6 Ways To Prevent A UTI Besides Peeing Post-Sex
There’s really no way to accurately describe the pain of a UTI to somebody who’s never had one.
Once you’ve had a UTI, you probably swear to yourself that you’re never going to get one again. But, who can really remember to pee after every late night booty call? Not to mention how running to the bathroom after sex kind of kills the whole cuddling mood.
If you’re prone to UTIs like I am (I’ve been getting them since age four), you’re probably wondering if there’s another way to decrease your chances of waking up with a uncomfortable needing-to-pee feeling every single time you forget to hit the bathroom post sex.
After talking with my urologist, I found out that there are a few things you should be doing if you’re prone to UTIs. I haven’t had a UTI since following her suggestions, and I haven’t even needed to resort to #5 yet.
1. Drink A Shit Ton Of Water
Have you ever noticed that drinking a lot of water is essentially the solution to everything? Want to lose weight? Drink water. Want to ditch your hangover? Drink water. Want to win a million dollars and take a trip to Bali? Drink water.
Just like water isn’t the cure-all for weight loss, it’s not the cure-all for UTIs, but it helps a lot. The way my urologist described it to me was as if the UTI bacteria was a bug, which sounds really gross, but made sense.
Essentially, once you start to contract a UTI, a bug enters your bladder. If you don’t drink enough water, the bug starts to breed and more bugs litter your bladder. But, if you drink lots of water, you have the potential to flush the bacteria (a.k.a. bug) out of your system before it can reproduce.
2. Take A Daily Cranberry Pill
Every girl knows to drink cranberry juice when she’s feeling UTI-like systems, but cranberry juice can’t actually cure your UTI (although it can sometimes decrease the pain). Instead, cranberry juice can prevent them from occurring. So instead of drinking juice, I started taking cranberry pills on occasion when my bladder was feeling funky.
My urologist told me that if I’d been having recurring problems that I should start taking cranberry pills every day. While cranberry can’t do anything once you’ve already contracted a UTI, it can prevent the bacteria from attaching to the bladder walls if taken before a UTI is underway. Most people have few to no side effects since it’s an herbal supplement. You also don’t have to deal with the sugar that’s in cranberry juice because #teamfit.
3. Take a Probiotic
It’s been found that probiotics can prevent UTIs, and it’s super easy to get your daily fix. You can buy a probiotic pill from your local drugstore, or you can take a casual shot of kefir every morning. You know kefir? It is that “trendy” yogurt-esque drink that has tons of healthy shiz in it, including probiotics. It’s also said to help with asthma/allergies, prevent cancer, and is even (mostly) safe for lactose intolerant peeps!
4. Cut Back On The Caffeine
We’re not saying you should ditch coffee for good (unimaginable), but until you’re feeling less prone to UTIs, you should consider laying off of caffeine. Caffeine and coffee in particular have been shown to worsen UTI symptoms and cause bladder irritation.
5. Consider A Preventative Medication
If your main issue is that you still forget to pee after sex no matter how bad you know the side effects are, consider asking your doctor for a preventative medication like Macrobid. Instead of treating the UTI after the fact like you normally do (aka rushing to the doctor wanting to tear your vagina out), Macrobid (or something similar) will treat you before the infection. Macrobid can definitely cause side effects, like nausea or itching, but depending on how bad your UTIs are, it could be a small price to pay.
6. Sorry, You Still Gotta Pee Post-Sex
If you can pee after sex, you still should. All of the above treatments will help, but at the end of the day there’s a reason why peeing post sex is the end all, be all to not getting a UTI. Just tell bae you gotta hit the bathroom real quick and assume the cuddling positions right afterwards. I’m sure your boo will understand.
