How to stop recurring UTIs

If you’ve read my story, you’ll know teenage me had a face full of acne and a lineup of dermatologists all armed with one magical solution: antibiotics. And not just a short course — I was on them for years. Yep, years.

My skin may have cleared, but my gut? Wrecked. And when your gut’s wrecked, everything else starts falling apart — energy, hormones, immunity... the whole system goes haywire. (Spoiler alert: histamine overload is still throwing a party I didn’t RSVP to.)

Turns out, your gut makes up 80% of your immune system. So basically, I was nuking my defenses while trying to “fix” my face. 🙃

The problem? I was chasing symptoms, not the root. My liver was crying for help, and I was handing it another prescription.

But here’s the good news: something deep down kept whispering, this isn’t the way. So I started listening to my gut (literally), and that led me to homeopaths, naturopaths, biochemists, integrative and functional doctors — the people who look at the whole picture.

And guess what? They all said the same thing. More importantly — they helped me heal.

Now, thanks to that gut chaos, I entered the wonderful world of recurring thrush and UTIs — like a game of medical whack-a-mole. Knock one down? The other pops right up. Again and again. Cue the antibiotics. Again. 🙃

Travel made it worse — as it does. Different foods, more wine, less sleep… and boom: another UTI souvenir. I started dreading holidays, not for the packing, but for the inevitable “hello, bladder fire” moment.

But in my 40s, I finally got handed a little nugget of wisdom — from a doctor, no less — who learned it from a patient (as the best remedies often come). She tried it herself, it worked, and now? She passes it on like a secret handshake for women who are done with antibiotics.

Ready?

👉 Raw garlic.
Not in a capsule. Not aged or fermented. Just plain old garlic — 2 to 3 cloves, depending on size. Preferably organic and purple skin one if possible.

Here’s how I do it: I slice it up and put it on toast with butter. Boom — garlic bread with purpose. Tastes strong, works fast. My daughters now use it too, and it’s never failed us.

Bonus? Garlic breaks down biofilms — those sneaky bacterial bunkers that cause chronic UTIs. Let me explain succinctly how they work :

When you keep getting the same UTI over and over, it’s usually not “bad luck” — it’s biofilm. Let me explain:

🦠 Why Your UTI Keeps Coming Back (Blame the Slime)

Bacteria are clever little beasts. When they feel threatened — like from repeated rounds of antibiotics — they don’t just disappear. They get sneaky.

They build something called a biofilm: a slimy, protective fortress made from sticky little “hands” that latch onto the walls of your bladder, gut, or wherever they’ve settled in. Inside that slime bunker, the bacteria are safe, multiplying in peace while your antibiotics can’t reach them.

So what happens? The infection doesn’t go away — it hides. Then the moment your immune system drops its guard (hello stress, sugar, or travel), the same bacteria rear their ugly heads again.

That’s why it’s not really a new infection. It’s the same old squatters coming out of hiding — over and over.

Garlic is one of the very few things that can actually destroy biofilms — and here’s how it does it:

Garlic breaks those little hands.
No hands, no grip — no biofilm.

Once the bacteria lose their hold, your body can finally flush them out — and the garlic helps do that too. It’s kind of a one-two punch: kick ‘em out and keep ‘em out.

And yes, you might smell like a pasta dish — but you’ll feel like a superhero.

So no, it’s not magic. It’s just really effective.
And slightly smelly. But worth it.

I haven’t had a UTI since I started on the garlic. Not even felt any initial symptoms. I imagine I’ve destroyed those pesky biofilms finally! I just take garlic for prevention once or twice a week and for all the magical powers it has.😉

And because, let’s be honest, it’s kind of badass to solve a UTI with toast. And that’s my excuse to treat myself with some toast.😏

🧄 My UTI Protocol (Backed by Experience, Not Hype)

Here’s what I did the moment I felt that familiar twinge:

• 2–3 raw garlic cloves a day (depending on size)
  I sliced them and ate them on toast with butter — think of it as medicinal garlic bread. It tastes strong, but works fast. I would do that until it passed, usually by the next day but I will take the garlic for at least 3 days. And then maybe 2 or 3 days later just to make sure. 

• D-Mannose powder (I always have it in the house just in case)
  This natural sugar sticks to the E. coli (the most common UTI-causing bacteria) and helps flush them out through your urine. It’s like Teflon for your bladder lining — the bacteria can’t hang on.

• I also drank loads of water, or nettle or dandelion tea, no sugar, and no alcohol while I was clearing it. I also would take alkala N or bicarbonate of soda just to make the body alkaline. Bacteria doesn’t like that. You should drinks lots to flush the little pests out.

If caught early, it usually clears up within a day or two — no antibiotics, no drama.

💧 What is D-Mannose, and Why Does It Work?

D-Mannose is a natural sugar (kind of like glucose, but different) that your body doesn’t really use for energy — it just passes right through you.

But here’s the magic: certain bacteria, especially E. coli — the main troublemaker behind most UTIs — love to stick to it. When you take D-Mannose, it travels through your urinary tract, and the bacteria stick to it instead of sticking to your bladder walls.

Then? You pee it all out.
Simple, painless, and kind of brilliant.

It doesn’t kill bacteria (so it won’t wreck your gut like antibiotics do), it just flushes them out before they can settle in and cause mayhem.

It’s especially helpful at the very first sign of symptoms — and many women use it preventatively when they know they’re more prone (like after intimacy, travel, alcohol, or sugar-heavy meals).

Dandelion or nettle leaf tea are good for the urinary tract to help flush things out. Always drink these unsweetened and lots of it. The d-Mannose in Cranberry juice won’t work because  it will have sugar in it and sugar feeds the bacteria.

This isn’t medical advice — just what’s worked for me and my daughters. No side effects, no gut damage, no rebound infections. No other natural option worked as well as this. Believe me, I tried them all.