Female Care

By Jane Dee

A urinary tract infection (UTI), and particularly one that recurs, can be the bane of a woman’s life. The symptoms are often acutely painful, and if your infection is one that recurs only a short while after you’ve managed to clear it up, it can also be frustratingly annoying! There are no home remedies that will effectively treat a UTI; only a course of antibiotics from your doctor will do that. However, there are a number of simple steps a woman can take to help prevent infection recurring.

Urinary tract infection usually occurs when bacteria enter the opening of the urethra and then multiply in the urinary tract. Women are more prone to UTI because we have shorter urethras and therefore it’s easier for bacteria to enter. Some symptoms of UTI are back pain, blood in the urine, pain on urination, and an inability to urinate despite a persistent urge.

In order to help prevent bacteria from entering the urethra, it’s important to keep scrupulously clean and to wipe from front to back. Emptying the bladder after sex will also help flush out any bacteria that might have managed to enter the urethra during intercourse. Studies have shown that women who use a diaphragm or whose partners use a condom with spermicidal lubricant are more at risk of developing a UTI than those women who use other forms of birth control.

Cranberry juice has taken on almost legendary status where the prevention of UTI is concerned, and not without good reason. Eighty-five percent of UTIs are caused as a result of E. coli bacteria. Cranberry juice produces hippuric acid in the urine which acidifies the urine and inhibits the adherence of E. coli cells to the lining of the bladder, thereby reducing the risk of infection. Look for 100 percent cranberry juice which is usually sold in health shops; the regular cranberry juice sold in supermarkets isn’t concentrated enough and contains a lot of sugar. Cranberry juice won’t clear up a UTI but it’s a good preventative measure if you suffer from repeated attacks.

Drinking water will also help flush out any impurities in the bladder so keep up your water intake at all times—before, during, and after a UTI.

Herbs have magical powers to treat the various diseases that we suffer from, in our regular life. It might be unbelievable, but also has a cure for the most common problem that all women suffer from in their life time. Yes, you guessed it right, it is menopause.

Until a few years back, women would suffer from the various symptoms that are related to menopause with not many medications to help them overcome the problems. But, the various studies conducted on the herbs finally gave a solution, a cure for the various symptoms and hence gave a ray of hope to all women suffering from some or the other type of problems caused due to menopause.
According to the studies, there are various natural herbs for menopause that are found to have certain effect on the estrogen levels in our body. With the actions of these herbs, the severity of the various symptoms of menopause is reduced to some extent. Thus they are categorized into two categories based on their chemical structure of the chemicals that are present in the herbs which act against the symptoms of menopause. These categories are:

• Estrogenic herbs: The herbs that are included under this category contain chemical structures of estrogen and thus are included in this category.
• Non-estrogenic herbs: The simple herbs that do not contain the chemical structure of estrogen are included under this category.

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Women are being warned they could damage their health with ‘unproven’ herbal remedies to treat menopausal symptoms.

Hundreds of thousands stopped HRT after health scares in favour of alternative therapies but there is ‘no strong evidence’ of their effectiveness, according to an independent review by experts.

Remedies such as black cohosh, red clover, Dong quai and ginseng are taken to ease hot flushes, sleeplessness and low sex drive because they are perceived as natural products without risk, says a report in the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin.

But editor Dr Ike Iheanacho warns they may not necessarily be safe.

He said: ‘In reality, however, herbal medicines have pharmacological actions, and so can cause unwanted side effects and have potentially dangerous interactions with other medicines, both herbal and conventional.’

The safety of such products has been ‘generally under-researched, and information on potentially significant herb-drug interactions is limited’, he added.

More than 200 alternative remedies exist, yet the review of 26 published studies found little good quality evidence of their effectiveness and safety when used through the menopause.

About 40 per cent of women seeking treatment for the menopause are estimated to use complementary therapies alongside – or instead of – Hormone Replacement Therapy.

Among those used are wild yam extract, chaste tree, hops, sage leaf, and kava kava which was banned in the UK after reports of liver damage.