04/12/2018 / By Jessica Dolores
It’s a feeling many women are familiar with. They rush to the nearest bathroom to empty their bladder. They try to pass off urine but can’t. The urine comes in trickles. And when it does, the pain is unbearable. The mild burning sensation is scary.
The culprit: Urinary tract infection or UTI. Urologists often prescribe antibiotics. But some infections have grown resistant to repeated antibiotic use.
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have good news for UTI patients. The scientists have come up with an alternative to antibiotics — galactoside, a modified version of galactose, a sugar molecule found in urinary tissues. Researchers found that bacteria in the bladders and kidneys of mice with galactoside decreased a hundredfold. The number of bacteria went down a thousandfold when mice were treated with mannoside and galactoside. Mannoside is a modified form of the sugar molecule mannose.
Unlike antibiotics, which kill off all bacteria, galactosides and mannosides flush out disease-causing agents in the area of the body where they can do damage. Researchers say flushing out bacteria is better than forcing them to die. The latter method puts the body in danger of hosting new forms of bacteria that have evolved from previous ones. (Related: Antibiotics for UTI infections: Here’s what works without resorting to dangerous drugs.)
Meanwhile, UTI sufferers can seek relief from natural remedies that, unlike antibiotics, do not put them at risk for drug resistance and side effects.
These natural remedies are:
Left unchecked, UTI can damage the kidneys for good, lead to life-threatening infections called sepsis, and urethral narrowing in men. It’s best to prevent it before it’s too late.
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Tagged Under: alternative medicine, alternative to antibiotics, antibiotic alternatives, antibiotic resistance, antibiotic use, Antibiotics, bacteria, bladder, bladder irritants, galactose, galactoside, kidney health, mannoside, resistance to antibiotics, sepsis, urethral narrowing, Urinary Tract Infection, UTI