Uva Ursi is an evergreen shrub of which the leaves have been used traditionally as a remedy for urinary tract infections. It is also known as bearberry.
It is traditionally used as a tea or tincture, but also available in capsule form. I have previously listed it in natural antibiotics, but today I would like to take a closer look at how it’s used and what evidence we have behind its usage.
D-mannose is one of those supplements often used for chronic urinary tract infections. While I’ve heard some very positive reviews about it, it never helped me back when I took it myself.
Therefore I wanted to examine the evidence behind D-mannose a bit closer to see how useful it actually is for those struggling with chronic UTIs.
I often use a hair tissue mineral analysis (HTMA) test as a cheap way of getting an idea of my client’s main mineral levels in the body.
One pattern that I often see is a high calcium level, along with lowered magnesium (as well as potassium and boron). I personally also had this pattern.
Not everyone with this pattern has bladder issues, but I do believe that high calcium levels together with lowered magnesium might contribute to them.
Vitamin C is probably the most well-known and studied vitamin. I’ve come to believe that it may also be one of the most important ones for people suffering from chronic bladder problems, which I’d like to explain in today’s post.
If you have interstitial cystitis (IC), you may have been told to stay clear of vitamin C supplements – a.k.a Ascorbic Acid. Why? Because as the name suggests, it is rather acidic and could therefore be rather uncomfortable when getting in contact with inflamed tissue. But fear not, I will explain how you can take it without the burn!
Hippocrates already said over 2000 years ago that ‘all disease begins in the gut’. Today, we’re understanding more and more how right he was.
For me personally, gut issues preceded the onset of chronic cystitis and interstitial cystitis. When my gut was at its worst, so was my bladder. I have no doubt that, similarly to many other conditions, the gut is implicated in bladder problems.
Hopefully you know by now that the bladder and urine is NOT sterile but houses a community of microbes, collectively known as the bladder microbiota. Until now, we have mostly spoken about bacteria and fungi in the bladder. But a recent study has shed light on another never-before-seen member of the microbiota: tiny viruses called phages.
Pharmacies usually sell ‘cystitis relief’ products designed to serve as a first aid for urinary tract infections. These preparations are designed to alkalize the urine.
Moreover, flushing through increased fluid intake is usually recommended.
I have previously recommended doing this as it is the common advice for cystitis relief before taking antibiotics.
Some people may well have success with this approach but is it scientifically validated?
When speaking about urinary tract infections, we usually speak about bacterial infections. Fungi (a.k.a yeasts or mold) are different organisms from bacteria and they can cause infections such as thrush in some parts of the body. Fungal infections in the vagina for example are a well-known condition. But can there also be fungal infections in the urinary tract?
Last week I had a look at how hormones affect the urinary tract. Changes in the female hormones oestrogen and progesterone and even the ‘male’ hormone testosterone appear to affect urinary tract symptoms.
Oral contraception affects hormone levels in the body and may therefore also affect urinary tract symptoms.
Other contraception may not affect hormones but may have an impact on the urinary tract in other ways.
Today I would like to take a look at what we know about different forms of contraception and bladder health.
Today I’d like to take a closer look at the role of hormones on bladder health. Hormones have been known for a while to play a role in lower urinary tract symptoms such as UTIs, interstitial cystitis and stress incontinence. Hormones may be the reason why women generally seem to be more prone to bladder problems than men and also why some symptoms may get worse at certain times of the month.