Comments on: Am I Too Hard On Mainstream Medicine? (Part 1)

By: Carolyn Dean MD ND

Carolyn Dean MD ND — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 05:47:01 +0000

Hello Cathy,
There is no short answer to your question about recommendations for bladder infections. The following is excerpted from my VidaCosta Good Health Encyclopedia at http://www.hallmarkebooks.com.
Aloha
Carolyn

BLADDER INFECTIONS

The most common trigger for bladder infections in women is intercourse during which the urethra can be trapped and irritated. This causes the urethra to swell. If there are bacteria near the urethra, which can easily migrate from the bowel area, the inflammation and swelling provide an ideal environment for bacteria to grow.

Wash before and after intercourse with mild soap like castile (made from vegetable oil, not animal fat), and urinate before and after intercourse to flush bacteria out of the opening of the urethra. In general, to avoid bladder infections after intercourse, be sure to avoid excessive jamming action on the urethra with the penis. Changing positions can protect the urethra. Taking a homeopathic remedy called Staphysagria 12X, one dose one to two times after intercourse, may prevent infection in susceptible people.

Inserting a non-sterile diaphragm can also result in bacteria overgrowth. The diaphragm as it rests inside the vagina above the pubic bone can cut across the urethra, irritating it and inhibiting bladder emptying. Tampons may also cause some of the same problems as diaphragms and lead to bladder infections.

Another cause of burning urination is aspartame (NutraSweet). Read the section on Detoxing Sugar and Aspartame to learn what to avoid.

In young girls, bladder infections can be the result of taking bubble baths; avoid them. In older women, dryness and skin atrophy due to estrogen depletion, if it occurs around the perineal region, can cause breaks in the skin and allow the introduction of bacteria that may then irritate the urethra causing burning or slight bleeding on urination. Treating the area with bio-identical estriol creams can help strengthen the skin in and around the vagina.

Simple commonsense advice to prevent bladder infections includes avoiding tight jeans, wearing loose cotton underwear, and avoiding scented tampons, pads, or even colored toilet paper. After having a bowel movement, wipe from front to back to avoid pulling bowel bacteria into the vagina/urethra area.

First Aid:
If bladder symptoms such as frequent urination, burning, and pressure begin, it is important to submit a urine sample to your doctor to have it tested for bacterial overgrowth. While waiting for results, you can use natural treatments. Start with 1⁄2 to 1⁄4 teaspoon of baking soda in one glass of water every thirty minutes. This can help make the urine less acidic and therefore less burning. (Warning: don’t use baking soda [sodium bicarbonate] if you are being treated for a heart condition because it can raise sodium levels causing fluid retention.) Also avoid caffeinated tea, coffee, and sugar, all of which can acidify the urine.

Herbs:
* Studies show that pure cranberry juice and cranberry tablets help bladder infections.
* Take various combinations of parsley, bucchu, goldenrod, marshmallow, berberis, and cramp bark tea in large quantities. Lots of herbal tea and water help decrease inflammation and flush out bacteria.

Homeopathy:
* Cantharis or Causticum in the 12X potency taken every hour can be helpful for the burning pain of bladder infections.

* Staphysagria 6X or 30C can be taken every hour for postcoital irritation. Do not take chamomile tea with homeo¬¬pathic remedies, as it can neutralize their action.

If you do need to take an antibiotic, ask your doctor for a urinary antiseptic such as nitrofurantion or nalidixic acid, which have their own side effects but do not affect the intestinal bacteria and cause yeast overgrowth. If you use an antibiotic, be sure and take plain organic yogurt or acidophilus tablets as well. Read the sections on Yeast Overgrowth and Antibiotics versus Probiotics.

By: Cathy Benedetto

Cathy Benedetto — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 16:47:30 +0000

Please give recommendations for UTI.

By: Dana

Dana — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 04:19:03 +0000

We still have osteopaths in Ohio. Here they have the same status as MDs. I went to urgent care when I was pregnant with my daughter because I had horrific inflammation that caused joint pain and swelling. I literally could not turn over in bed without hurting and I was scared for the baby. It was still early in the pregnancy. She ran some blood tests, found the inflammatory markers (probably elevated CRP), and referred me to a certain maternity clinic because they had a maternal-fetal medicine unit. I never got into the MFMU. Only saw the OB-GYN (or more often the resident) and they never mentioned the inflammation again because it had gone away by that point. Yeah, thanks. Later on when my daughter was four months old we found out she had vesico-urinary reflux and her right kidney was underdeveloped. Looking back now I see I was deficient in protein, healthy fats and especially vitamin A and I have found out that kidney development problems in babies is one result of the latter. Nobody ever asked me how my vitamin A intake was. They just assumed I was OK because I was taking my prenatal. Which was in the form of a hard caplet, therefore not well digested and not doing me a damn bit of good. DOs versus MDs… scary stuff.

By: Gary M Hertzog

Gary M Hertzog — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:19:06 +0000

I think this article is right on the money and I can’t wait for Part 2!

I have had 2 heart attacks and my wife has had a double bypass and a later heart attack. Since then we have learned how to take care of ourselves and are no longer subject to these kinds of things.

I never really knew what I didn’t know and no doctor was able or willing to tell us how to save ourselves; until finding Dr. McDougall online and reading the book “The China Study”. This saved our lives!

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 15:39:24 +0000

Thank you a friend has just passed away in his flat of heart failure he was only forty. We dined only two weeks ago and he is already buried. I’m in the process of finding out more details. Very distressing topic, well done Carolyn please keep up the great work.

By: Joyce Naumu

Joyce Naumu — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:52:31 +0000

I agree w/ Michelle,
Everyone that I know that have health issues refuse to eat right & exercise, it’s too hard. They will do fad diets though & take lot’s of pills.

By: Cherie

Cherie — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:44:29 +0000

I totally, totally agree with Dr. Carolyn Dean.
Her message is very powerful and an eye-opener (if you care TO LOOK!) Some people are just not comfortable with the obvious and need to admit it to themselves because the rest of us see it very plainly.

By: Mary Rose Hewett

Mary Rose Hewett — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:59:17 +0000

No you are not too hard. It’s all about the money. What happened to the $2 blood pressure medicine my grandmother took 35 years. She passed away at 98 yrs. old. They don’t even dispense it any more. They got the new and improved for $200.00 and with more side effects that it should be outlawed. Same thing with the $2. antibiotics. I got the $200.00 ones and had to go back for more 3 times til they finally gave me the amoxicillin that took care of the problem. I could have saved myself and the insurance company at least $500. The old saying still holds true. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It’s ridiculous the drug companies are getting rich, while they kill us. I think they should fund the Healthcare Plan.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:43:33 +0000

I do not know who these people are that feel the need to comment negatively out of their own ignorance. Possibly these people are either not so sick that they have experienced any kind of revelation about the medical establishment, or they are in denial. The need to feel that if we get sick we go to a doctor and all is well is certainly a nice cloud to be living in but it isn’t realistic. Doctors do not care about curing you. They have been taught to treat using medicine and that is the first mistake. Not all illness requires medicine. Some illness requires excercise, stop smoking, better eating habits, less stress etc. But we live in a society where no one accepts responsibility for their own actions and therefore people do not want to be told it is their own fault nor do they want to be told they have to undertake serious life changes. They want a pill for it. A doctor so much as told me that. People go to the doctor to get a pill to make it go away. If I told you all the prescriptions I have thrown away in the trash it is astounding.
It is so sad that doctors do not wish to understand the human body and think outside the pill box. And have you ever noticed how they do not spend more than a few minutes determining what is wrong with you? Something is fundementally wrong with that. Prescribing a drug after talking to the patient for all of about 10 minutes. It’s very irresponsible.
And through this behavior they cause alot more wrong that right. Medication I took , namely industrial strength antibiotics messed up my health for years which affected every facet of my life. It stole about 10 years from me. Does that sound serious? I have plenty of stories from others I have heard too. Only after the doctors messed me up they could not or would not fix it.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with antibiotics when they are needed but it sure would have been nice if doctors would tell you what you are doing to your body. Explain what you could do to fix the afffects of the medication. Instead they quickly scribble a prescription and you are on your own. What about the long lasting affects? What can be done. What about conversation regarding getting well without medication. It does not exist.

For many years I took an antibiotic every single time I had a sore throat , cough, sinus issue. But now, with a few squirts of saline solution and some vitamin c I get well without it. But a doctor won’t tell you that. Why? Because most of them don’t care !

Worse yet when I have told my doctor how I had gotten rid of my asthma using vitmain c and magnesium he just laughed and said ” I guess there is something to be said fot the placebo effect”.

The problem with society is that they are lazy and don’t want to face the truth. Unfortuantely denial leads to regrets.

I only wonder why Dr. Dean feels she should spend her time answering such people. Clearly they have along way to go in their thinking before they understand.

By: Heather Gingerich

Heather Gingerich — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 16:37:27 +0000

Perhaps your reader thinks that you are being too hard on mainstream medical practitioners, who are, by and large, well-intentioned and good people who have embraced a flawed ideology? It has certainly happened before and with equally tragic consequences. It seems to me that the culprit here is “illiteracy” but not in the literal sense. Yes, most of the citizens in our culture can read and write at least one language with enough proficiency to make them good producers and consumers but they don’t have the skills, knowledge or confidence in their intuition to communicate successfully with their environment and their bodies, and modern marketing is just so damned persuasive. Mothers are the traditional guardians of family and community health but, speaking as a working mother of 3 young children, we are hanging on by our fingernails most days, and so have out-sourced many of our roles to well-meaning professionals and companies who mean to make a profit from our inability to cope with the “hamster wheel” of modern life. It’s time to learn to read the writing on the wall and exercise our democratic rights by “being the change in the world we want to see” (nod to M. Ghandi) and holding our elected officials accountable. And for all those David Suzuki fans in the GTA, he will be speaking on November 13th at the Toronto Congress Centre at the Ontario Association of Naturopathic Doctors AGM on “Environment and Health”. Tickets can be ordered from the OAND web-site.