Bladder Infection Remedies

Each year, millions of women complain about bladder infections, also known as urinary tract infections. This is a painful infection that comes from E. coli bacteria in the urinary tract, and can be recurrent for many women. Bladder infections are most often recognized by a variety of symptoms, such as frequent urination with little volume at a time, painful urination, cloudy or dark urine and, in some cases, blood when voiding. If left untreated the symptoms will worsen and the infection can spread.

Treatment

• Bladder infections should be treated immediately since they can spread and worsen if left untreated. There are a variety of ways to treat bladder infections, which range from herbal and holistic remedies to pharmaceutical drugs. Depending on the person and type of infection, numerous remedies will work. You and your healthcare provider should discuss the best course of treatment for your specific condition.

Medical Remedies

• If you subscribe to western medicine, you may feel most comfortable using the doctor-preferred antibiotic treatment. There are a variety of antibiotics that will work to cure a urinary tract infection, and your healthcare provider can prescribe the kind that will likely be most effective for your condition. Your doctor may also prescribe an analgesic, which is a numbing medication that will take away some of the pain during urination until the antibiotics take effect. Typically symptoms will go away within a few days, but the entire dose of antibiotic must be taken in order to assure the infection is completely gone.

  Common antibiotics for bladder infections include Amoxicillin, Nitrofurantoin, Ciprofloxacin, Levofloxacin, and Sulfamethoxazole-trimethoprim. Each of these antibiotics carry different side effects and drug interactions, so make sure to inform your doctor of any other medications you are taking as well as any known drug allgergies. The downside to taking antibiotics for recurrent bladder infections is that your body will eventually become immune to them, and make subsequent urinary tract infections more difficult to treat.

Holistic Remedies

• If you want to stay away from the pharmaceutical treatments there are a variety of holistic and home remedies that can help with bladder infections. These treatments do not include the use of pharmaceutical drugs and can be used in combination with one another to speed up recovery. Because natural remedies do not carry the risk of your body becoming immune to their effects, they can be used whenever a bladder infection arises, and theoretically they will be equally effective for each use. Acupuncture, pelvic floor treatments and exercises, massage and biofeedback are some of the things you can do to help ease the symptoms of a bladder infection.

  There are also a variety of natural herbs and nutritional supplements that can act in similar ways to antibiotics by not allowing the infection to spread any further. Your body can handle up to approximately 1,000 mg of vitamin C spread out over the course of the day, and can help make your urine acidic to the point where bacteria cannot survive. Because this is more than the recommended daily dose of vitamin C, you should contact your physician before consuming this. Other herbal remedies include, but are not limited to juniper, marshmallow root, sandalwood and parsley. These herbs offer a variety of benefits, including diuretics, antiseptics and anti-inflammatories.