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Dr Dana Churchill Webinar About Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)
Transcript
Hi, it’s Dr. Dana Churchill. Today, I want to do a quick webinar on urinary tract infections (UTIs), something that I’ve seen a lot in my practice recently, especially during COVID times when immune systems were very weak. The immune systems were being weakened incredibly badly for a lot of reasons. We can talk about a few things.
What is a Urinary Tract Infection?
So, what is a urinary tract infection? Usually, women have them most of the time. A lot of menopausal women have them as well because a decreased amount of estrogen can increase the bacteria adhering to the ureters. Typically, bacteria with some kind of virulence will adhere to your ureters and cause an infection in your genital urinary (GU) area. It can cause frequent urination, urgency upon urination, burning, and a lot of pain. It can even cause a fever, and your whole body will feel horrible because it’s a systemic inflammation in the lower part of your body, recruiting most of the lymph nodes down there, and the immune system will go after it pretty hard.
Weakened Immune Systems
Unfortunately, in our environment nowadays, certain types of people, mostly women, but also elderly women and even younger women, have immune systems that are very compromised. We’re seeing this with the increased prevalence of cancers, especially in women with breast cancer, reproductive cancers, and other types of cancer. I believe that immune systems are being suppressed so heavily. The gut is probably the major area where immune systems are being suppressed, with gut dysbiosis and leaky gut syndrome from food sensitivities causing lots of inflammation in the body, particularly in the gut.
Immune System and Mitochondria
I always ask my patients about their sugar consumption, alcohol intake, and fast-food habits because these are major groups, I see hurting people in many ways, especially in blunting the immune system. The immune system is incredibly important, and hormones can control it as well. We’re finding out new research saying that mitochondria, which make your ATP (energy), are crucial for the immune system. That’s why we need NAD, and we do NAD IVs and injections for athletes and others to increase the immune system.
Types of Patients and Treatment Approaches
Elderly Patients with Chronic UTIs
I want to paint a picture of the two types of patients I’ve seen recently. One is the elderly who get chronic UTIs and are put on antibiotics, which probably clear up the infection if it was caused by bacteria. However, UTIs are not always bacterial. You should culture it, do a full UA, and a CBC to look at your white cell count. If it’s really high, it might indicate a UTI or something going on in the urinary area or the kidneys. Sometimes you may need to go to urgent care immediately.
Menopausal Women with Blunted Immune Systems
The elderly or menopausal women might have immune systems that have been blunted. To treat this, I would try to get them off antibiotics carefully. We use ozone as a major killer of different kinds of bugs, including cancer cells. Ozone IVs and vaginal ozone treatments can be very effective. Along with that, I use an antimicrobial tincture with 26 different herbs, including berberine and garlic, as well as Uva Ursi, Juniper, and Echinacea for UTIs.
In summary, understanding urinary tract infections (UTIs) causes, symptoms, and treatments, especially in women with compromised immune systems, is crucial. Addressing gut health and dietary habits is significant. Innovative therapies like ozone treatment and antimicrobial tinctures provide alternatives to antibiotics.
