Let’s back to the question from the very beginning: why do women experience more frequent UTIs when they enter menopause or post-menopause? I think the main cause is hormone issues, especially for those women with estrogen dominance syndrome. Estrogen dominance is a condition where a woman can have deficient, normal, or excessive estrogen, but has little or no progesterone to balance its effects in the body. There are some hormone receptors in the bladder and they are turned off due to hormone imbalance, especially with estrogen dominance syndrome. When these hormone receptors are turned off in the bladder, they affect PH balance in the bladder, so the PH level rises, which promotes the growth of bad bacteria in the bladder and causes UTIs, such as E. coli bacteria. Today our environment is loaded with environmental estrogens such as petroleum-based solvents and plastics. These foreign chemicals compete with the natural hormone receptors in our body. As a result, progesterone is squeezed out of the body. Now you understand why estrogen dominance syndrome is becoming more and more prevalent among women. Can antibiotics resolve this issue? The answer is NO.

How to resolve estrogen dominance syndrome and balance your hormones? From a dietary perspective, it is important to follow a clean and healthy diet and limit gluten, dairy, and sugar. Today, our wheat products are hybridized, therefore gluten is considered a foreign compound to the gut and damage intestine linings. Did you know that 70% of immune cells are located in your gut? Your gut health is critical for your immune function. Dairy products are also inflammatory to the gut, think about what are in the dairy products: growth hormones and antibiotics. Did you know that cow’s milk is allowed to have feces in it? Most cow’s milk has measurable quantities of herbicides, pesticides, dioxins, and a variety of powerful antibiotics in it.  Refined sugar contributes to chronic inflammation in the body because it triggers inflammatory responses in the body. To limit foreign estrogens from our environment, you can incorporate phytoestrogen-rich food into your diet. These phytoestrogens have much smaller structures than environmental estrogens, they can occupy the hormone receptors in our body to kick these foreign estrogens out of our body. Foods rich in phytoestrogens provide a wide range of health benefits, including the following: relieve PMS and menopause symptoms, such as hot flashes and night sweats; prevent osteoporosis; help balance hormones and reduce estrogen dominance syndrome; prevent cancers, such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, and bowel cancer; lower risks of cardiovascular disease, obesity, metabolic syndrome, and type 2 diabetes. On the other hand, these environmental estrogens are toxins to our body and increase the workload for the liver and other organs to break down and get rid of them. Mother nature always has the wisdom to protect us from invaders. Here are a few examples of phytoestrogens: flax seeds, sesame seeds, peanuts, almonds, cruciferous vegetables, apples, dried fruits, etc. It is a good idea to limit environmental estrogens such as xenohormones, including plastics, petroleum-based cosmetics, commercial deodorants, perfumes, and commercial detergents.

Here are more tips on balancing your hormones.

You can also consider using a wild yam cream to balance estrogen dominance syndrome, wild yam contains diosgenin, which is a compound that has properties similar to the human hormone progesterone. Wild yam cream has been used to treat a wide range of menopause-related issues, it also helps balance your hormones. Your skin is the largest organ and you should take advantage of it.

Another wonderful remedy is castor oil, it can penetrate deep into your skin and heal your internal organs. Castor oil contains therapeutic components including fatty acids, flavonoids, phenolic compounds, amino acids, phytosterols, etc. These compounds provide a variety of healing benefits including anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antibacterial, antioxidant properties. Castor oil packshelp heal the damaged liver, promote healthy gut functions, regulate bowel functions, balance hormones, relieve PMS and menopause symptoms, regulate menstruation and reduce menstruation-related cramps, shrink cysts and fibroids in breasts and ovaries, boost your immune system, improve your sleep quality, and reduce anxiety and depression. What is even better is that the anti-inflammatory action of castor oil acts as pain relief and prevents the recurrence of bladder infection as well.

Regardless of the culprits, UTI is a treatable condition. Here are some natural remedies to treat UTIs or prevent their recurrence.