I get UTIs a lot. I don’t drink enough water (which is really dumb, and I’m working on it, I swear); as a result, I often suffer from the horrible, my-body-will-never-be-right-again pain that anyone who has ever suffered a UTI knows about. I really am getting better — I drink cranberry juice and take cranberry tablets and keep water at my desk and pee after every single time I have sex because if I skip even just once for a post-coital cuddle, I get hit. And while my UTIs are definitely less frequent, they still happen occasionally. And they still suck.
Then my mother came across Azo Extra Strength Tablets. Because she is a good mother, she benevolently shared them with me. And oh, sweet lord, are these miracle pills. When I feel that old familiar feeling, I take the two pills, and within 30 minutes the terrible, burning, have-to-pee-all-the-time-but-nothing-will-come-out sensation subsides, and I can drink loads of water and “power it out.” Granted, it turns your pee fluorescent orange for about 24 hours (which can be an early-morning shock if you forgot you took one before going to bed), but it’s a good indicator of when the Azo has left your system. Azo suggests that you take two tablets three times a day for no more than two days — in my experience, if I take two pills twice over 24 hours I can get rid of the problem.
Now, I have to stress that I take these pills this when I feel the very first traces of discomfort, well before the issue becomes a full-fledged infection, as per the suggestion of my doctor. (I’ve gotten very sensitive to the early sensations of things going awry, which is a side effect of having the problem so often.) That said, if you have a UTI you should definitely see a healthcare professional and antibiotic up to keep it from turning into something more serious, like a kidney infection. But Azo is a great way to control the discomfort while you’re waiting to get to the doctor, or for the antibiotic to kick in.
It should be noted that I am by no stretch of the imagination a person of medical or scientific knowledge. However! I am a woman who has had her fair share of UTI-induced misery. If you, like me, are a frequent sufferer and can feel the fuckers from the onset, Azo may be a helpful preventative measure or, at the very least, offer a modicum of relief.
Azo Standard Max Strength Tablets, $8.99 at Drugstore.com.
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