“Vitamin C may help because it makes the urine acidic,” explains Dr. Rubin says can help “numb the bladder a little bit so you don’t feel as much stinging or burning.” Or, you can try a pain reliever like ibuprofen. First, there’s over-the-counter phenazopyridine (more commonly known by the brand name Azo), which Dr.

Just because you want to avoid antibiotics doesn’t mean you have to avoid all medications. Of course, the downside to this approach is that it’s going to make you urinate more often - and potentially suffer the pain that comes with that. The thinking is that water dilutes urine and flushes the bad bacteria out of your system. In fact, in one study of premenopausal women who are prone to UTIs, those who started consuming an extra 1.5 liters of water daily had a lower number of UTIs over the next 12 months than women who didn’t increase their water intake.

“The best data out there that I have seen is drinking lots and lots of water,” says Rachel Rubin, M.D., a board-certified urologist and sexual medicine specialist in private practice and an assistant clinical professor of urology at Georgetown University School of Medicine. Home remedies for UTIs Drink lots of water. However, if the infection migrates up to the kidneys, it can cause more severe symptoms like these:

Brown or red-tinged urine (an indication of blood).

When your bladder is inflamed, it can lead to these symptoms of the lower urinary tract: “In general, when people say UTI, they’re talking about a bladder infection and the symptoms are localized to what we call the lower urinary tract or the bladder and the urethra.” What are the symptoms of a UTI? Eilber, M.D., a board-certified urologist with a subspecialty in female pelvic medicine and reconstructive surgery at Cedars Sinai. “Technically your urinary tract starts in your kidneys and goes all the way to where urine comes out, which is the urethra,” says Karyn S. If you're experiencing any of these symptoms, it's important to see your doctor as soon as possible. If you want to avoid antibiotics from the get-go, try the doctor-approved home remedies for urinary tract infections below.Įditor's note: Things like fever, nausea, back pain and an altered mental status are all red flags for a kidney infection, which requires immediate treatment. That means if you develop another bacterial infection later on somewhere else in your body, the antibiotics you took for your UTIs may not be effective. However, research has found that taking antibiotics for urinary tract infections is linked to an increased risk of antibiotic resistance.

Typically, the best way to get rid of a UTI and put an end to the uncomfortable burning and urgency to pee is with an antibiotic that kills the particular strain of bacteria causing trouble. More than half of all women will suffer from a urinary tract infection (UTI) at some point in their lifetime, and data shows that many will have recurrent infections.

Antibiotics for uti over the counter