Will raw garlic help cure my UTI?

June 20, 2020 6:49 PM

There's some scientific evidence plus the ever-available first-person accounts on the internet of people using raw garlic to cure or advance healing of a UTI. But, I can't find anything evidence-based around how much to eat to harness its antimicrobial effects.

Of course you are not my doctors and I am getting care from my GP around this issue. But I'm at the one-month mark of feeling pretty crappy and have just started my fifth (!) round of antibiotics. I've been scouring the internet for low-risk interventions I can do to help knock this bug out.

Some things that may be relevant:

- I'm a 57-year-old female in a monogamous long-term relationship
- My urinalysis came back positive for ureaplasma, E-coli, and Proteus Mirabilis
- So far, I've been treated with Bactrim, Macrobid, Doxycycline, and Levaquin
- Due to timing and the initial urinalysis coming back negative for anything, for 3 weeks, my doctor was treating me with antibiotics that are usually effective for the most common microbes without knowing exactly what my was loose in my bladder
- Per the lab recommendation that accompanied the urinalysis, 3 of the 4 drugs I've been treated with would not have been effective against Proteus. They all would have been expected to be effective against the other two microbes
- The fourth antibiotic, Levaquin, was identified as one that Proteus was susceptible to but it didn't work. (Not to mention, it's a spicy meatball of a drug and I had to contact my neuro to have my seizure meds adjusted upwards temporarily)
- I started a seven-day course of Cipro today
- I'm allergic to Penicillin (as in break out in full body itchy rash for a few days so that's a no-go)

My GP doesn't have an issue with me eating raw garlic to try to boost the Cipro's effectiveness. She was neutral. So, now after scouring the internet, I'm finding published studies around it's effectiveness against microbes but little guidance around dosing. The scientific studies isolate the active ingredient in garlic and then put it up against cultured Proteus in the lab. Not exactly comparable to me chewing on garlic in my kitchen.

I'd be grateful for any personal stories of how you may have used garlic - and in what doses - to battle an infection, in particular a UTI. If it was Proteus, we're microbial soulmates. If you've used another low-risk home grown approach, I'm open to hearing about that too.

Right now, I'm finely chopping three cloves of garlic three times a day and swallowing them with copious amounts of water. I'm not chewing them. I can't even contemplate that. I only started this regimen last night and have yet to complete my third 'dose' for today. So, for today, I plan on a total consumption of 9 cloves of raw garlic. I can't believe I just typed that. That just sounds so excessive. But so does a one-month UTI.

Please be gentle and don't share any stories about 'my sister-in-law who had a UTI for 7 years...' I'm kinda desperate right now and stories of non-successes will just add to the anxiety soup I'm sitting in.

posted by MissPitts to Health & Fitness (10 answers total)

I'm afraid I've never seen any results to any infection in myself from garlic, though perhaps I never tried enough of it. But there are some other things to think about, too, if you aren't already doing them. One, use prescription topical estrogen (such as Estrace inserts and cream) to alleviate the changes in the urethra that come with menopause and make it so much harder to avoid or get over a UTI. Two, make very sure you're completely emptying your bladder every time: urinate as completely as possible, then get up and walk around the room, then try again, several times in a row.

A note of caution: excessive intake of garlic, like excessive intake of ginger, can decrease blood clotting significantly. Usually not a problem unless you're on blood thinners, just something to be aware of in case you experience any problems with it. Make sure you're eating enough vitamin K every day in the form of leafy green vegetables if you need to counteract this somewhat. (Don't confuse vitamin K with potassium, whose abbreviation is K; they're completely different things.)
posted by chromium at 7:29 PM on June 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

I teach herbal as part of the medical school curriculum. Cholesterol and HBP. Not bacterial infections. Try cranberry juice or, of course, an antibacterial.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:39 PM on June 20, 2020 [5 favorites]

I’m sorry, I know this isn’t your question, but have you tried D-mannose?
posted by Violet Hour at 8:39 PM on June 20, 2020 [5 favorites]

Isn't D-mannose only supposed to work against E. coli? It didn't do a thing for me against enterococcus, similar to the complete lack of help from the expensive special cranberry supplement the urologist strongly recommended. (He didn't sell it, but gosh it was pricy, and insurance didn't pay for it.) I think both of these treatments are for E. coli only.
posted by chromium at 10:01 PM on June 20, 2020

Best answer: GARLIC
Garlic is known as antibacterial/antiviral. If you can chew your garlic, the enzymes in your saliva will help you digest it better.

I am in the habit of eating raw garlic and almost certainly I've eaten 9 cloves in a day without even noticing, but that's probably my upper limit. There are probably also days when I don't eat any garlic at all! I pretty much wouldn't eat it plain or with just water! That sounds unpleasant! I have found that fat cuts the sting of garlic: Cheese, nuts, seeds, nut butters, etc. Garlic goes GREAT in pesto. Do you like pesto? You could blend those 9 cloves into daily pesto or hummus and have a much happier experience.

I can tell you that when I looked into garlic because I eat it so much, and the only thing I found was that fresh raw garlic is known to reduce the length and severity of the common cold, if you eat it every day already anyway. This matched my own personal experience in catching the same colds as my partner. I don't get them nearly as bad or for nearly as long.

Bonus: Parsley doesn't do much, but a small sprig of fresh rosemary will get the taste out of your mouth.

CRANBERRIES
I have used unsweetened cranberry juice on UTIs and it has worked for me. I believe it only works for some types of UTIs. The way it works is that some component of the cranberries prevents the e. coli from sticking to the bladder wall. Somehow. Super cool.

QUIT REFINED SUGAR ASAP
Refined sugar makes it So. Much. Worse. If you can temporarily cut out any refined sugars (anything with its fibers removed: honey, agave syrup, brown sugar, white sugar, juice (unsweetened cranberry juice is ok) alcohol, dairy (lactose), corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, white flour as well as overdoing any sweet fruits, etc.) this will definitely help.

In my own personal experience, there has been a direct trackable correlation here. Bad bacteria like to feed on refined sugars. Replace these with good bacteria: sauerkraut, kimchi, and other pickles are excellent. Add them to your daily routine.

Removing refined sugars and adding fibrous ferments is especially important since you've been on antibiotics.
posted by aniola at 10:06 PM on June 20, 2020 [5 favorites]

Best answer: I had a terrible UTI and just general bad times. I started taking high strength garlic soft gel supplements (6000mg) and I swear it helped where nothing else did. Plus avoided the trauma of eating raw garlic. Worth a shot...
posted by teststrip at 1:04 AM on June 21, 2020 [1 favorite]

Taking freeze dried garlic in pill form for six months got rid of toenail fungus for me; I thought Wild Harvest was the best of the ones I tried.

However, I think goldenseal root is more powerful in general and better for bacteria, is traditionally used for UTIs, and is much less odiferous as well. I believe Nature's Way is a good brand.
posted by jamjam at 1:20 AM on June 21, 2020 [3 favorites]

There seems to be a connection between eating chicken and UTIs.
posted by FencingGal at 7:28 AM on June 21, 2020 [1 favorite]

I don't know about garlic, but anecdotally, cranberry supplements seem to have helped me avoid getting these, when I used to get them fairly frequently. I don't know that they've been useful at all in reducing duration when I already have them, but it probably wouldn't hurt to start taking some. I take two daily now.
posted by limeonaire at 11:05 AM on June 21, 2020

I would specifically get d-mannose supplements, not just cranberry. It’s the isolated sugar from the cranberry. Come out in your urine. Really helps (anecdata, I know).
posted by Neekee at 1:14 PM on June 21, 2020