D-Mannose, an effective treatment for UTI?

Hi there my small group of healers,

I have recently (re)discovered the Holy Grail of UTI infection treatments.

Basically, UTI's (Urinary Tract Infections ) are caused by E-Coli. E-Coli lives naturally in our bodies and the majority of your feces is made up of them. Normally your urinary tract is free from E-Coli, however there are a few ways that they can get inside the UT, one being poor hygiene and two sexual activity. Some people are more prone to them than others and luckily most men will never experience them (trust me your lucky). Basically E-Coli sticks like Velcro to our insides and like to live on the mucus membranes that are the fine lining of our insides. Our colon has a certain level of protection from them and the cell walls are sloughed off frequently. But in the UT there are no natural defenses and since E-Coli just love to stick and climb as well as multiply we can be in trouble rather quickly if they infest the UT, a small sensitive tube.

If your a woman, you know and dread this feeling... I felt one the UTI coming at 3 AM when it woke me with that all too familiar feeling. I promptly called the doctors office to try to get an appointment, and since I could not sleep I spent an hour online looking for relief. After work I drove to the store and purchased the products. I have had several of these infection in my life and have had some that were self treatable and some that went straight to my bladder and kidneys. I recommended only using this product if you have caught the infection early enough that you re not peeing blood. Based on my self assessment, the UTI that I was suffering from was just a day in, though annoying, it only really hurt during urination and created the sensation that you need to do even when you don't. (Disclaimer: go to the doctor if your peeing blood, and go quick if you like having kidneys, once you feel pain in your back you are in for a shot of penicillin and a lecture from your Dr.) Once I tell you how it works you will get the significance of when to use it.

Here is the solution, D-Mannose is a simple sugar found in berries like black, blue and strawberries. It is synthetically reproduced and sold in only a few select health food stores. I live in San Diego, and I had to drive an hour to get to a store that sold it. I bought two products that were offered, one was a natural remedy that included Cranberry extracts and other herbs, the other was a product called Cleartrack. They ranged in price between 28 and 38 dollars so I spent approximately $70 but trust me it was worth every penny. If you plan ahead you can get this product online for somewhere around $18 dollars. What a deal, I am ordering more before I post this so I never run out.

So how does D-Mannose help? Basically D-Mannose loves E-coli and sticks to it better than the E-Coli can stick to our mucus membranes, so when we drink a lot of it it tends coat the outside of the E-Coli and we are able to flush the E-Coli out of our system.

Treatment, as described on the bottle, Take one scoop (approximately 3/4 of a teaspoon) in a cup of room temperature water every 3 hours. I drank plenty of fluids along with it just in case.

The first product, contained (30 scoops) was a mixture as described above, and was grainy, stuck to the inside of the glass and was not palatable. So I tried the second, the ClearTrack, (comes with 50 scoops per bottle) which I think is the best, not only because you get more treatments out of it, but it completely dissolves in room temperature water, I felt it had little to no taste, but when I drank it in a concentrated dose it did not taste great.

The infection was still painful, so it does not take the edge off, and it took approximately 3 days to feel back to normal, although I took it two more days just in case. But it saved me from another round of antibiotics. Which by the way the last kind I got has the side effect of weakening your tendons and I did not notice until round three in one year. Nice, now my tendons crack every time I go down the stairs. (Thanks Big Pharma!)

Checking back, I have been UTI free for over a year and am grateful for D-Mannose.  No turning back for me.