Have you ever had a UTI? Perhaps you wore the wrong kind of underwear or you exposed yourself to someone else’s bacterial infection during sexual intercourse and then later found yourself with pain near the opening to your urethra. Urinary tract infections are not a lot of fun at all. They can be caused by a number of factors, but ultimately they consist of foreign germs invading your urethral tube, and the infection can even spread to your bladder or other related organs. A tell-tale sign of a UTI is a burning sensation when one urinates, and in severe cases the urine can have a foul odor. You may feel helpless when you find that you’re suffering from one, because you may not know how to treat a UTI. The best treatment is prevention, of course.

To avoid getting a UTI, generally you will want to keep your genital area clean and avoid irritating any of the organs of your excretory system. Keeping your immune system as healthy as possible is also important, as mere exposure to germs may not affect you as much if your body is fully able to fight them off. Sometimes certain risk factors can’t or shouldn’t be avoided, such as sex, but there are a few practical things you can do to both avoid getting infected and to treat the pain and suffering once an infection occurs. Let’s take a look at a few tips on how to treat a UTI.

How to Treat a UTI with Simple Tips:

• Drink plenty of water: can help flush away the bacteria that’s causing your infection

• Wear loose cotton clothing and underwear: natural fabrics helps perspiration and prevent moisture that is a favorable condition for bacterial growth

• Applying a heating pad can help soothe the area. Apply a heating pad warm, but not hot over your genital area to help relieve the pain

• Avoid caffeine, alcohol, spicy food, nicotine, from your diet can irritate your bladder further.

• Avoid processed foods, refined, fats and fried food: acidity formed from these foods increase the bacterial infection.

• Avoid sugar and artificial sweeteners and drinks carbonated drinks rich in sugar: bacteria thrive in a sugary environment as it impairs the ability of white blood cells to destroy bacteria.

• Urinating frequently: bacteria proliferate when urine remains in the bladder. In addition, the act of passing urine cleanses the urinary tract.

• Avoid potentially irritating feminine products. Using deodorant sprays or other feminine products, such as douches and powders, in the genital area can change the delicate balance of vaginal flora (organisms that live in the vagina) and acidity (Ph) in a healthy vagina. Any changes can cause an overgrowth of bad bacteria which can lead to an infection.

• Empty your bladder both before and immediately after intercourse. During intercourse bacteria E coli can spread easily from your anus into your urethra. Urinating within 30 minutes afterward will usually wash out any bacteria that has crept in during intercourse.

• Cleanse the genital area before/after sexual intercourse

• Wipe from front to back after urinating and after a bowel movement to prevent bacteria in the anal region from spreading to the vagina and urethra.

• Take showers never baths expecially no bubble baths: Bath water may fairly quickly become contaminated by the bather’s own skin florae. Sitting in bathtub allows bacteria to reach the urethra and make susceptible to infection, since it’s easy for water and bath products to enter the body

• Use clean toilets and avoid dirty public place washrooms

• Better to stay relaxed: sometimes UTI can occur due to increased stress level. Stress leads to elevated cortisol levels, which tend to weaken the immune system