Household Antibiotics

Note before we start: I've done my best to link to credible studies for every single ingredient I mention. I'm not a scientist and only made it to the second round of highschool biology. I'm sharing this because I think it might be helpful for those who are short on cash, who would like some relief before they are able to leave the house to see the doctor, or who get sick at a time or in an area where a doctor is unreachable. Please double check everything I say, I am not a doctor.

That isn't to say that this is haphazard. I did have a good education. I know how to spot a source and have a general understanding of what these words mean. This just isn't a replacement for medical advice.

I've had... too many UTI's. One is too many, for the record.

Unfortunately for me, whatever is in my body has decided that ingesting sugar now leads to a bacterial infection. I say it's bacterial and not fungal because after a good three days of trying to home remedy the first one, I used a free health app to get a doctor to get me some dang antibiotics, and the infection went away.

This does not mean I can have sugar again.

Since the long-term treatment is likely to expensive, I keep putting it off, which means I keep getting sick. First it was another UTI, then it felt like the UTI just moved to my gut, then I just got sick again. "I can have sugar this time," I think. Nope. Even a protein shake will throw me for a loop.

If you have any experience with urinary tract infections, you know that the common advice is to drink cranberry juice. Although D-Mannose in pill form did seem to help, this is not actually very helpful.

The short version is that you might have to take so much that the dosage is simply impractical. Antibiotics are "the gold standard," but doctors worry about antibiotic resistance.

Fortunately, I've done some frantic googling my research on this particular topic.

In my search for some relief without a doctor bill, I found that garlic can treat even antibiotic resistant infections. Out of all the participants in the study, only one person still had an infection--and her infection was no longer resistant to antibiotics.

As I understand it, this is something of a scientific breakthough--doctors are considerably worried about growing antibiotic resistance--so I'm not sure why I've never heard of this before.

The neat thing is that there's actually quite a few household grocery items that have antibacterial properties. Green tea is one of those things, and chamomile can help somewhat indirectly--it increases "urinary levels of hippurate and glycine, which have been associated with increased antibacterial activity."

My knowledge of the science behind it isn't perfect, but it's interesting to see which strains of bacteria each ingredient is effective against. Having antibacterial properties doesn't mean the ingredient is effective against every type of bacteria in existence, which is why doctors like to order tests when someone has something like a recurring UTI: they want to see what they're working with, so they can combat it most effectively.

(As I understand it, unless you test, the doctors are basically making an educated guess. It's a good guess, because they already have an idea of what type of bacteria is causing the problem. But you can't know for sure unless you test it.)

Surprisingly enough, I've found black pepper to be the most effective at keeping the infection at bay. Maybe that's why soups help sick people? Lots of them use it as a seasoning.

I just wish I'd known before I smelled like garlic for a solid week.

Keep in mind that some items--like garlic--are also blood thinners. In small amounts, they might be okay, but if you're on any sort of medication you should always check to see if anything you use is going to interact with it. For me, it's fine. I also learned that garlic is a vasodilator! It helped solve the heart problem that I needed to see a doctor about. But for someone else, it could lead to a life-threatening situation. Never think you don't have to check just because something is "natural." Natural ingredients still impact the body in a myriad of ways.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to see how many different combinations I can get for "[insert item here] antibacterial."

...and to check my insurance for doctors with low copays.

Send black pepper.