steroid use and uncontrolled diabetes. Doctor gives tips to prevent the infection.
Do you feel a burning sensation or pain while passing urine? You may be suffering from urinary tract infection which is on rise especially among post Covid patients. UTI, which is an infection of urinary system, is more common in women than men. UTI can affect kidneys, ureters, bladder, or urethra.
UTI in Covid patients may be due to inflammation caused by the infection in the urinary tract. It is also affecting people post Covid, especially those who were on steroids or suffered from uncontrolled diabetes during their treatment.
Dr Tarun Jain, Urologist, Apollo Spectra Mumbai opens up on the symptoms of UTI that should alert people to take medical advice.
Pelvic and abdominal pain
Nausea and vomiting
Dr. Jain says that Covid patients may be developing UTI due to steroid treatment and uncontrolled diabetes. He adds that females who have received steroids and males who had been catheterised during the treatment for Covid are at risk. “Also, the widespread use of antibiotics coupled with steroids has resulted in fungal UTI which was a rare condition otherwise,” says Dr. Jain.
He warns that UTI if not handled right could lead to inflammation of kidneys or sepsis. He also suggests lifestyle modifications to avoid getting UTI:
Tips to tackle UTI
Do not hold urine for an extended period of time.
Also Check: How Does Someone Get A Urinary Tract Infection
Contact Doctor Within 24 Hours
- Blood in urine and new onset since starting antibiotic
- Taking antibiotic more than 24 hours, and pain with passing urine is severe.
- Taking antibiotic more than 48 hours and fever still there or comes back
- Taking antibiotic more than 3 days and pain not better
- You think your child needs to be seen, but the problem is not urgent
Tips To Help Prevent A Urinary Tract Infection
References:
Recommended Reading: Foods For Healthy Urinary Tract
A Pharmacist Can Help With Utis
You can ask a pharmacist about treatments for a UTI. A pharmacist can:
- offer advice on things that can help you get better
- suggest the best painkiller to take
- tell you if you need to see a GP about your symptoms
Some pharmacies offer a UTI management service and can prescribe antibiotics if they’re needed.
What Is A Urinary Tract Infection
A urinary tract infection, or UTI, is an infection in any part of your urinary system, which includes your kidneys, bladder, ureters, and urethra.
If you’re a woman, your chance of getting a urinary tract infection is high. Some experts rank your lifetime risk of getting one as high as 1 in 2, with many women having repeat infections, sometimes for years. About 1 in 10 men will get a UTI in their lifetime.
Here’s how to handle UTIs and how to make it less likely you’ll get one in the first place.
The symptoms of a UTI can include:
- A burning feeling when you pee
- A frequent or intense urge to pee, even though little comes out when you do
- Cloudy, dark, bloody, or strange-smelling pee
- Feeling tired or shaky
- Fever or chills
- Pain or pressure in your back or lower abdomen
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Who Gets Urinary Tract Infections
Anyone can get a urinary tract infection, but they are more common in women. This is because the urethra in females is shorter and closer to the anus, where E. coli bacteria are common. Older adults also are at higher risk for developing cystitis. This increased risk may be due to incomplete emptying of the bladder. There are several medical conditions that can be related to this, including an enlarged prostate or a bladder prolapse .
If you get frequent urinary tract infections, your healthcare provider may do tests to check for other health problems such as diabetes or an abnormal urinary systemthat may be contributing to your infections. People with frequent UTIs are occasionally given low-dose antibiotics for a period of time to prevent the infection from coming back. This cautious approach to treating frequent UTIs is because your body can develop a resistance to the antibiotic and you can get other types of infections, such as C. diff colitis. This practice is used very infrequently.
I Refused To Accept Utis As My Future
Its not in my nature to learn to deal with something that I know shouldnt be. There is no way my body is built to crumble at the first hint of sex, or fatigue, or dehydration. Ive always been stronger than that.
Im pretty good at knowing exactly what is happening in my body and when. Ive accurately diagnosed myself with injuries that have taken years to show up in scans. Im my very own body whisperer.
So when this happened, it was a virtual kick in the guts, or more specifically, the bladder.
Getting a UTI every few weeks or months doesnt give you much breathing room to feel human. To get things done.
There is a constant shadow hanging over you. Restaurant and bar reconnaissance isnt about people anymore. Its about toilets. You learn to scope out any venue for its bathrooms. At any given moment, I could tell you where the nearest public toilet was.
I never went anywhere without a remedy in my bag. For me, that meant carrying antibiotics 24 hours a day.
Holiday planning came with underlying anxiety, and relationships dont even get me started on how recurrent urinary tract infections impact those.
Too late Im on a roll.
Read Also: Severe Urinary Tract Infection Symptoms In Elderly
What To Do With Recurrent Utis
- Drink lots of water this helps flush the bacteria out of the bladder. The normal recommended fluid intake is 1.5 to 2 L per day
There is no published advice on how much to drink. However, in the short term, just use your common sense and keep drinking. If your symptoms persist seek help.
- Relieve pain Take some pain relief such as paracetamol or ibuprofen .
- Cranberry juice may not help Unfortunately, research suggests that drinking cranberry juice is not effective for treating acute UTIs.
- Urine alkalinisation You can add ½ to 1 tsp of baking powder to a glass of water and drink this periodically throughout the day . This will raise your urine pH and make the urine less painful when you pee. Only do this a short term measure too much can be harmful. Do not delay getting medical help
- Peeing in the bath Some women may find it easier to pass urine is a warm bath.
- Dont take any left-over antibiotics Or anything given to you by anyone else.
- Self-start regime agreed by your GP You may have already agreed with your GP that if you had further symptoms, you would do a mid-stream urine specimen immediately, take it to the GP surgery and start your antibiotics right away.
Foods Rich In Vitamin C
You should eat more foods that are rich in vitamin C. Usually, you can find them in citrus fruits, but there are also a variety of vegetables that contain high amounts of vitamin C such as bell peppers, kale, broccoli, snow peas, and Brussels sprouts. Vitamin C is effective in preventing the growth of harmful bacteria in the urinary tract because it makes your urine more acidic. Vitamin C also strengthens your immune system and fights the growth of E.Coli bacteria, which is the usual cause of urinary tract infection. According to some doctors, taking vitamin C supplements can help women who already have urinary tract infection. A study in 2007 showed that pregnant women who took 100 mg of vitamin C for 3 months were able to reduce their infections and improve their overall health. Read more Vitamin C Deficiency? Top 10 Vitamin C Foods You Have to Try Before Supplements
Recommended Reading: Azithromycin For Urinary Tract Infection
Flush Bacteria Out With Cranberry Juice
Cranberry contains a phytochemical known as tannin, which reduces vaginal colonization of E. coli.6 It is high in vitamin C, and drinking its unsweetened juice flushes out bacteria from your urinary system and reduces recurrent UTIs.7
Note Of Caution: If you are on medication, consult your doctor before drinking cranberry juice as it interferes with certain types of medication, especially blood thinners.8
One of the active ingredients of cranberry is D-mannose, a type of sugar that prevents UTIs.9 Since you have to consume an excess of cranberry juice to have enough D-mannose in your system to fight UTIs, you can also go for D-mannose supplements. It is considered safe for most adults, but you should avoid taking it if you are pregnant or breastfeeding.
Know The Risk Factors For Developing Utis
Risk factors for developing an uncomplicated UTI include sexual intercourse, use of spermicide, a new sexual partner, a mother with a history of UTI, and a history of UTI during childhood.1
Factors associated with complicated UTIs include structural abnormalities or malformations of the urinary tract, obstructive pathology such as urinary tract calculi, prostatic hyperplasia and incomplete emptying of the bladder, pregnancy, an oestrogen-deficient state in women, dehydration, diabetes and other immunosuppressive conditions.1 Men, those with renal insufficiency, and the debilitated elderly are considered special groups.2
Read Also: Can Apple Cider Vinegar Help With Urinary Tract Infections
Why Tracking Your Symptoms Can Help
Now, I dont know about you, but I love a good spreadsheet. And its amazing how much more fulfilling a health regimen can be when you plot it out, then mark off your progress daily. Feels so goooood.
I downloaded a counter on my phone to track how many days since my last UTI at the very least I would see how long I could last between episodes.
Every morning I woke up and looked at my counter. After 30 days I started to feel my first glimmer of hope. I was still getting twinges and minor symptoms, but nothing I couldnt handle.
My first milestone came around that time, when I went hiking with my partner. Without a map, without a compass, and without enough water. We got lost. We were out there for 10 hours and I was dehydrated.
But I didnt get a UTI. And I didnt even think about it until I was home safe again. That alone blew my mind. This thing that had been my focus for four years had somehow become an afterthought.
The counter kept going up. 45 days, 60 days, 90 days since a UTI. I suddenly felt like declaring myself officially healed of recurrent UTIs at the six month point might not be so far-fetched.
Sometime, around three months in, I had a relapse of symptoms and upped some elements of my regimen in response. That UTI never happened and my count remained intact.
Six months came and went and I set my sights on a year UTI free.
Amazingly, my UTI regimen also cleared up my yeast infections. Four years later, Ive not had even the slightest hint of one returning.
Additional Treatments To Prevent Recurrent Utis
There are various alternative approaches to managing women with recurrent UTIs, but these are all options for which some benefit has been reported, but more research is needed. You may want to discuss these with your specialist.
- Methenamine A 2012 Cochrane data review conducted a review of clinical trials since 1980 and concluded the use of methenamine may have some benefit for preventing UTIs in the short term for patients without any abnormality of the renal tract. It is also licensed for use to treat asymptomatic bacteriuria.
Methenamine is an antibiotic, which although generally safe, should not be used with sulphonamides such as trimethoprim, and is not suitable in pregnancy, breastfeeding, or for people with kidney disease. The dose is 1g twice a day.
- D-mannose This is a sugar found in fruits such as berries, notably cranberries, also peaches and tomatoes, for example.
When bacteria invade the bladder wall, they stick to the surface epithelium with special filaments called type-1 pilli. They then form a biofilm within the bladder. D-mannose interrupts the adhesion of these pilli to the bladder wall.
The journal World Journal of Urology reported a small, 2014 study, of 98 women with recurrent UTIs, randomised to take either the antibiotic, nitrofurantoin 50 mg/day, D-mannose 2g in 200ml water/day, or no prophylaxis, for 6 months.
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Drink Plenty Of Water
Staying hydrated and drinking as much water as possible can help keep your urinary tract healthy. According to research, regularly drinking at least six 8-ounce glasses of water each day can significantly cut your risk of getting a UTI. And, if youre someone who experiences recurrent UTIs, you may need to drink even more water.
Of course, your urinary needs will depend on a number of factors, such as how much you sweat, how much you exercise, and your body composition, but a good goal is to drink enough water that your urine is clear or very pale yellow.
Other Urinary Tract Infection Home Remedies
- Effective tea: You can also rely on the following teas as urinary tract infection home remedies.
- Boil some watermelon seeds for tea and sip on them the get rid of infections in your kidneys and bladder. Other useful teas may include dandelion, uva ursi, and astragalus tea.
- Grapefruit seed extract: Drinking a few drops of this seed extract in water also reduces the infection.
- Garlic: Consider eating 3 cloves of garlic a day or taking the garlic capsules a day as a remedy for inflammation of the bladder
- Steep 4 teaspoons of marshmallow root in 8 cups of water overnight and drink throughout the next day to reduce burning sensations due to bladder infections.
- Aloe vera juice: Take some aloe vera juice in the morning and after your evening meals to reduce painful urination.
- Chestnut remedy: If you feel a frequent urge to urinate, chestnut is one of the urinary tract infection home remedies that can help you. Eat 3 fresh chestnuts before your breakfast and 3 after dinner for your treatment.
- Baking Soda remedy: Mix 1 teaspoon of baking soda in 1 cup of water and drink it 3 times a day to reduce urinary tract infection. However, read the instructions on the baking soda container carefully before using it.
Read Also: Does Cranberry Juice Clean Urinary Tract