It makes them miserable. If you go to your doctor at the first sign of symptoms, she'll test your urine for bacteria and will prescribe a short-term course of antibiotics. But before your bladder has a chance to get fouled up, here are some ways to prevent UTIs. Catch a cranberry . For years, doctors have recommended sipping cranberry juice to ward off UTIs, observes Mark Monane, M.D., instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School who specializes in internal medicine, geriatrics and clinical pharmacology.
Evidence shows that the remedy can work.
There seems to be something in cranberry juice that stops the bacteria from sticking to the urethra and bladder. In several studies on bacterial growth in the bladder, Dr. Monane has had successful results using Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice Cocktail. Although they are not pure cranberry juice, the cranberry drinks do the job of keeping your bladder clean. After sex, head for the toilet. Since intercourse can drive bacteria from the area around the rectum and vagina into the urethra, urinating afterwards gives you a chance to flush it away, says Alice Stollenwerk Petrulis, M.D., director of clinical nephrology at Metrohealth Medical Center and associate professor of medicine and reproductive biology at Case Western Reserve University, both in Cleveland.