Exploring the Surprising Link Between Celiac Disease and Recurrent UTIs

If you’ve ever suffered from a urinary tract infection (UTI), you know how painful and frustrating it can be. But did you know that UTIs can sometimes be linked to celiac disease and accidental gluten exposure?

In this episode, I dive into why this happens, how gluten triggers inflammation that may lead to UTIs, and what you can do to prevent them. I also share natural remedies that can help ease symptoms and support healing, alongside medical treatment.

If you’re experiencing frequent UTIs and can’t figure out why, this episode could be the missing piece of the puzzle. Tune in to learn how to protect your bladder health while staying committed to your gluten free lifestyle!

Find out how Ultimate Celiac System can support your Celiac journey here  https://belindawhelantraining.com/ultimate-celiac-system

Wish you could get gluten free meals on the table fast that the whole family will love? Check out Meal Plans Made Easy
https://belindawhelantraining.com/gluten-free-meal-plans-made-easy

Join my free community and grab your copy of 11 Mistakes People Make Living Gluten Free here https://www.belindawhelan.myflodesk.com/11mistakes

Check out my Daily Health Tracker here
https://www.belindawhelan.com/dailyhealthtracker

And I would love to connect with you on Instagram thehealthyceliac
 
If you have a spare moment, please pop over to Apple Podcasts and leave me a review. Thank you!
 
 
Music Credit bensound.com

Chapters

• 0:00 Link Between Celiac Disease and UTIs
• 4:22 Managing UTIs With Cranberry and Probiotics

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

If you've ever suffered from a urinary tract infection or a bladder infection, sometimes they're called it can actually be linked back to having celiac disease and accidentally consuming gluten. So on today's show, I want to talk to you about how you can avoid this from happening and how to treat it once you get a UTI. So if you've ever had a urinary tract infection, you know how painful it is. So what happens is it's an increased urgency to urinate, and it can be incredibly painful to do so, and often what happens is you go to the toilet and you pee, and then you get off the toilet and you have this sudden urge that you're going to absolutely burst and you have to go again. But then when you go back to the toilet, you can't actually pee because you haven't had anything to drink. But there's this severe pain and I can tell you it is horrendous. If you've ever had one, you know what I'm talking about. Now what happens is, with those of us that have got celiac disease, if you accidentally consume gluten, it causes an inflammatory response, right? So you get inflammation in your body and it can cause inflammation within your bladder and the urinary tract. So then it can lead to getting a UTI, which is no fun for anyone. So I thought it would be useful to share this information in case you keep getting frequent UTIs and you can't figure out why. You know you're doing all the right things that you probably know you should be doing which we'll talk about in a moment but you hadn't kind of related to, related it back to when you've accidentally consumed gluten and you've been gluten and the next thing you get a UTI. So something to be aware of and something to know about there, because, lo and behold, so many things are linked back to celiac disease. I used to get a lot of UTIs in the very early days of my diagnosis and I can reflect on that and see that it was me getting gluten and it was causing that issue, and at the time I had no idea that that was what was causing it. In my younger years I had been hospitalized with a kidney infection due to a UTI. So this is not something we want to mess around with.

Speaker 1: 2:48

So I do want to start this episode by saying please, please, consult with your medical practitioner. This is just some helpful advice that can help you in the meantime while you're waiting to get in to see a doctor. Okay, because unfortunately, many times you do need to take an antibiotic to deal with it, but there are ways to support it and help get rid of it quicker with some natural remedies, and I'm going to share those with you today. So one of the first things that I'm going to tell you is to drink so much water that you can't handle it like. Just keep drinking water because you want to flush out all that bad bacteria and, honestly, if you're going to have to be going to the toilet, you might as well be peeing something out, so you definitely want to be having some water in your bladder.

Speaker 1: 3:41

Resting is really important, like anything when you are unwell. The more you rest, the the better you get. I used to be a flight attendant and I was at work and I had a bladder infection or a UTI and it was dreadful. I was wearing stockings, I was on my feet, I had high heels, I had to look after all these customers on the plane. Like it was not pretty. I was back and forth to the to the toilet on the plane and it was horrendous. So don't go to work, stay home, look after yourself and, you know, rest as much as possible. You may need to use a heat pack to help with abdominal pain.

Speaker 1: 4:22

Paracetamol may be supportive, but get bicarb soda into you as quick as possible. A teaspoon in a glass of water, mix it up, scull it down. It's actually not as bad as what you would think. Ural sachets can be amazing as well, but I honestly think bicarb is more effective and tastes better. So very, very simple. It helps to neutralize the acidity in your body, so that can be very, very helpful.

Speaker 1: 4:52

Get yourself some cranberry concentrate, not cranberry juice. You want to be avoiding sugars because that will also feed the bacteria, so look for cranberry concentrate. It is a little bit tricky to find. I find it at my local health food store, not in the supermarket. If you go to the supermarket you may find it in a health section, but normally where all the juices are, you will just find cranberry juice, not concentrate. So that is really really good for helping with the UTIs. If you can't get hold of that, you can also get cranberry tablets. They're really good to take as well, so they can be quite handy to keep in your you know your medicine cabinet or keeping nearby if you are susceptible to getting UTIs quite often. Another great thing to drink is organic rose hip tea and that will help to reduce the acidity in your urine and it's quite pleasant and can feel quite nice to just sit back and enjoy some rose hip tea. So, again, you might want to keep some rose hip tea tea bags in your handbag or, you know, in your pantry so that you've got access to them at all times. If this is something that you keep, you know finding that it's recurring in your life. Taking a probiotic is fantastic as well, so there's strong evidence that they help with urological issues. So I would highly recommend that anybody with celiac disease is taking a probiotic on a regular basis, but up the ante if you do have a UTI, because they can certainly support you and the way that you're feeling and getting over that UTI quicker and easier.

Speaker 1: 6:25

All right now, what to avoid and what not to do when you have a UTI? The first one is to avoid alcohol at all costs. Don't need to be drinking that. It's dehydrating, it's not good for you. You need your body to heal, and same with tea and coffee, they are, you know, not the best thing to be drinking when you have a UTI. So stick to the water, stick to the rosehip tea, stick to the cranberry concentrate and you'll notice that you'll start to feel a lot better, a lot quicker. You also need to avoid fruit just while your body is healing from the UTI, because the sugars in fruit will feed the bacteria, and this goes without saying any sugary foods as well. So you know, sticking to a pretty basic diet until you feel better is pretty important. Pretty basic diet until you feel better is pretty important.

Speaker 1: 7:15

Also important to avoid tight clothing and synthetic. You want your body to be able to breathe. So I would say stick to some natural underwear and loose, fitting clothing, which will probably feel the need to do anyway, because it is uncomfortable and you want to be getting to the toilet quickly and easily, so that can be supportive as well. And some extra tips is always always go to the toilet after, and easily, so that can be supportive as well. And some extra tips is always always go to the toilet after having sex. That's super important, just to help flush everything out. Always empty your bladder completely when you go to the toilet. Don't rush things, just make sure you get everything out. This is just everyday life making sure you empty your bladder If you feel the urge to go to the toilet. Don't hold on to it. That can cause UTIs as well, because the bacteria from the urine can be going up your urinary tract and you don't want that. You need to be getting that urine out when you feel that urge to go to the toilet. Like I said, wearing natural underwear that can help as well, and drinking lots and lots of water every single day can support your urinary tract on a day-to-day basis.

Speaker 1: 8:15

Now I hope these tips have helped you. I hope that you can see that it's well worth sticking to a gluten-free diet 100% every day for life if you are suffering from UTIs, because it could be tracing back to those small amounts that might be sneaking into your diet and you don't want that. You don't want to be feeling this way. So I hope these tips are helpful and, as always, go see your doctor. You may need to get onto an antibiotic. Sometimes the first one you try may not help and you may need to go back and try a different one, but these tips will help you in the meantime. So thank you so much for listening. I hope this helps someone that's watching and listening to the episode. So thanks for tuning in and I look forward to talking with you again on next week's show. Have a great week, take care. Bye.