Read about Day 1 here.
Using D-mannose to treat UTI: Day 2
First of all, I woke up three times during the night because I needed to go to the bathroom, of course. And every time I did, I drank half of a glass of water with D-mannose powder. I know, I know… kind of crazy. When I woke up for the first time around 2 AM it felt like my symptoms were a bit worse than before, so that was definitely a motivator to keep up with the routine.
By 11 AM in the morning my symptoms were similar to the night before: no lower abdominal pain but some pain right after urinating. So I took another round of apple cider vinegar, Vitamin C and Uva Ursi, and I kept drinking a glass of water with D-mannose per hour. By noon I run out of the powder! I think I was way too generous with the dosage the first day so I obviously over-portioned the sugar. The bottle says that it contains up to 40 doses of D-mannose. Panic is never good for a budget! I went to Sprouts yet again to buy another bottle ($28.99!). Antibiotics would be just $4 of co-pay…
Anyhow, armed with a new bottle of D-mannose I settled back into my routine: a glass of water with one tea spoon of the powder every hour.
Oh! I also decided to add more parsley into my diet. I will write more about it this weekend.
So anyhow, highlights of the day: my diarrhea is gone (maybe my body is adjusting to the D-mannose, maybe Pepto worked?), the pain is mostly gone with just a little bit of pain left right after urination. Not bad, huh? By the way, I did not call the pharmacy again. I am hopeful that I will not need to.
Around 3 PM I felt worse again. Not sure why and how, but the pains in the lower abdomen re-appeared. I was quite sad and thought that maybe my treatment is not working. On top of that I’ve got a headache. Again! I normally do not get headaches often so twice in the row is kind of strange. Ibuprofen helped with that.
8 PM and I am feeling better again. Going to bed soon and overall feeling hopeful that I am on the right track.
Using D-mannose to treat UTI: Day 3
Woke up couple times throughout the night, same as the last night 🙂 Also drank as much water with D-mannose every time when waking up as I could (1/2 of a glass or so).
The rest of the day has been quite uneventful. Repeated same morning “ritual”: apple cider vinegar, Vitamin C and Uva Ursi (“UT Support”) and made sure that I drank at least a glass of water with D-mannose every hour. Ate a whole bunch of parsley with a salad for lunch and took some extra Vitamin C.
It is 7 PM, day 3 and I am feeling quite fine (knock on wood…)!
I will be finishing up the bottle of D-mannose this week (today is Wednesday) and plan to reduce the dose but keep up with the high water intake.
I will report how I feel by the end of the week, but so far I am super glad I did this experiment! I am also glad that the pharmacy was so slow with filling my prescription. I would otherwise be already taking antibiotics. I am glad I did not!
Here is my summary:
1) I think D-mannose worked for me.
2) I am glad I did not have to take antibiotics!
3) Taking D-mannose is way more expensive (could be 10 times more!) than taking antibiotics (especially if you have insurance).
4) Antibiotics would normally give me an instant relief, D-mannose took 1 day to start working and 2 more days to clear up all symptoms. I guess if I had it right at the moment when I felt funny (a night before I woke up with a full blown UTI) it could work faster?
Here are the products that I used so far:
1) Baking soda
2) Garlic and parsley
3) Nature’s Way Uva Ursi, 480mg, 100 Capsule
4) Bragg Organic Raw Apple Cider Vinegar, 16 Ounce – 1 Pack
5) Now Foods D-mannose Powder, 3-Ounce
So much cheaper to buy on Amazon!!!!!
There is also a bulk size option and this is what I am going for now (just check the expiration date): BulkSupplements Pure D-mannose Powder (250 grams)
6) Nature’s Way Vitamin C 1000 with Rose Hips, 250 Capsules
Have you tried any of these products? What was your experience like? Please send me a comment so I know that I am not alone 🙂
Update from 05/20:
So here is an update, which I must share. Woke with a tightness in my left flank and an immediate thought: must be kidney pain! Later in the day felt some burning with urination. Time to go to a doctor, flank pain is not a joke.
As anticipated, the doctor took a urine sample (showed minor signs of infection) and suggested antibiotics. He checked me for other symptoms: fever, nausea, weakness, etc, that normally would go with a kidney infection but I felt fine. The doctor said that if not the tightness in my flank he would suggest to watch it for couple more days but he feels better putting me on antibiotics. He suggested that maybe bacteria sneaked up into the kidneys while my bladder got mostly cleared. Another version was that there is a different explanation for the tightness such as sleeping in a different pose that night. Anyhow, my biggest scare is kidney infection so I did not think twice and took the drugs. My suggestion: have D-mannose handy and take it preventive or with the first symptoms (I waited for over 12 hours) and be on the guard for any flank pain. I might have overreacted since it was my first time using D-mannose but it is important to set your limits and know when to act. As a general rule: if the symptoms do not go away within 3 days or you feel any tightness or pain in your back, please seek medical attention!
Update from 09/07:
Was just browsing my test results and glanced at my urine sample info from May.
I don’t know how I didn’t notice it the first time, but the truth is that I didn’t have E. coli in my sample! It was only Klebsiella!
The question is, could D-mannose decrease my symptoms if the UTI was caused by Klebsiella only or could I have had two types of bacteria and one of them (E. coli) was cleared by D-mannose?
Also attaching a screenshot of my previous (couple years ago) results with E. coli.
I am happy to report that this time I didn’t have E. coli.