Recurring or Persistent Urinary Tract Infections

Most people with a vagina have experienced a urinary tract infection at some point in their lives.  But some of us have had wayyyy more than our fair share, and fall into a very frustrating cycle of UTI followed by antibiotics (possibly followed by yeast infection) followed by UTI followed by antibiotics, etc., etc.  If a person’s trigger is sex, this become an even bigger quality of life issue.  Many, many women struggle with this, and all the wiping from front to back and urinating immediately after sex is not enough to prevent some of these chronic cases.  This is on my list of things that should be shouted from the rooftop about East Asian medicine:  Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture can put chronic UTIs into remission.  Please spread the word.

There are many ways that bladder infections can manifest.  In the same way that Western medicine chooses the appropriate antibiotic for the appropriate bacteria, we choose our formulas based on exactly what your particular body is doing.  Do you get your UTI at a particular time in your menstrual cycle?  Do you get strong burning pain and discomfort, or are you more the type to just go more frequently even though nothing comes out and have a bloated sensation at the pubic bone?  Or maybe you go straight to blood in the urine, which can look pretty scary but the herbal solution to this problem, like the others above, was described thousands of years ago and is effective.

Some women, after a spate of infections, will have all the sensations of UTI, yet their urine shows no bacteria.  This may be due to previous infections creating irritating scar tissue in the wall of the bladder, or due to biofilms that shelter the bacteria as it makes its life within little biofilm apartments, inside of you but separate.  People in this category usually receive the diagnosis of interstitial cystitis, which is considered a bladder pain syndrome.  In these cases, antibiotics are no longer appropriate or effective.  Fortunately, this does not matter for Chinese medicine.  There were no labs to culture your urine when our treatment principles were developed, so we are always treating “difficult urination”.  And we can treat difficult urination whether or not it is interstitial cystitis or an actual UTI.

Antibiotics are an incredible, life saving medicine, and will treat an acute UTI effectively and prevent you from dying a very ugly death due to a simple bladder infection traveling to your kidneys.  It is my personal experience that antibiotics are far superior in treating one-off, acute infections than our herbs.  But if you or someone you love fall into this other category of frequent, chronic, or resistant urinary tract infections, please get in touch.  There is so much we can do to return your body to full health.

Chrysanthemum, chamomile, eyes, and herbal safety

I picked my daughter up from daycare the other day and found myself studying the face of the lovely woman who makes her home a second home to my daughter and others. She looked different to me, in a way that I couldn’t identify but made me wonder why her features weren’t matching the image of her in my mind’s eye.  The next day I understood what I was seeing differently-- she had a red rash around her eyes and the area was puffy. “Tita Annie,” I asked “what’s going on with your eyes? Do they itch?” and she explained to me how she has eye rashes that come and go, that they are uncomfortable and last for a few days.  She was gesturing to them while she was explaining, and her husband, standing near-by, chided her not to touch them. Clearly they were both very familiar with this annoying rash. I told her I would be back shortly with some ju hua that would fix her problem.  

I dropped my daughter home and biked back with a mason jar of some ju hua, chrysanthemum flowers.  In the parts of America that have winters we know chrysanthemum morifolium as the multi-colored annuals that are put out around Halloween time.  In East Asian medicine, it is the yellow or white flowers that are used. I instructed her to boil a few for 10-15 minutes, drink the infusion, and put the steeped flowers, once cooled, on her eyes.  This was a Friday. I didn’t see her again until the following Monday, where she reported exactly what I was expecting: in about a day her eyes were fine. I have yet to see ju hua not work its magic.  In our medicine, it is known for being the number one choice for any type of eye irritation or discomfort. It also expels wind, which was indicated in this example because Tita Annie’s eyes itch and the condition comes and goes.  I used it when my daughter caught pink-eye at 9 months from her older cousins (in addition to breast milk; lactating mothers have the most superior treatment in this situation), and it worked like a charm. I was surprised that my daughter even ate the steamed and cooled flowers off of her high chair tray.  Though to be fair, she was also trying to eat rocks at that phase in her life.  

It is important to know that you should only get ju hua from the most reputable source. An executive of one of the most-trusted herbal companies shared with me that they reject many ju hua suppliers as this is an herb that tends to test positive for heavy metals.  Spring Wind is very rigorous with their testing and sourcing, as is Mountain Rose, who has not carried ju hua for some time now.

Here in Southern California, there is an alternative from the same family that can be picked up at the farmer’s market: chamomile.  One of my Mexican patients tipped me off to the traditional use of manzanilla in her home country.  It is also a member of the Astaracea family, family of origin to so many flower medicinals.  I have yet to use this clinically, so cannot report back. But maybe you have used chamomile for eye problems and can share your experience in the comments below?