Urinary tract infections (UTI’s) are usually caused by a bacteria called Escherichia coli (E. coli). The urethra, bladder, vagina and kidneys can all be affected.
UTI’s can be quite serious, especially if they spread to the kidney’s where they can lead to kidney damage and in the most severe instances, sepsis.
If you’re someone who suffers from recurrent UTI’s than keep reading, this is something that I see regularly in my clinic.
Unfortunately, with recurrent UTI’s usually comes recurrent courses of antibiotics. The issue with this is that the antibiotics, although great for killing the bacterial infection, also cause an abundance of collateral damage resulting in the beneficial flora also being wiped out.
Now why does this matter? Well, your beneficial flora is what keeps your defences in check. You could think of this as army troops holding up their end of the battle. When all of the beneficial bacteria are wiped out, there is no one left to keep the pathogenic bacteria at bay, hence they replicate, and the vicious cycle of reinfection occurs again.
So, what to do about it? As I mentioned, UTI’s are very serious and need to be handled promptly which often requires antibiotic therapy. But if you’re noticing recurrent infections, then what you do in the interim is just as important, to therefore change the environment, break the cycle, and prevent an infection from reoccurring.
A few therapeutics that work really well here are:
- Lactulose – Lactulose significantly suppresses the growth of E.coli. It also selectively feeds lactobacilli (the most dominant species of bacteria in the vaginal microbiome) which promotes the secretion of lactic acid, consequently reducing the pH of the ecosystem, and reinstating the troops for adequate defence.
- Probiotics – Specific probiotic strains have been clinically trialled and shown to be significantly effective at reducing the incidence of UTI’s. Probiotics work by changing the environmental conditions so that E.coli can’t survive. This allows time for the commensal flora to recover.
- Cranberry - inhibits bacterial adherence to the mucosal surfaces due to the effects of proanthocyanidins. Ascorbic acid and cranberry supplementation have both demonstrated an ability to reduce numbers and adherence of Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis.
- D-mannose – Works similar to cranberry in that it stops the bacteria from sticking to the urinary tract wall assisting with elimination.
- Garlic – Anti-bacterial action against E.coli and other common pathogenic strains of bacteria
- Arctostaphylos uva-ursi, commonly known as Bearberry – contains arbutin, which has been shown to kill bacteria in the urine
There you have it, if you want to stop the cycle of recurrent infections you need to
- Kill the offending overgrowth
- Change the environment
- And lastly, nurture your beneficial bacteria.