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Hi all :)
I have been following the diet for a few months but still have another 3 weeks until my first appointment with Boaz. I had been doing very well on the diet until about 4 days ago when I started feeling nauseas and my bladder pain flared up, as well as a big increase in my frequency. I am worried it could be a UTI (as I used to always get nauseas when coming down with a UTI), so I just went to a GP. She said she won't have the results for a few days but gave me a prescription for antibiotics anyway and asked me to start taking them immediately. I really don't want to take them until I know for sure so was wondering if it would be okay to take D-mannose? I would take the herbs Matia recommends for UTIs but as I am not in treatment yet and I live in Australia, I cannot do this. D-mannose is really the only natural thing I have for UTIs at home, and I am stuck at work today until 5, by which time my health food store will be closed.
Would love to know if Dr. B has okayed d-mannose.
Em :)
I'm sorry - I have no idea -
I'm sorry - I have no idea - just wanted to tell you that I was thinking of you and know how hard it can be to make the right decision.
Take Care
I'm sorry you're suffering
I'm sorry you're suffering right now! It's so hard when you don't know if it's IC or a UTI.
While I can't say what the Brizmans would think, it seems to me that if your choices are d-mannose or antibiotics, I would vote for d-mannose. I have had IC a long time and at one point was on d-mannose consistently for awhile before I began working with Matia. I did find it helped a little and did not make things worse. That is just my experience and am certainly not in a position to tell you the right thing to do!
Check out the "sorry for not replying" post to get a sense of what antibiotics can do to us IC girls- it isn't pretty! Especially if you don't know if you have an infection or not, I'd steer clear of abx. Also look at Matia's new post about UTIs. Maybe you could take some goldenseal if that's available to you? Just a thought...I don't want to add fuel to the fire but if you're not in treatment yet and are looking for a way to avoid antibiotics, it might be the lesser of 2 evils...
Best wishes! I hope you feel better soon.
I agree with ceb217, rather
I agree with ceb217, rather take the d-mannose than the antibiotics. Also, just want to mention that a colleague of mine recently told me that she swears by carrot soup for clearing UTIs - she says its the same mechanism as cranberries, d-mannose - i.e. stops the bacteria sticking to the walls. I've no idea if it works as haven't had a UTI for years (thank goodness!) but it's worth trying, cheap and at least no side effects! I also think its worth drinking goldenseal tea. Hope u get some relief soonest.
I agree with ceb217, rather
I agree with ceb217, rather take the d-mannose than the antibiotics. Also, just want to mention that a colleague of mine recently told me that she swears by carrot soup for clearing UTIs - she says its the same mechanism as cranberries, d-mannose - i.e. stops the bacteria sticking to the walls. I've no idea if it works as haven't had a UTI for years (thank goodness!) but it's worth trying, cheap and at least no side effects! I also think its worth drinking goldenseal tea. Hope u get some relief soonest.
I would take D-Mannose; but
I would take D-Mannose; but be aware that it only works for E-Coli, perhaps the most common bladder bacteria.
'The curative effects of D-mannose are usually felt within 24 hours - if no change is noticed within 72 hours, a physician should be consulted (it may be that the infection is caused by a bacteria other than E. coli).'
i would research the dosing
i would research the dosing too because there are debates about most effective dose
If we don't excel at health, the only other option is disease.
I don't think anyone has
I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet - but I would get those UTI test strips from Walmart or Walgreens to see where you test at to see how serious the UTI (or not UTI) is before you get started. Just a thought! Best of luck!
Thank you everyone for your
Thank you everyone for your responses! I decided on the d-mannose in the end as it was the only thing I had handy and really did not want to take the antibiotics! So far so good :) I'm going to call my GP tomorrow to find out the results and see if it really was an infection! So far I haven't been able to find the test strips in any stores near me (I live in Australia and we don't have the stores you mentioned) but I will keep searching as they would be handy! I have a history of frequent UTIs (although hadn't had one for over a year which was nice!)