UTIs and Yeast Infections: When fun in the sun gets uncomfortable

Summer can be a wonderful time, even in Arizona.  Swimming, barbeques, fun fruity cocktails… it sounds like a real blast!  Unfortunately, for some women, summer can be a time of frustration.  Summer  time is UTI and yeast infection weather.  It is so uncomfortable and it is hard to find time to go to the doctor because you’re busy being an amazing hostess and/or chasing after the kids.  So lets break this down and talk about some quick and easy prevention.  And Mom’s, this may not be the worst advice to pass on to your daughters.

First let’s talk about UTIs (urinary tract infections):

Having to run to the bathroom every few minutes, painful urination, confusion:  UTIs are a great way to ruin your fun.  Urinary tract infections can be caused by a few things:

  1. Bacteria from your GI tract.  Especially E. coli.  E. Coli have these little wiggly things called flagella that allow them to move around and crawl up your urethra.  This can happen because of hygiene issues (like rushing in the bathroom or “holding it”) or sometimes after intercourse.
  2. Dehydration.  If you aren’t urinating, you aren’t keeping your pipes clean.  This means you are making it much easier for bacteria to crawl upstream and make your life miserable.

Here are a couple fixes:

  1. Make sure you are going to the bathroom.  Don’t hold it.  I don’t care how busy you are.  Just go.
  2. Take your time to get clean in the bathroom.  Urine is sterile, but fecal matter certainly is not.
  3. If you get UTI’s after intercourse try to go to the bathroom afterwards.  This washes out the urethra of anything that might have been introduced during your… activities ;-).
  4. Drink plenty of water.  If you drink water, you urinate.  If you urinate you’re cleaning the pipes.
  5. If you are someone that is prone to UTI’s drink or take cranberry capsules.  The cranberry juice acidifies the urine and contains d-mannose, which makes the urethra really slippery so those nasty little bacteria can’t swim upstream.
  6. If you are watching your sugars or just don’t like cranberry you can get d-mannose powder that you can just add to water and drink!  We sell d-mannose powder by Pure Encapsulations at Mixtures and it works WONDERS.  And if you’re drinking it in a glass of water you’re also staying hydrated!

Now about Yeast Infections:

The vaginal area is all about balance: hydration, hormones, and flora.  It all needs to be balanced!  The things I just mentioned can cause a yeast infection:

  1. Dehydration:  If you get dehydrated your vaginal wall becomes dry.  This isn’t just uncomfortable for you.  This is very uncomfortable for the good natural flora that lives there.  If there isn’t enough moisture your flora can die off and become unbalanced.  This can lead to bacterial vaginitis or a yeast infection.  Drink lots of water!  Coffee and soda do not count as water.
  2. Hormones:  An imbalance in your hormones (like what happens in menopause) can cause a lot of vaginal dryness.  If this is a problem it’s time to go to the doctor.  There are hormone creams and gels that can be put into the vagina so that you get less of a systemic effect, but they plump up those vaginal secretion cells again.  This means no more dry vagina and this means you may contract less vaginal infections.
  3. Flora:  The natural vaginal flora consists of both fungal and bacterial.  Don’t get grossed out, these little guys are there to keep you healthy.  In order to keep you and your flora healthy there are some things that you need to do to keep things healthy:
    Watch the carbs:  Too much sugar can allow some bacteria to go haywire.  Sodas and fruity drinks really make summer feel like summer, but try adding just regular fruit to your water.  It’s super tasty and looks beautiful.  A little raspberry and mint and you’ve got one sexy looking drink that also keeps you hydrated and keeps your carbs on the straight and narrow.  Carbs are great, but it’s all about balance!

Cultivate your natural flora:  Get some yogurt in your system.  ALL yogurts contain good flora (not just Activia).  I tell people to stick with lowfat yogurts with low sugars, but no artificial sugars.  In fact the big tub yogurts are my favorite.  Dannon and Yoplait sound yummy, but they are chocked full of sugar!  I love getting plain yogurt (including Greek) and adding a little fruit and honey or agave to it.  Just a smidge.  That’s all you need.  Or granola is great for your GI flora too.  Hurray fiber!  If you really can’t stand yogurt or can’t work it in daily pick up some probiotic capsules at Mixtures.  We’ll set things right again!

Change out of your swimming suit and into a sun dress!  Swimming suits and high spandex clothes don’t let your skin breath!  If your skin isn’t breathing things are getting hot and sweaty and your flora are going to be VERY unhappy.

I want all of you to have a fun delicious summer!  Here are some delicious and healthy ways to flavor your water: http://toneitup.com/blog.php?How-do-you-like-to-flavor-your-water-5144

If there are any additional questions I can answer for you please feel free to email me at heather@mixturesrx.com !

7 thoughts on “UTIs and Yeast Infections: When fun in the sun gets uncomfortable

  1. Awesome blog, it’s just like a game for me! It’s so infomative and usefull, thanks a lot! If you post more of this great stuff, I’ll visit your blog again!

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