UTI or cystitis ?

Potassium citrate always works, provides relief very quickly, not unpleasant to take mixed with cold water.

The Lady Soma Cranberry Concentrate tablets is the ONLY product that seems to halt cystitis in its tracks before it becomes unbearable & I have found over the years that if I use it as soon as the first symptoms of an attack appear, I have no need of antibiotics. Unfortunately it is only available online at their website and on Amazon. but is definitely worth the shipping cost.

I had a rash of episodes a few years ago and had a couple of courses of antibiotics. Apparently the menopause is to blame!
Now I keep a pack of Cystopurin and at the first sign of cystitis I start taking it and it works quickly.

I used to wonder what all the fuss was about ... now I know! Damn torture!

I've been taking d Mannose [sp] on the run up to my sons wedding as I didn't want to risk having another infection on the day. Have been having one teaspoon in water last thing at night. I'll probably stop taking it now that the wedding is over but am going to keep some for future use. I am worried about having another UTI though as they will have to investigate further if I do.

Good advice re cranberries Badenkate and there's no good scientific evidence that they help preventing or treating cystitis. Loaded with sugar too.

Sympathy to all who suffer from this, but don't forget that cranberries are not recommended if you take warfarin

JessM I totally agree with you about cranberry juice and fluids. I have suffered from intermittent bouts of cystitis ever since adolescence and have looked at all the available evidence, hoping for a cure. Renal investigations were normal, and I have tried everything to prevent attacks. Only advice I've had which works is to always drink lots of fluid, try to ensure bladder empties properly when urinating (as someone has mentioned) especially after sex, and take one prescribed antibiotic after sex. This has made the condition manageable for many years, but sadly now I am older and more prone to UTIs as all the vital bits have started drying up, I have to be more careful. It's the wicked menopause fairy I blame. I wish women were less coy about discussing these problems - I don't mean Gransnetters!

I have had several attacks over the years - the most recent one about two months ago. Nothing but antibiotics works for me, but whereas I used to be prescribed a week's course, this time it was only three days. I also find that cranberry juice does help so I always keep it in. Horrible while it lasts though. And why does it always come on in the middle of the b****y night, so that you have to ring the out of hours service which in itself is a pain in the bum!

My OP was in 2014 Angelisindigo must have spent ages trawling the archives and resurrecting this thread

When I had this, many years ago, I was told to keep off tea and coffee, drink loads of water to flush the kidneys andfor any discomfort or itching, put natural yoghurt on a tampon and insert it into the vagina for an hour. It worked.

Sodium bicarbonate does help but not in orange juice I suffered and I mean suffered from the age of 18 when I became sexually active until 45 when I reached the menopause it ruined many parts of my life and has left me with a lifelong sensitive bladder or maybe a psychological one I always needed anti biotics it would come on in a minute literally Sodium bicarbonate can ease the harshness of the pain by helping to neutralising the urine but it won't cure it Mist pot cit does work I didn't know you could still get it it is foul and has put me off lemons for life Haha I ve only had it once since 45 till today

Reported.
If you do hae a UTI please don't mess about or waste time with quackery!!

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Sorry Tricia, realised you had already said that.

Persistent UTIs and discomfort / pain when walking can also be symptoms of vaginal atrophy.

The chemistry does not stack up Agus. You cannot add sodium bicarb to stomach acid and expect it to get through to the urine as sodium bicarb.
Just like when a midwife told my friend if she drank fizzy water the baby would get wind. How exactly did she think the bubbles were going to get into the milk???? !!!! Basic science failure. Medical people sometimes pick up bits of advice and repeat them without thinking it through.
Maybe the bicarb would be a good idea for bathing the other end.
Yes Rowntree that is the same link I posted previously and it is encouraging that there might be a new treatment. It does appear to be a well-conducted study with promising results. But we should note the term "pilot" which clearly signals that the authors recognise the limitations of their study. It needs to be replicated with a larger sample size - to check that another team get the same results. Science is littered with examples of findings that cannot be replicated if the experiment is repeated.
They were presumably guessing at the dosage and other studies would be needed to check the best levels for either treatment or prevention.
Also the treatment appeared "safe" over a period of 22 weeks. We do not know if it is "safe" if taken for years - and with repeat UTIs people could potentially take it for years.
There are many examples of the supplement industry seizing on a single piece of research and marketing a product very heavily, and subsequent research invalidating the original research.

Final caution is that if you buy stuff over the internet you have no guarantees that:
it contains what it says on the tin
it only contains what it says in the tin (could be bulked up with something)
it is not contaminated
So if you are desperate and chose to give it a try I would say buy from the most reputable supplier you can and take breaks every couple of months to see if things have settled down now. Don't just self medicate for years.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/o/cochrane/clcentral/articles/070/CN-00988070/frame.html

Not sure if that link will work, but it's worth looking at - it's a study showing that d-mannose is effective in preventing recurrent UTIs.

If you do suffer from UTIs or similar symptoms, ask the pharmacist for a bottle of mist.pot.cit (potassium citrate) and keep some handy just in case. Even diluted it tastes horrible, but it works and is a lot cheaper than the over-the-counter granules like Cymalon and Cysto-purine.

The soda bicarb tip was in the Angela Kilmarten book that Rowantree mentioned earlier. I think it was a splash of orange juice to make it taste better combined with a lot of water over the next couple of hours. It certainly helped get rid of the pain.

Soda bic reduces acidity in the urine and alleviates stinging.

The orange juice mix was not a problem for me. If there is a chance it might be then mix the soda bic with water.

This advice was given to me by two gynacologists and I know from extremely painful experience, it does work.

sodium bicarbonate mixed with orange juice a strange notion - doesn't the acid in the orange juice interact chemically with the sodium bicarb. If not, stomach acid would. I can't see that this would do anything to change ph of urine? Or am i missing something.
No I am not.... just checked.... If you add sodium bicarb to stomach acid....
HCl + NaHCo3 gives you water, common salt and carbon dioxide (belch). This cannot possibly help, sorry.
Drinking lots of anything (other than alcohol) dilutes the urine and makes it less sting-y when you pass it, if your urethra is inflamed.
You don't need a diuretic - just a lot of water/tea/juice/milk or whatever.

The reason two triggers are coffee and tea is because they contain caffeine which contains tannic acid, an acid that can cause inflammation of the bladder.

Although a diuretic would help empty the bladder I think it might be possible to make matters worse by drinking tea Tricia

Agus - as you say, plus a strong cup of tea, which is a diuretic.

I was plagued with cystitis since the 70's, always given antibiotics then discovered that cranberry juice worked well for me. It's important to avoid alcohol, tea and coffee during an attack.

In case of an absolute emergency, 1 flat tsp of soda bic mixed with orange juice can give relief until it's possible to see a GP. No something to be done on a regular basis as it affects the blood.

There is no decent evidence to back the claims that cranberries can treat or prevent urinary infections. Such research as there is may be funded by the producers.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD001322/abstract
summaries.cochrane.org/CD001321/cranberries-for-preventing-urinary-tract-infections