Natural Remedy for a Urinary Tract Infection

There are ways to help heal yourself when you have or often get Urinary Tract infections. Natural healing is one of the fastest growing phenomena in this day and age. New age healing and natural health along with new schools offering degrees in homeopathic healing will be the wave of the future and the suggestions given in this article are just a tip of the iceberg.

What is a urinary tract infection?

• A urinary tract infection, often called a UTI, is an infection that starts in your urinary system. This system includes your bladder, kidneys, the ureters and the urethra (the tubes that carry urine from the kidney to the bladder and then from the bladder out of your body). If not treated, the urinary tract infection can spread rather quickly to one's kidney and cause major problems which will most likely lead you to a hospital stay, in some cases, much worse.

How do you know you have a urinary tract infection?

• To know if you have a urinary tract infection you will often have some burning or pain when you are urinating. You may feel the need to urinate quite often and the quantity may decrease. You may also find that your urine could take on a cloudy look that smells foul or at other times you may see blood in your urine.

Warnings on the seriousness of your Urinary tract infection

• If you feel any pressure in your abdomen or pain in the same region, you start having a fever, nausea or vomiting while having any of the above symptoms, your urinary tract infection has already spread to your kidneys and you must seek medical attention immediately. This is a very serious matter if the UTI gets this far into its advancement and must be treated by knowledgeable physicians.

Treating Urinary Tract Infections; Cranberries

• Treating UTI's in its beginning stages, can be done with many different holistic or natural remedies which are fairly inexpensive treatments. Some of those treatments are: Using cranberry juice, blueberries and the herb Goldenseal.
  Cranberries have been used to help treat urinary tract infections for a very long time. It is thought that partaking cranberries into your natural diet helps prevent the bacteria E-Coli from attaching to the bladder walls, which is the main cause of many UTI's. You can take advantage of the powerful cranberry by drinking 10 ounces a day or taking 2 capsules a day of 400 mg. Once you have the cranberry in your system, if you continue to take the remedy, you can notice less frequent or a disappearance of UTI's altogether.

Blueberries and Goldenseal; alternative ideas

• Blueberries, like cranberries, are a fruit that can help prevent UTI's and help clear them up when they occur. Blueberries, which are similar to the cranberry, can possibly help to keep potentially harmful bacteria from attaching to the bladder lining.
  Goldenseal is an herb that can help prevent and treat UTI's. Although there have not been studies to prove this type of treatment, it has been known to contain an alkaloid, berberine, which can, like the cranberries and the blueberries, to keep bacteria from adhering to the bladder walls.

Natural ways to help you feel better

• Some other ways you can help treat a UTI or to get some relief from the discomforts of UTI's is: Take some kind of pain killer (like Tylenol or Advil), soak in a warm bath (using no kind of soaps or bubbles, just hot water), take a hot shower (which is advised more than the bath, but baths are often a better comfort), drink at least 8 glasses of water throughout your day, use a heating pad or hot water bottle to help ease the pain in your abdomen, avoid high sugar foods and eat live yogurt. You can also use cotton underwear, avoid pantyhose and any other type of tight fitting clothes, keep from using any type of products with perfume in it anywhere near the vaginal area, eat more fresh fruits and vegetables and take a dose (as instructed on the bottle) of Vitamin C every day.