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The Pantry Pharmacy Posts

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Supplies You’ll Need

Posted in Cleansing, Immediate UTI Treatment, Infection Killing Protocol, Spending Wisely, and Supplements

I’m putting this in a pinned blog post, since I realized that it isn’t very noticeable as a page when you’re on a mobile device.

Olive Leaf Extract: My favorite is Vitacost, because it’s the best quality and price. Here’s the Vitacost link. This Swanson Super Strength is the best one sold on Amazon, next to Vitacost, which is more expensive there than on the Vitacost site.

Raw garlic: (Any grocery store produce section: buy the heads, not the stuff in the jars)

Fresh baking soda from the store: The stuff you have lying around the house is almost guaranteed to taste horrid, because it absorbs odors.

Lemon juice: You’re going to want a big bottle, or lots of lemons and a juicer.

Cayenne pepper: (Any grocery store spice aisle: the capsules are unnecessary. Mix the loose powder into a spoonful of honey, instead. If you take this and feel increased irritation, discontinue use; it’s not helpful against the type of bacteria you have.)

Oil of oregano: I used the Vitacost liquid and filled empty capsules with it, but they’re out of that, as of this writing (4/5/17). I should think that the stuff in the capsules would work, too. Use for E. coli infections AFTER a cleanse, alongside OLE. It’s much more effective in the bladder once you’ve gotten any intestinal Candida out of the way. Here’s a reputable brand, on Amazon.

Vitamin C: I’ve had recent experience with this absolutely slaughtering a staph infection deep in my skin: if you have a staph UTI, go for it. Any standard ascorbic acid from the grocery store is fine: look for 1000 mg capsules like these. Or this powder that dissolves in water.

Activated charcoal: ⇐ Click for the good stuff. You can get these in capsules from a local store, but in the quantities you’ll want to take to cleanse your gut and prevent future UTI’s, the loose powder form is far more cost-effective. It’s completely odorless and tasteless: all you have to do is stir it into a glass of water and chug it. You can also make poultices from it for skin infections, wounds, and for a sore urethra. If you’re determined to buy the capsules, these are the best ones: they’re 500 mg, when the store ones are generally 260 mg.

Coconut oil: This is what you want to use as a base for vaginal treatments for current infections, and for preventive maintenance.

Cinnamon/Ginger: (You can grate a fresh ginger root from the store, or get a jar of powdered ginger or cinnamon in the spice aisle. Warning: About 2% of UTI’s are caused by a strain of E. coli that responds very negatively to ginger and turmeric. If you take either and feel increased bladder pressure, discontinue immediately. That strain also responds badly to cayenne pepper.)

UTI tests: These are so much cheaper online than in the store, it’s ridiculous. Get the 10 parameter ones so you can monitor All The Things.

Here’s the link for 8 parameter strips for those of you in the U.K. 

HCL is imperative if you have low stomach acid, which you probably do. Nothing you take will work like it should if your stomach isn’t making enough acid. HCL is replacement acid that will vastly improve your digestion and absorption.

Probiotics: Ladies, I tried this kind right here, and I’m IN LOVE. I talk about what it has in it in this post, and I wasn’t kidding. It’s awesome sauce, with a side of fanfreakin’tastic. It went Search and Destroy on bad guys in my hoohah that a coconut bullet didn’t reach, because those two Lacto strains go all Delta Force strike team up in there. Place it high at bedtime, because you want them staying in your lady cave and not going spelunking in your urethra.

For gut repair after repeated antibiotics: L-glutamine to regenerate your gut lining, and pair this probiotic with Femdophilus.
Also, licorice helps your stomach lining, your acid production, and your adrenals, all of which benefits your gut.
Digestive enzymes would also be a good idea until you’ve re-established a healthy probiotic population in your regenerated gut lining.

Featured Post

Killing a UTI: Phase II

Posted in Infection Killing Protocol

big-guns

Yes, that’s right. We’re bringing out the big guns, now.

By this time, you should have been following the recommendations outlined in the Phase I post for at least 3 days, and you may be getting headaches, nausea, and hopefully, loose stools from Candida die-off. Your UTI pain should be alleviated by 30-40%, as well.

With your strong OLE you bought online in hand, you can start taking it with every meal. With Vitacost OLE (500 mg capsule with 90 mg oleuropein in it) you can take..

  • 2 with breakfast
  • 1 with lunch, and
  • 1 with dinner

..on the first day, and see how you feel at the end of the day. You may experience an increase in die-off symptoms. For nausea, you can drink a glass of baking soda water to settle your stomach in 10 minutes, but for the headache you’ll just have to stay well-hydrated and soldier through. If you feel pretty good, take 1 more capsule before bed, and in the morning take..

Featured Post

How to Read and Understand Your UTI Test Results

Posted in Useful Tips

It sounds simple enough when you look at the box, but you’d be surprised.

First of all, if your infection isn’t raging out of control, you may not get any results at all unless you test first thing in the morning, because neither leukocytes nor nitrites have built up enough in your urine for the reagent to pick up on them. So if you feel like you have something, but you take a test and don’t see anything, wait till first thing the next morning to get a true read.

Secondly, nitrites are more easily flushed out of your urine, (they take 4 hours to build up in it) so you can feel something coming on and take a test in the afternoon and only see leuokocytes, (the top one that turns tan-purple) making you think that you have a gram positive infection, and then you can take something for it and test again the next morning, and see only nitrites (The one that turns pink).
I wish I had a picture of my expression when this happened to me.

Featured Post

Killing a UTI: Phase III

Posted in Infection Killing Protocol

If you’ve done everything outlined in Phases I and II and you still have trace leukocyte test results you can’t seem to shake, the best course of action is to increase your raw garlic intake.
I know, not what anyone wants to hear, right? But, it works, and you only have to do it for 3 days. Increase by one clove per meal throughout the day, while still doing everything you’ve been doing, then get a good grip on your courage and take 3 good-sized cloves before bed. No cheating with those skinny little inner cloves, now. I can see you. Ò_Ó

Y’all will be delighted to hear that ‘more garlic’ is Old and Busted, and ‘oregano oil’ is New Hotness!

Featured Post

Deciphering OLE Supplement Labels

Posted in Spending Wisely, Supplements, and Useful Tips

image

So, you’re at the local hippie store trying to find some OLE, and this looks good, right? It says 18% right there in black and white! This is what you’re going to see on the store brand OLE labels.

At first glance, you’d think you’re holding some quality OLE in your hot little hands, but look again at that label. See how it’s split into olive leaf extract, and olive leaf?
Those are 400 mg capsules, and they have 215 mg of olive leaf extract with 18% oleuropein, and 185 mg of olive leaf, which is basically useless filler.

What you’re really holding is about 9% oleuropein, total. Those 400 mg capsules have 38.7 mg of active ingredient. To contrast, Vitacost OLE, my favorite, has 90 mg of oleuropein in a 500 mg capsule, for a true 18% active ingredient.

Many health food stores carry Gaia brand in addition to a store brand, and guess what % of active ingredient that has?

Featured Post

The Deadly Duo: UTI’s and Candida

Posted in UTI Causes

lady-tramp-siamese-cats-main

Something most people don’t realize is that virtually every case of UTI coexists with and is exacerbated by a case of intestinal Candida overgrowth. The UTI itself may even have been indirectly caused by Candida.

What happens is, you get your first UTI, for whatever reason. Like any normal person, you take antibiotics for it. Presto, infection’s gone. You may or may not get a vaginal yeast infection afterward, which you may treat topically, and you may take probiotics and think you’re fine, intestinally. Especially if you took Diflucan, because if you take that, you’re alright, right?

Wrong.

Featured Post

Hostile Terrain: Vaginal Health and Recurring UTI’s

Posted in UTI Causes, and Vaginal Health

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(For obvious reasons, I have to get creative if I want to use any pictures on this blog. That one is of the high-altitude Chilean desert.)

Many of the women who contact me about curing their UTI’s naturally are at their wit’s end because they get a new UTI every time they have sex. Talk about a mood-killer, right?

There are 3 factors at play, here, in order of likelihood:

  1. Bacteria present in vagina
  2. Bacteria present in the region of the rectum
  3. Bacteria present on male, fondly known as the Poison Penis.

I’ve discussed what causes #2 here: this post is about how to deal with #1.
Normally, a pathogen that finds its way to your lady parts is unable to make a happy home there, due to the presence of beneficial bacteria and an overall healthy vaginal environment. After a round or two of antibiotics, though, the balance of vaginal flora is skewed and both Candida and pathogens like Gardnerella (causes BV), Klebsiella, E. coli, staph and many more, are able to flourish there. After that, it’s a hop and a skip to your urethra.
I’m not breaking out the ruler, because my thirst for knowledge goes only so far, but we’re talking about half an inch or so from vagina to urethra. Easy peasy for even a couch potato of a pathogen.

The key to restoring vaginal health naturally and effectively is…

Featured Post

The pH Connection: Or, Why I Never Recommend Cranberry Juice

Posted in Diet, Immediate UTI Treatment, Infection Killing Protocol, and Useful Tips

There’s a great deal of confusion surrounding the issue of whether your urine pH should be acidic or alkaline, when you have a UTI.
Most people think that it should be more acidic, largely because they hear that cranberry juice is good for a UTI and that’s very, very acidic.
Also, if they put lemon juice in their water and feel better, they think the lemon juice acidified their urine. More on that, in a bit.
If you’ve used cranberry juice, and it seemed to get better, and then it got worse, this is why…(the link is a very worthwhile read)

..cranberry produces hippuric acid in the urine…Putting hippuric acid into the urine initially kills off the bacteria that have thinner acid-susceptible cell-walls, leaving only thicker-skinned acid-resistant individuals to multiply and pass on their resistant genes.

Therefore, you feel better initially, and then the toughest bacteria take over, and you actually get worse, because the surviving bacteria are now more resistant to anything you take, including antibiotics. Fortunately, this isn’t irreversible, so if you’ve experienced this, don’t freak out.