Home Remedies
Now, for some this post may fall into the too much information category. But, if you are female, I suspect that it may contain useful information.
Like most every woman I occasionally experience a mild urinary tract infection. I know, icky, right? But, chances are you've had one and maybe even gone to the doctor for antibiotics to get rid of it if it was bad enough. Well, last week I got a bad one. Worse than I've had before. As it was a day or two before my period I decided to see if between that and drinking lots and lots of water if that would clear it up. It didn't. So I trundled off to the health food store and bought come cranberry supplements and started taking those, all the while drinking gallons of water. When, after a day of drenching my body with cranberry-tinted water to no results but increased trips to the bathroom to rid myself of said water, I turned to the Internets for an answer. (I have cheap health insurance and they don't cover drugs so I'm loath to go to my doctor if I suspect it'll cost more than a co-pay.)
I discovered baking soda. Baking Soda! Did you know that there are dosage instructions on the side of the box? I didn't, and I always have baking soda around. Well, drinking 1/2 tsp of baking soda in 4 oz of water 6-8 times a day for a few days did the trick! Amazing. It has to do with lowering the pH of your urine and killing off the infection that way. Who knew?! And it worked! Amazingly and effectively, it worked.
The one downside to the baking soda cure is the taste. It is salty and kind of gross. It is not dissimilar to drinking sea water which, since I've grown up surrounded by ocean, is something that I've been trained not to do. It is strange and icky but not intolerable. And, since I didn't have to buy antibiotics at market price, totally worth it.
Like most every woman I occasionally experience a mild urinary tract infection. I know, icky, right? But, chances are you've had one and maybe even gone to the doctor for antibiotics to get rid of it if it was bad enough. Well, last week I got a bad one. Worse than I've had before. As it was a day or two before my period I decided to see if between that and drinking lots and lots of water if that would clear it up. It didn't. So I trundled off to the health food store and bought come cranberry supplements and started taking those, all the while drinking gallons of water. When, after a day of drenching my body with cranberry-tinted water to no results but increased trips to the bathroom to rid myself of said water, I turned to the Internets for an answer. (I have cheap health insurance and they don't cover drugs so I'm loath to go to my doctor if I suspect it'll cost more than a co-pay.)
I discovered baking soda. Baking Soda! Did you know that there are dosage instructions on the side of the box? I didn't, and I always have baking soda around. Well, drinking 1/2 tsp of baking soda in 4 oz of water 6-8 times a day for a few days did the trick! Amazing. It has to do with lowering the pH of your urine and killing off the infection that way. Who knew?! And it worked! Amazingly and effectively, it worked.
The one downside to the baking soda cure is the taste. It is salty and kind of gross. It is not dissimilar to drinking sea water which, since I've grown up surrounded by ocean, is something that I've been trained not to do. It is strange and icky but not intolerable. And, since I didn't have to buy antibiotics at market price, totally worth it.