BAD kidney infection

cost me 30 hours of work this pay period And fucked me up badly enough to scare the shit out of me, too.

I've been a big cola-holic for many years, & this scared me enough to give up all soda-pop drinks forever. No more rum & Coke, even! Maybe the occasional one wouldn't hurt me, but I love them too much to be moderate about it. No more.

2 questions, for anyone who might have some experience or expertise:

1--Any suggestions of things I can do (besides quitting the sodas & drinking lots more water) to prevent this ever happening again? &

2--Any suggestions for tasty things to drink that aren't BAD for you? I've found I like iced green tea with honey, & Lipton makes a tasty green tea with citrus flavor added. Water is great, but most tap water is BLAH at best. I'm making myself drink a lot of it anyway, but it would be nice to have some healthy options.

TIA

 

Just drink water. (and beer)

 

I too struggle with soda consumption. They make me feel horrible and the diet ones are even worse.

Cranberry juice is great and you can get the less sugar kind at the grocery store. I drink green tea sometimes but after one glass it nauseas me. It might be because it's a natural detoxifier.

If you can't tolerate cranberry juice on a regular basis, they make the pills that you can get at the health food store. Cranberry is good for your kidneys. I used to drink cranberry and vodka for that reason. I felt like I was leveling out the damage.
I went through a phase of not being able to tolerate plain water, I have no idea why because I was drinking about 2 liters a day before and all of the sudden, I just couldn't stand it for a while. I put a slice of lemon in it and a pack of splenda to make quick lemonade and that helped.

Homemade lemonade might work as would iced tea for this time of year.

Bottled Water in the fridge.... I find if I have it cold and handy I drink more. I know it's WATER and it's free, but I see it as I would spend the money on something else anyway if I were drinking other stuff, so why not use it for something that doesn't hurt ya....


Hope this helps and sorry to hear of your troubles.

 

i like those crystal lights on the go, just pour in a bottle of water and shake.

 

not anymore

 

Plu is right. UTI's flurish in urine with a high pH. Cranberry juice is very acidic, so it lowers the pH of your urine and doesn't allow the UTI grow well.

Crystal Light is not bad. I like Tropical Punch!

 

I'm glad that you're over the worst of it AK and are feeling better. I've had my share of kidney infections and damn, they're a bitch.

I'd be careful with drinks that contain any sugar substitutes as that is likely to put you right back to where you were - and you may as well be drinking the soft drink. I have the same battle with Equal sweetners and the damage that they are doing to my liver. I am an absolute convert of sparkling water - my God, it's good! I used to hate it - (my tastebuds were always looking for that sweet hit after a swig of it), but now I can barely drink anything but that. I'm not a fan of endless plastic bottles though and I'm thinking of getting a soda stream type machine so that I can carbonize my own tap (rain) water...hmmm.

In terms of prevention - you could get some kidney friendly tea (parsley or corn-silk), chilling it might make it more pallatable and have that instead.

Good luck chica!

 

who's ever heard of a good kidney infection?

 

How's the liver?

 

Thanks for all the input. I really like cranberry juice, so I'll make that a regular thing. I'm finding I really like various green tea combos, too. I need to be careful about sugar, & I don't want to complicate things with artificial sweeteners that can cause other problems.