6 Remedies for Coping With Chronic UTIs | My Medicine Cabinet
Our Medicine Cabinet series explores what real people keep on hand and consider essential for their particular needs — even if a doctor didn’t prescribe it.
Key takeaways:
Tammy Edwards has had chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs) for 5 years.
She received several other diagnoses before getting a UTI diagnosis.
She wants to share her story to help other women.
For most of her life, Tammy Edwards never had bladder issues. Then, 5 years ago, she developed a urinary tract infection (UTI).
It started after she had a hysterectomy. She had to have a urinary catheter — a medical device to empty her bladder — for a couple of days. But she got what’s known as a catheter-associated UTI. It’s an infection that happens when germs (usually bacteria) enter the urinary tract through the catheter and cause infection.
She’s had chronic UTIs ever since.
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Understanding what was causing her bladder discomfort took a slew of medical professionals and specialists more than a year. During that time, Tammy says she felt “really isolated” and didn’t know what questions to ask.
“I was in so much pain. I was miserable,” she says. “That was just a horribly dark time in my life.”
She’s sharing her story to help other women who might be in a situation similar to hers 5 years ago.
Getting to the bottom of the problem
Before learning she had a chronic UTI, Tammy, who lives in Oregon, was diagnosed with interstitial cystitis (a painful bladder condition with symptoms similar to UTIs). Then she was told she had Lyme disease (an illness spread by ticks). Then mold poisoning.
She underwent test after test to get to the bottom of the problem.
Finally, a physician in Louisiana diagnosed her with a UTI. First, he put her on long-term oral antibiotics and then placed a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) line into her left arm. A PICC line is a catheter placed in a large vein near the heart that allows you to get large doses of medication for a long period of time. She now injects antibiotics into that line once a day, which has helped her manage her pain and flares.
“My burning pain is inside the actual bladder itself,” she says. “It feels like somebody dropped hot lava in there, battery acid, then is scratching it with sandpaper. And it feels raw, like a bad sunburn but on the inside of your bladder, like somebody’s dumping acid on a sunburn. And it’ll feel like little cactus needles. It’s the worst pain.”
Because of the complexity of her chronic UTIs, she says traditional coping treatments — such as cranberry juice or over-the-counter pain relievers like Azo — haven’t helped her.
She has found some comfort, however, through these items:
1. A heating pad
During a bad flare, Tammy places a heating pad on her lower stomach and pubic area, right above the bladder, to fight the pain. She may use it anywhere from 1 to 3 hours at a time.
2. An ice pack
When she wants cooling comfort instead of heat, Tammy uses ice packs in the same way she uses heating pads — placed over the lower abdomen.
3. Lots of water
Tammy used to drink a lot of sodas before living with a UTI. Now, she drinks mostly just water. And though she said she doesn’t necessarily feel like water relieves her pain when she has a UTI, she likes how it contributes to her overall health.
4. Oxybutynin
Tammy has a prescription for Oxybutynin, one of the most commonly used medications to treat an overactive bladder. It helps relax the muscles in her bladder and combat spasms.
She uses it “if that urge, frequency, or bladder spasm is just so bad that I can't take it, or if I’m going somewhere like on a long car ride or something.”
5. Hormone replacement therapy
Tammy is on an estrogen and progesterone prescription as part of her hormone replacement therapy, which she has found helpful to even out her hormone levels.
“I was kind of young when I had my hysterectomy, so it was really hard to be thrown into menopause overnight,” says Tammy, who’s now 47.
6. Antibiotics
Tammy says she is about 50% better with her current intravenous (IV) antibiotic treatments, which she’s had since April 2021. She still gets flares, though they’re now further apart.
Before getting her current antibiotics, Tammy couldn’t tolerate acidic foods like tomatoes or carbonated drinks like her favorite Diet Dr. Pepper. Now, if she wants them, her body can handle them once again.
A better quality of life
Her journey has been emotionally and financially draining, she says. She’s had some debt associated with her PICC line, she says, and lives with a “slight financial burden right now.”
“I think a lot of women are going into — I call it a rabbit hole, because I think I went down some unnecessary rabbit holes and spent a ton of money on treatment that I really didn't need to do.”
Tammy says her mental health suffered, too. But she found some help and community through an organization called Live UTI Free and other support groups. She learned about more testing she could pursue and questions to ask.
These days, she’s not symptom free. However, she’s better able to manage the condition with medications and her own remedies.
“I always have some little niggle of a symptom each day,” she says. “At least I have some quality of life now. Before I didn't even want to live. It was so bad … I wouldn't wish this condition on anybody.”
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