6 Things You Should NEVER Do When You Have a UTI
Those dreadful bathroom visits may make you think twice about chugging a glass of water, but depriving your body of H20 sets up a cozy internal environment where the infection can really hunker down.
“Water is essential for all bodily functions,” says Carolyn DeLucia, M.D., of VSPOT Women’s Sexual Health Spa. “If we are dehydrated, then the bacteria can fester in the bladder. When we are well-hydrated, we urinate regularly, and the water cleans the walls [of the urinary tract] easily. It’s like cleaning out a glass that you had tomato juice in. If you just try to wipe off the glass without water, you can’t be sure you cleaned off all the sides.”
Not drinking enough water can also prevent your medication from getting where it needs to go: “Antibiotics have to have good penetration into the kidneys and bladder,” says Vandana Bhide, M.D., board-certified internist and pediatrician at the Mayo Clinic. “Drinking a lot of water will help deliver the antibiotic to the urinary tract. It also flushes the kidneys and bladder, and it prevents dehydration and kidney stones.”
Do: Keep That Water Bottle Handy
According to DeLucia, the gold standard is to drink half of your weight in ounces each day. So if you weigh 120 pounds, you should aim to gulp down 60 ounces of agua daily. Keep in mind that water will also help dilute the toxins in your urinary tract and give you symptom relief, but it won’t cure your infection. We can’t stress this enough: The only way to fully squash your condition is to take all your prescribed meds.