Additionally, a number of common foods and drinks — artificial sweeteners, spicy foods, alcohol, coffee, acidic fruits, citrus, or caffeinated drinks — can irritate your bladder, and may worsen UTI symptoms — so you should steer clear of them if you have signs of a bladder infection.
Certain spicy foods can irritate the bladder. Instead, try sticking to a bland diet—like the “BRAT” diet—when you have a UTI. Citrus. Although they're high in immunity-boosting vitamin C, highly acidic fruits like oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruits can irritate your bladder and aggravate UTI symptoms.
These foods include cranberries, blueberries, oranges, dark chocolate, unsweetened probiotic yogurt, tomatoes, broccoli and spinach. Smart drink choices are decaf coffee; cranberry, blueberry, or pomegranate juices; and black and green tea. Of course, plenty of water is also essential when fighting off a UTI.
Water intoxication in a woman with a simple UTI
In the case of UTIs, drinking more water than usual has been shown to temporarily reduce the number of bacteria in urine, but the reasons for this remain unclear.
Treatment for UTIs
Your symptoms will normally pass within 3 to 5 days of starting treatment. Make sure you complete the whole course of antibiotics that you've been prescribed, even if you're feeling better. Over-the-counter pain relief such as paracetamol can help with any pain.
Bananas and other high-fiber foods can be good for urinary tract health and preventing urinary tract infections (UTIs) by encouraging regular bowel movements and relieving pressure on urine flow.
A UTI develops when microbes enter the urinary tract and cause infection. Bacteria are the most common cause of UTIs, although fungi rarely can also infect the urinary tract. E. coli bacteria, which live in the bowel, cause most UTIs.
Yogurt. Eating yogurt and other cultured dairy products (fermented with “good” bacteria) regularly may decrease the risk for urinary tract infections by up to 80%.
DO eat probiotics — plain Greek yogurt and fermented food such as sauerkraut and pickles. They contain “good” bacteria that can help keep the bad bacteria at bay. DON'T eat a lot of acidic fruit, such as oranges, lemons or limes during the infection. They can irritate your bladder.
DON'T skip doses or stop taking antibiotics before they're gone. DON'T have sex until fever and symptoms stop. DON'T hold your urine for long periods. DON'T drink caffeinated beverages or alcohol.
While you should get plenty of fluids, you need to stay away from alcohol. Alcoholic drinks can irritate the bladder and worsen the infection. DO NOT eat artificial sweetener. Even when you don't have a UTI, you should avoid artificial sweeteners.
Also rich in protein, eggs are on several lists as one of the "least bothersome" foods for bladder conditions.
Recurrent UTIs (RUTI) are mainly caused by reinfection by the same pathogen. Having frequent sexual intercourse is one of the greatest risk factors for RUTIs. In a subgroup of individuals with coexisting morbid conditions, complicated RUTIs can lead to upper tract infections or urosepsis.
UTIs usually require antibiotics to be treated, meaning you'll need to visit a healthcare provider. Telehealth services can make it easier to schedule an appointment. Getting started on your antibiotic right away and drinking plenty of water are some of the most important steps in helping to get rid of a UTI fast.
Girls can have vaginal infections for all sorts of reasons that have nothing to do with sexual contact — such as stress, for example. Even if you're not having intercourse, fingering and oral sex can lead to infection. Ask your boyfriend to wash his hands before touching your genitals.
Why cheese might lower the odds of amoxicillin-resistant UTIs is harder to state with confidence. A plausible answer put forward in the literature is that eating cheese helps to cultivate generally healthy gut microbiota, which in turn may make it hard for antibiotic-resistant bacteria to latch on and grow in the body.
Drink Plenty of Fluids to Flush Out Bacteria — But Don't Overdo It. Drinking plenty of water — six to eight glasses daily — can flush bacteria out of your urinary tract and help prevent bladder infections.
Lemon juice
It also acts as a diuretic agent that flushes out harmful toxins from the urinary tract thereby preventing the recurrence of UTI. To use this remedy, squeeze half a lemon in a glass of warm water and drink it in the morning to get rid of UTIs.
Simple bladder infections may go away on their own in about a week — even without antibiotics. If you don't have any symptoms of a kidney infection and you aren't pregnant or at high risk of developing complicated UTI, you may opt for a “wait-and-see” approach to antibiotic treatment.
For most cases, three to five days should be enough to treat a UTI. When prescribed antibiotics, it's best to take as instructed to finish the full dose, even if you feel better before you've completed the medication.
While some UTIs may go away without antibiotic treatment, Dr. Pitis cautions against foregoing antibiotics. “While it's possible for the body to clear a mild infection on its own in some cases, it can be very risky not to treat a confirmed UTI with antibiotics,” says Dr. Pitis.