Bye Bye Bladder Infection

I can probably count on one hand the number of bladder infections I've had in my adult years. I had quite a few when I was a teenager and was treated with antibiotics every single time. I don't think people realized, back then, the dangers of over-prescribing antibiotics, but I know now and didn't want to go down that path when I got a bladder infection a week or so ago.

As I recall, cranberry juice cleared up the last infection I had several years ago, but this one's being tricky.

I've tried cranberry juice (bleugh!), vitamin C (1000 mg. every 2 of my waking hours), drinking tons of water (at least 2 quarts and to me that's tons... um, probably why I got a bladder infection :/), kefir (probiotics), golden milk (yum), iodine, oil of oregano (yuck), 2 Tbsp. of ACV in 8 oz. water every two of my waking hours, 3-4 raw garlic cloves a day, hot and cold therapy (hot water bottle & ice pack and hot/cold showers) and only noticed a slight improvement, but it kept hanging around and sometimes it seemed like it was getting worse. On good days I had to run to the bathroom every 10 minutes or less and I had a powerful sensation of my bladder being about ready to pop when I was done emptying my bladder.

Today it got so bad that it felt like my bladder was going to explode at the end of peeing. It was the first time since it started that it felt more than VERY annoying; it actually felt a little painful. So I started searching again. I found that creating an acidic environment in the bladder (like I was trying to do with the ACV) works in many cases of cystitis (bladder infection), but in some cases, especially those caused by e. coli, this strategy might not work as well. Bummers!

During this journey I would think of something (especially things I had on hand) that might work and see if it had ever been used successfully to treat a bladder infection; ginger (check), coconut oil (maybe), turmeric (anti-inflammatory), garlic (yup)... today I remembered another one I hadn't yet investigated: grapefruit seed extract (GSE).

Sure enough, GSE has had some good results against e. coli induced cystitis. I knew I had some GSE at one time so I went digging. I came up with a mostly-empty bottle of GSE, but it did have a few drops left. I started off with 5-6 drops in a little water and swigged it down real quick (super yuck) and then chased it with a bunch of water.

This was around noon today and by 2:00 I was actually quite comfortable and wasn't in nearly the pain I had been before. Also, I wasn't having to run to the bathroom quite so often. I took another dose around 5:00 and by 10:00 I had totally forgotten that I even had a bladder infection.

Is GSE a cystitis wonder cure? I don't know, but I'm hopeful enough that I bought another bottle and have some vcaps on order so I can take GSE without the nasty taste.