recurring UTIs

[ZenSojourner]

The way my doc explained it to me is that once you get a UTI, the beasties that caused it try to find homes in the nooks and crannies to colonize. Then they hide there until you stop taking the antibiotics. Meanwhile the ones that survive in these hidden places are slowly developing resistance to the drugs. Then when you stop taking the drugs, they are fruitful and multiply, much to your pain and discomfort. Then if you hit them again with the antibiotics, you kill off all the weak slow ones and only the strong survive, hiding away in their colonies, waiting for the coast to be clear again.

If you really want to hammer the beasties setting up house in your urinary tract, take Vitamin C.

I suffered from repeated UTIs for years, to the point where I have so much scarring that they have difficulty catheterizing. I'm pretty sure the last time I had surgery they had to go to a ped's catheter. I know they had trouble finding one small enough to get past the scar tissue.

I wasn't even riding a bike, I was a runner back then.

Then my doc told me to take 2000 mg of Vitamin C a day, I think for a month? Anyway it doesn't hurt to take that much because it's water soluble and washes right out. And at that dosage, it REALLY super-acidifies things on the way out.

I've had ONE, count it, ONE UTI in the 25 years since then. And I had so many of them before that by the time I was 23 or 24 I had actually developed an allergy to Pyridium.

If I even think I feel like maybe there might be a UTI coming on - and even this has only happened once or twice in 25 years - I break out the Vitamin C and nip it in the bud. Only one full-blown UTI in that time.

[OakLeaf]

If you're getting on the bike in the morning before your shower, sponge bathe your nether parts - all of them - before putting your shorts on.

+1 on cranberry juice.

[HillSlugger]

I was getting uti's apparently because I was unable to completely empty my bladder.

[indysteel]

Have you actually tested positive for a UTI or do you "just" have symptoms of one? It's possible that what you're feeling is superficial irritation of your uretha. you might train a pain reliever like Uristat if that's the case.

If you are actually getting UTIs from spinning, I'd second the Vitamin C. Wear clean shorts and get out of them as soon as you're done with class. Empty your bladder before and after class.

I have recurring UTIs but they're not from cycling. The same preventions apply. You want to discourage the bacteria from
moving up your uretha to your bladder and to create an inhospitable environment for the bacteria, either with antibiotics, Vitamin C or cranberry. Take then at bedtime for the best results.