How to Treat a UTI Without Antibiotics

Do you suffer from recurring UTI's, or know someone who does?  UTI (Urinary tract infection)  studies show that around 60% of women suffer from recurring bladder infections.  I have suffered from them practically my whole life.  I have five sisters.  Most of them struggle on a regular basis as well.  For years I have taken antibiotics every time I get an infection.  For me, these infections come on quickly, usually in less than an hour.  When this happens I drop everything and beeline it to the closest Instacare.  It is hugely disrupting, upsetting and painful.  I have even had to have doctors call  in prescriptions for me to take on vacations and camping trips in case an infections should crop up.

Besides the inconvenience of these emergencies, it is also not good for the body to take antibiotics so often.  Many antibiotics have unwanted side-effects, resistance can build up, and the killing of good bacteria or flora of the body as well as the bad, putting the body out of balance for prolonged periods of time.  I recently read an article from the Mayo clinic outlining the risks of taking antibiotics too frequently.

After years of taking antibiotics multiple times per year, one of my sisters told me she had discovered a way to treat UTIs without antibiotics.  I was instantly interested.  She gave me a recipe for an aloe vera drink to be taken for 1-2 days when symptoms start to manifest.  I went out and got a giant aloe vera plant immediately.  The first couple of times I tried this method it totally worked.  Then...... it stopped working.  It would hold the symptoms at bay, but it no longer cured the infections for me.  I still had to get an antibiotic, just not quite as urgently.  Nevertheless, this experience opened my mind to the possibility that a UTI could possibly be cured in ways other than antibiotics, and I spent the next several years searching for any such solutions.  The internet surprisingly was of very little help.

Eventually another of my sisters told me that taking Alka Seltzer cures her UTIs.  Crazy, right? I tried it.  Though it works for her, it only held mine at bay. But it worked well enough for me to put off getting an antibiotic until it was convenient within a short 24 hour period.

Eventually I was led to oils and holistic methods, which, being a nurse, I never thought I would turn to.  Surprisingly, I have actually had success with this method!  Since spring I have successfully cured 3 UTIs without antibiotics. I am so thrilled with this success that I want to share it with you! 

I have no idea why some methods work for some people but not for others, so here is a list of all the possible things that may work for you.  Try different things and find the combination that works for you. (listed from easiest things to try first to more involved methods)

1. Alka Seltzer: Take 1 Alka Seltzer dissolved in water when symptoms occur, and one right before bed so it can sit in your bladder all night.  Take one more as needed.  If this method is going to work, it will by this point.

2. Aloe Vera drink:
Three large aloe vera leaves (YouTube how to cut and gut if needed)
Two Tbsp lemon juice
Three Tbsp honey
Water/ice to make 6 cups total
Blend all in blender and drink this throughout the day.  May need to make a batch/day for 2-3 days.  Again, if this method is going to work, it will by this point.

3.  DoTerra oils: (DoTerra brand specifically because it has no additives/fillers and is more concentrated/pure than other brands)  *Independent studies about this available upon request.
In an empty gel capsule add 3 drops each of oregano, tea tree and lemon oils.  Take these oils 4-5 times per day.  You can put the oils directly on your tongue, but they are very unpleasant to take straight.  Gel capsules are very inexpensive and much more pleasant to use.  Do this method for 10-16 days or until you feel the infection is gone.

4.  Goldenseal/Silver spray combination.
Again, you will need gel capsules.

Drop 1 dropper-ful of this specific Goldenseal liquid into a gel capsule.  Take this 3-4 times per day. Also spray 10 sprays of this specific silver spray directly into your mouth 3-4 times per day.  (do not eat or drink for 5 minutes after spray) Use this combination for up to 6 weeks, or until you feel you no longer need them.  The amount of times per day can be decreased as time progresses.  If you are not sure, just do 6 weeks.

5.  Here is the most complicated method.  I have had to do this extreme combination only once, and I'm going to warn you now, it is pretty involved, and feels somewhat overwhelming and consuming at first until you adjust to the routine for the duration. 

*First, take 2 dissolved alka seltzer tablets.  May take AZO (pyridium over-the-counter for bladder pain.  Do not take pyridium on an empty stomach.  Believe me, I have done this and throwing up this bitter pill is one of the worst things I have ever done.  Also, it turns your urine bright orange.)

*Rub on your lower abdomen moring and night: a combination of DoTerra oregano, tea tree oil, lemon, lemongrass, onguard and thyme.  This is easiest if you combine them in a roller bottle.  You can add equal amounts of about 30 drops of each to the roller bottle for ongoing use.

*Apply to bottoms of feet morning and night:  1 drop of oregano oil to 10 drops of coconut oil or fractionated coconut oil and   (Oregano is a natural bacteriocide)

*Take a gel cap of 3 drops each of oregano, tea tree and lemon oils 3-5 times per day.

*Take the ACS 200 Extra Strength Colloidal silver spray (pictured above) 10 sprays in the mouth 4 times per day, not eating or drinking for 5 minutes after application. (easiest if you do it the same number of times as the last step, and at the same time)

*Take Natures Answer Goldenseal Extract drops (pictured above) 1 dropperful in capsule 3-4 times per day. (easiest if you do it the same number of times as the last step, and at the same time)

*Alter your diet to sugar free and dairy free for the duration of the infection.

*Drink half your body weight in ounces every day. 

*During bathing, wash peri-area with combination of liquid soap, 10 drops coconut oil, 2 drops oregano, 2 drops tea tree, 2 drops lemon, mixed in hand until lathers, then lathered in peri-area.

*You may also want to consider taking Prescript Assist specifically, a pro-biotic daily.

All of the products mentioned are available on Amazon.  DoTerra oils are cheaper directly on their website, DoTerra.com, especially if you pay the $35 membership fee  per year, or even better,  join a team to get even more perks from joining.  (I can give you more info on how to get the most out of your membership should you choose this route)

If all of these methods fail, you may have to break down and get an antibiotic.  I did have to do this once since I started using natural methods.  Some bacteria are nastier and harder to get rid of than others.

If you are someone who struggles with these unpleasant infections, may I suggest that you be proactive and procure the needed supplies ahead of time, so that when the crisis hits, you are prepared and ready for action!  Yes!

The Last Peach

Isn't it beautiful?  This is the last peach of the season from our peach tree.  I am always a little sad when I pick the last peach.  As I reach up into the branches and slowly pull down on the reddish pink fruit and feel that final "pop" as the tree lets go of the very last one, I always feel a little sad.  It signals that peach season is officially closing.  Of course, what follows at our house is the making of the last peach pie of the season, and then the time when I take the very last peach out of the fridge, peel it and eat it while letting the juices drip right into the sink.  Then that's it until the next year.  No more.  The end.  Sure, you can still get peaches at the store throughout the year.  But they taste NOTHING like a fresh peach from the tree.  NOTHING.  I've heard the same thing about bananas and mangoes, though I have never lived where those are locally grown fruits.

I think back to when I picked the first peach of the season, such an exciting time!  We LOVE peaches at our house.  It is our favorite fruit.  Every year we wait and wait and watch the peaches grow.  It seems like they will never get big enough or start to turn pink, but eventually they always do.  I usually go out and look at the peaches every day when school is about to start.  Finally one day toward the end of August I will go out and there they will be, a few peaches that finally look ripe!  The first peaches of the season.  There will only be a few at first.  I pick them when they look ripe but still feel hard.  Then we bring them in the house where I gently feel them each day until I know they are ripe.  Then I take that first peach, peel it and eat it while letting the juices drip right into the sink. There is nothing sweeter than eating that first peach of the season.  It's indescribably wonderful.  Invariably, within four to five weeks, the magic peach season ends, and I find myself standing at the sink eating the very last peach.  (Mom's rights.  I get the first and the last peach.)

I take comfort in the knowledge that peach season will come again.  I never eat that last peach thinking that I will never get to eat another peach from my tree, though that could happen if either the tree or I croaked.  I always look forward with hope to the next season.

Sometimes wonderful seasons of life end too.  Babies grow up, special vacations or family moments come and go, jobs come and go, friends move away.  Sad? yes.  Is it the end of the world?  No.  (But sometimes it feels like it.)  Just like with peach season, you have to have hope that another wonderful season will come.  In the meantime, enjoy and savor those special moments and people you do have.  Enjoy them to the very last drop.

Missed Opportunities

This year, for the first year since we planted our peach trees, I am working full-time.  This means less time at home to do things.  This year, for the first time  I could not get all the peaches picked from the tree when they needed it, and, combined with a couple of wind storms, I ended up with a LOT of peaches on the ground.  This happened twice!  The first time it happened I felt sick.  I counted 75 fallen peaches.  Then it happened again about a week and a half later.  All in all, I counted about 150 wasted peaches that hit the ground, bruising them instantly beyond use, or at least beyond what I was willing to use them for.  A hundred and fifty wasted peaches.  That is at least a full bushel.  So sad.  When I took this picture I photographed the side that had less peaches against the trunk.  The other side of the tree was even worse, but I felt so sick about it I couldn't even take a picture of how bad it was.  I was pretty devastated at having wasted so much fruit.  I didn't mean to, it just happened.  But the end result was the same.  Missed opportunity and regret.  I hate regret.  It felt like such a waste of food.  Yummy, delicious food that only comes once a year.  Food that I would like to have eaten and shared.

As I picked up the squishy wasted fruit from off the ground and threw it into our large garbage can I thought about how sometimes I experience other kinds of wasted opportunities as well.  Perfect moments when I didn't say what I wanted to, and didn't get a second chance.  Opportunities to do something for someone else that I didn't take and later regretted.  Times when I hesitated or waited to long and someone else jumped in and got the thing I was waiting for.  Do you know where I'm coming from?

Often I was just not paying attention, or I was nervous and hesitant instead of brave and assertive, but the end result was the same - regret.  I hate regret. 

I have regrets about not keeping up on my blog this year.  The other day a dear friend said she hadn't heard from me in a while, and missed reading my blog.  She reminded me that while I may not get a lot of comments, what I write means something.

The good thing about missed opportunities is the chance to LEARN SOMETHING, painful though it may be.  Next year when peach season rolls around you can better believe I will manage my time better, or delegate, or both.  I have learned something valuable this year.

The same is true in writing blogs, missed perfect moments, and all the other missed opportunities.  We ALL have missed opportunities that we regret.  We are all human.  It's unavoidable, and it's how we learn.  We make mistakes.  That's just how life is.  It's what you do with those mistakes that matters.

This is silly, but after I picked up all the fallen peaches and put them in the garbage can, I covered them over with grass clippings so I wouldn't see them and think about them any more.  It was time to put my mistakes behind me and move on.

Just like with my fallen peaches, when we have missed opportunities in life,it's wise to take the time to figure out what should have been done differently, and what to do differently the next time.  Leaving the garbage can lid open, so to speak, so you can constantly revisit what you missed may not be the best option to help you move forward.

Instead, considering going through the regret, figuring it out for the future, then covering your missed opportunity with figurative grass clippings, closing the lid and moving forward.  There will still be more peach seasons and life opportunities to come. 

Do You Need an Upgrade?

Sometimes in life we put up with things that make an emotional drain on us without realizing it.  These can be big things or little things or both.  It can be anything from putting up with a broken or damaged part of your home until it just feels normal, to driving a car with broken air conditioning and putting up with it, to something as small as keeping old and ugly things that need to be replaced. 

Recently I received a beautiful candle for my birthday.  I decided it would be fun to put it with the other candles around my bathtub.  (If you've never taken a bath by candlelight you are missing a peaceful and relaxing experience)  When I carried the candle up to my bathroom I was shocked at the contrast of my old candles against my new one.  I hadn't realized my old candles looked so shabby!  Yes, I had had them for about 100 years (okay, well at least 20 years), and I hadn't wanted to waste them.  I wanted to use them up all the way.  Besides, who knows when the electricity might go out?  So I have had them by my tub to give me occasional enjoyment thinking they were wonderful and not noticing how yucky-looking they had become.

Until my new candle entered the scene. 

When I set the new candle next to the old ones I was shocked at how shabby they had become.  I decided to set the new one apart from the old ones, which lasted for a few weeks.  But my eyes had been opened to the difference, and I wanted to throw them away and just keep the new candle.  I am embarrassed to admit that this actually caused me some internal struggle.  I wrestled with the idea of throwing something away that was still usable.  Then I remembered what I had learned at a class a couple of months ago about upgrades.  When you upgrade anything in your life, it has an emotional component that is also upgraded.  I realized that these old, ugly and mostly used candles were an emotional drain and an eyesore.  So I took them out to the garbage and threw them away.  An upgrade to a new candle felt light and happy, a physical and emotional upgrade.

This is a small example but a valuable one.  If just a candle can feel light and happy, what would a larger upgrade do?  If you are able to upgrade something in your life, why not do it?

When we allow ourselves to keep around things we don't need, or that don't benefit us, or that are are physical and emotionally draining without realizing it, when we get so used to seeing things that we don't see them for what they are anymore, we give ourselves a downgrade.  This affects us physically and emotionally in small ways, or in big ways, depending on what it is.  My candles were a very small downgrade, but a downgrade none-the-less. 

Any upgrade in life is a positive thing.  Think about this.  Walk around your house with new eyes.  Think about your life with this in mind.  What is in your power to upgrade?  And what are you waiting for?  Make one move.  Then make another.  Even small differences will lighten you emotionally and bring a spark of happiness, something that we all need. ♥

A Crazy Dream

Have you ever had one of those dreams that wasn't just a dream?  A few weeks ago I dreamed I was standing across the street from Macey's store with my husband and others.  We were waiting for the light to change so we could cross the very busy six-lane road to the store.   I saw the light change and the walk sign turn on.  I started across but soon realized that I was quickly losing momentum and energy.  By the time I got halfway across I could no longer put one foot in front of the other. My husband had not followed.  I knew the light would change soon and I would be in the way of traffic.  I dropped to my hands and knees to continue making progress, but the more effort I exerted, the slower and weaker I got.  The "no walking" sign flashed up and the other light turned green.  I was right in the way in the cross walk.  I wondered if the cars would run over me, but they stayed at a stop while I desperately continued to try to crawl, moving slower and slower all the time.  Finally, finally, I reached the curb, then the sidewalk, the finally the small section of grass between the sidewalk and the parking lot.  I collapsed onto the cool and prickly grass with a deep exhaustion so encompassing that I have only known it while trying to come out of anesthesia or during my carbon monoxide poisoning trying to fight to consciousness.

I laid there unable to move or open my eyes, though I was still conscious.  After a few moments I sensed someone was standing near me.  I didn't think I could open my eyes to see who it was.  Finally I mustered enough energy to open my eyes and tilt my head just a little to see who was there.  It was Jesus.  He smiled and extended his hand out to me to help me up.  I didn't think I could lift my arm, but somehow I did, and as soon as his hand touched mine I received enough energy to stand up.  We began to walk across the parking lot together towards Macey's.  I was extremely surprised how quickly my normal amount of energy returned, allowing me to walk as though nothing at all had happened.  End of dream.

This dream was so real that when I drove past that very spot the next day, I swear if I could have done DNA testing, I would have found evidence that I had actually been in that spot on the grass.

As I pondered this very realistic dream I felt it was a representation of my life right then, and a hope of what was to come.  I had been working an extremely difficult job that was draining the life out of me emotionally and physically.  I often felt that I didn't know if I could keep going.  I was waiting for a very good job to open up when I had this dream, and it had not yet opened.  I felt that emotionally I was "face down" in the grass.  I stayed in that emotional place for weeks.  Finally I was given the opportunity to change to a wonderful new job.  Over the past weeks I have felt myself muster enough energy to open my eyes, and start to rise from the grass.  I don't know if I am walking yet, but I can feel that I am no longer "face down".

I share this dream in hopes that when you have hard times and feel that you are barely hanging on, or are emotionally crawling on your hands and knees across traffic, not knowing if you are going to get run over at any minute, or when you are face down in the grass and are too exhausted to open your eyes and go on, that you will know there is hope.  This is not the end.  Keep alive the hope that someone will come and extend a hand to you to lift you up so you can keep going.  Believe that you can be given new energy, and can receive strength to walk across the figurative parking lot and into the grocery store to be replenished.

Rubbing Shoulders With Royalty

A few weeks ago my husband and I went to a 3-day conference.  As we waited for the doors to open on the first day I noticed a beautiful lady at the front of the line who was wearing a crown.  I assumed that she was there to help present, and was probably local royalty from one of the pageants.  I noticed that she was very friendly with all those around her.  I waited through the conference for her to come to the stage to speak, but she never did.

The second day I again saw her wearing her crown and sitting near the front in the audience.  By now I assumed she was local royalty and had been instructed to wear her crown to all public events.  We happened to end up in the seats right behind her.  Eventually we struck up a conversation with this woman and her husband.  As it turned out, she had not won a local pageant recently, but wore the crown because she had one, and felt prompted to.  I thought that was brave of her. 

As my husband and I got to know this couple over the next two days, I began to notice that she carried herself and acted exactly as you might expect a loving queen to act.  She seemed to want to get to know and love everyone she crossed paths with, just as a good queen would.  She was confident yet humble, interested and invested in all she talked to.  You could actually feel the love she had for you as you talked to her, even though she had never met you before.  I noticed also that people who met her also treated her with great respect and kindness, as though she was truly someone royal.  It was quite the experience.

It struck me that EACH of us really is royal.  Is God not our father and king?  Does this not make us royal as well?  As we sat in the conference room on the last afternoon I imagined that every woman wore a crown, and that we were a room full of royalty.  It took my breath away to imagine this.  It made me feel part of something majestic and important.  It made me feel lucky to associate with those people.

Since then I have tried to imagine a crown on the head of every woman I meet.  (I realize that the men are as entitled to crowns as the women, and I am working up to imagining that as well.)  It is amazing the way you look at someone differently as you imagine them as royalty.  It has changed the way I see and treat people.  It is truly an honor to meet and serve them.  It feels like a privilege.

I realize also that I am better at imagining others as royalty than imagining myself as royal.  This is not unusual for women.  We tend to see our own value last.  This shift is a work in progress.  I have to do it in stages.

I invite you to give this visualization a try.  You may have some amazing realizations.  Try it on the checker at the grocery store, the people you see and associate with every day, and your server at the restaurant, or whomever you come in contact with.  It truly will shift the way you see the world.  Then try imagining it on yourself.

Abundant Thinking

In the past, whenever I would drive anywhere I would park in the more out-lying rows from the entrance of the building, thinking that the closest rows were always full.  I told myself that there were never any spots available close by, so why waste my time driving up and down them and then end up on the more out-lying rows anyway?  So I skipped the driving up and down step and just parked farther away to begin with.  Then I got my current job (described in my last blog post) and now I spend tons of time driving in and out of parking lots and parking my car.  Because I currently get paid according to how fast I get in and out of stores, I am more motivated to park as close as possible.  One day I had a new thought: "Someone has to get those close-by parking spots.  Why not me?"  I decided to take a chance and drive down the row closest to the entrance.  To my surprise and delight I found a completely empty parking spot very close to the entrance.  This tiny success motivated me to try for the good parking spots again....and again.... and again.  As I drive in and out of parking lots all day long, I have discovered that more often than not I can find a close-by empty parking spot, or someone just pulling out of a prime spot at the very time I am driving toward them.  On rare wonderful occasions I have even gotten lucky enough to park right next to the handicapped stalls, closest to the door, something I formerly though completely impossible at all times.

The other day I realized that my thinking about parking spots has changed.  Someone has to get the close spots.  I have come to expect it to be me a great deal of the time.  Why not me?  It is abundance thinking.

I wondered what other areas of my life I need to upgrade my thinking in.

I am trying to get a specific nursing job right now.  There are no openings at the moment, but when one does come open, somebody has to get that spot.  Why not me?

What about this one--somebody has to win those drawings you frequently see people entering.  Why not me?

There are plenty of people who make good money, who are successful in their business ventures.  Why not me?

There are plenty of people whose efforts make the world a better place.  Why not me?  And why not you?

If I think I can never have a good parking spot and I don't even look, I for sure won't get one.
If I think I can never get the prime work position and I don't shoot for it, I for sure won't get it.
If I think I will never win a drawing so I don't enter, I for sure won't win.
If I think I will never have an abundance of money, I won't.
If I think I'm too little of a fish in the sea to make any difference at all, I for sure won't.

I have a young friend who swims competitively.  In a conversation recently she was talking about her regional swim meet, and how the top swimmers would get to go on to the state competition.  She told me she probably wouldn't make it to state.  (What?!)  I enthusiastically told her that if she didn't think she could make it to state, she for sure wouldn't!  I assured her that she needed to be able to see it and believe it in order to achieve it. Abundance thinking.

I have heard many successful people describe how they believed they could achieve what they wanted, how they imagined it over and over again and how it felt, before actually having the abundant success they were now enjoying.

I think there is a lesson for me and you here.  Abundant thinking seems to lead to abundance.  Who would have thought, lol!  I, for one, and ready to put this theory to the test.  Are you?