Help!!! How to prevent and treat kidney infections without antibiotics?

Please help me on this one. At the moment I am on a diet that restricts the intake of fruits with high calorie and high sugar. Normally I take cranberry juice to prevent and treat kidney or urine (water) infections or barley water. Can't find either in the shop nearby and don't want to have to take antibiotics. I feel sicker when I am off them so then to avoid them even if prescribed.
I'm drinking lots of water, to me I'm drinking enough but I live in a hot climate so maybe I'm not drinking enough. I sometimes take small lemon juice in my water to flavour it and help prevent constipation. I drink a cup of coffee a day, started last week. I don't know what to do right now and don't want to go to the doctors because it is over an hours drive, cos of high traffic, and there is a shortage of fuel so its hard to get petrol. Please help? I'm starting to crack up.

Find more posts tagged with

Replies

If you currently have a urinary tract infection, you need to see a doctor. There really isn't anything else to do. It's a bacterial infection that requires antibiotics. You will only need to take them for a week, so I don't see what the big deal is.

Go to a doctor before you cause yourself serious internal injury.

Cranberry Juice is really the one thing that I know works. However, go the doctor, Kidney infections can be very dangerous, deadly even. As much as you want to avoid it, go and make sure you don't get worse.

FYI, check Health food stores for Pills with the stuff that is in Cranberry juice. I think they sell those kinds of pills and it could help prevent them.

I can not stress this enough, as much as it sucks, Kidney infections can be very very very dangerous, go to the Doctor.

Homeopathy is a sham.

Go to the doctor, and get meds before a non-serious infection turns into something far worse.

Go to a specialist. There is no reason for you to disregard correct approach to this from an actual medical standpoint.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

I agree with going to the doctor, however as a preventative, and once being in a situation where I couldn't get to a doctor for a week. I started drinking water like crazy (at night too) plus tea with (real) squeezed lemon juice often. It cleared up the infection. I have a huge mug of earl grey with 2 tsp of lemon juice everyday for breakfast and never get an infection anymore. I, too, was into cranberries, but I discovered that, for me, the tea and lemon was the key. Clear up your infection with an antibiotic, and then try the tea and see if it prevents in the future. Best of luck.

PS In the future, if cranberries work for you, take a bag of dried ones with you when traveling.

Go see a doctor. It could be something more serious, and you can't really treat kidney infections at home.

If you currently have one, listen to everyone else and go see a doctor. They have cranberry pills to prevent them, but if you are having a hard time finding cranberry juice then I think you'd have a harder time finding the pills.

Many people claim to be able to cure their own simple UTIs, but once it's in your kidneys, it is life-threatening and you NEED a doctor. I personally wouldn't even play around with a simple UTI because while you're playing around with water and fruit juices, it's travelling to your kidneys. It's not worth the risk.

Adding: If fuel is the problem, and if your doc knows that you have a history of them and is willing to accomodate you, you could call and ask if they'll be willing to call in a prescription for you without a visit, with a promise to follow up in a few days.

Thanks guys.I feel it could be coming on but it could be just pain in my lower back. Will go see doctor soon just in case. Thanks for the tips on prevention especially the tea and lemon one. Will try that one. The traffic situation here is unreal at the moment and will continue to be like that until this fuel issue is sorted. Probably will be stuck in traffic for around 2 hours. Think there is a chemist nearby. Will go do test and see. You guys are fantastic.

3bambi3 wrote: »

If you currently have a urinary tract infection, you need to see a doctor. There really isn't anything else to do. It's a bacterial infection that requires antibiotics. You will only need to take them for a week, so I don't see what the big deal is.

Go to a doctor before you cause yourself serious internal injury.

Thanks for that. I've had four c-sections and when taking antibiotics I tend to get discomfort under my scar area. Doctors said there is nothing they can do cos there is nothing serious causing the pain. That's the reason why I hate taking then, that and some other reasons too. But thanks for your concern. I've living in Nigeria, maybe the antibiotics they are prescribing are too strong.

PaulaWallaDingDong wrote: »

Adding: If fuel is the problem, and if your doc knows that you have a history of them and is willing to accomodate you, you could call and ask if they'll be willing to call in a prescription for you without a visit, with a promise to follow up in a few days.

Thanks, the doctors don't do that here because the feel you are getting it for someone else. However, I will call the MD of the hospital to find out if he would do that for me.

jorinya wrote: »

3bambi3 wrote: »

If you currently have a urinary tract infection, you need to see a doctor. There really isn't anything else to do. It's a bacterial infection that requires antibiotics. You will only need to take them for a week, so I don't see what the big deal is.

Go to a doctor before you cause yourself serious internal injury.

Thanks for that. I've had four c-sections and when taking antibiotics I tend to get discomfort under my scar area. Doctors said there is nothing they can do cos there is nothing serious causing the pain. That's the reason why I hate taking then, that and some other reasons too. But thanks for your concern. I've living in Nigeria, maybe the antibiotics they are prescribing are too strong.

Okay. If you have a bad reaction to a certain type of antibiotic, you can tell your doctor and they can prescribe something different. I have a bad reaction to some, but not others. Just let your doctor know. But seriously, UTIs can turn into kidney problems pretty quickly. You want to take care of this as soon as possible.

Take care.

I'd rank losing a kidney as worse than the discomfort of antibiotics. Dialysis would really be a pain in your country with fuel problems.

My daughter had chronic kidney infections (congenital) throughout childhood and is still prone to them. Because of extended antibiotic use, she is allergic to the standard regimen. A doctor once prescribed pain relievers rather than an antibiotic to make sure she didn't strain during an infection, and that episode was one of the kindest she ever went through. She swears by it. She also takes probiotics to increase the count of friendly bacteria in her guts.

jgnatca wrote: »

She swears by it. She also takes probiotics to increase the count of friendly bacteria in her guts.

Thanks for that, I have some multivitamins and probiotics in the fridge. Will start taking them from tomorrow morning. Hope you daughter is ok!!

If it's just a UTI starting up, chug water and see if you can flush it out. I used to get those on the regular and found that water works just about as well as cranberry, especially if you catch it early. There are special painkillers for UTIs if you can find it (brand name "AZO"), they make your pee super orange but help a ton with the cramping. Actually there are prescription strength version of that same painkiller if you can get a doc to write you one, they have always been 100% effective for me as far as providing relief from the urgency.

Lots of liquids will help prevent a UTI or kidney infection; antibiotics, though, once you've got it. Some OTC meds may help with the symptoms but don't think they actually take care of the infection. My gynecologist told me to avoid caffeine until it clears up, just because it exacerbates the symptoms. I feel for you, used to get them a lot when I was younger.

sofaking6 wrote: »

If it's just a UTI starting up, chug water and see if you can flush it out. I used to get those on the regular and found that water works just about as well as cranberry, especially if you catch it early. There are special painkillers for UTIs if you can find it (brand name "AZO"), they make your pee super orange but help a ton with the cramping. Actually there are prescription strength version of that same painkiller if you can get a doc to write you one, they have always been 100% effective for me as far as providing relief from the urgency.

Thanks for that tip. Did test in chemist with the nurse. False alarm, thank God but she did advise drink at least three big bottles of water (150 cl each) a day because of the heat. Going to take this a a warning and drink more water and take probiotics. Been prescribed rest because could be overdoing it with workouts.

UTIs left untreated can turn into a full blown kidney infection (pyelonephritis). Kidney infections that go untreated can turn into systemic sepsis. The only place after that is death.

Go get some antibiotics.

Glad to hear it was a false alarm! Definitely drink tons of water, hope you are feeling better soon!

KrystaleMBithoney wrote: »

Glad to hear it was a false alarm! Definitely drink tons of water, hope you are feeling better soon!

Thanks. Lesson learned. Will watch water intake from now on.

Quick Links