Why did you add the lemon juice to it? I've never heard of that. I have heard of mixing ACV in water and adding honey. I use it sometimes when my allergies get really bad (although I can only use it for so many days before my body just decides it won't let me drink it anymore). It helps some.

I have never heard of it causing a bladder infection before though. Perhaps the lemon juice added too much acidity and your body reacted? You might want to check with a dr.

I doubt that the bladder infection is traceable to the apple cider vinegar - just as the supposed health benefits of ACV have not been borne out by human studies.

The "Bounties of Nature" website involves a multilevel marketing scheme. More information about MLM here.

"you will find the listed website mentions a lot of different things that ACV can help."

The site claims: "It is also thought to be helpful when used to treat asthma, nose bleeds, osteoporosis, cancer, candida, high cholesterol, colds, constipation, muscle cramps, colitis, diabetes, diarrhea, depression, dizziness, ear discharge, eczema, fatigue, gallstones, kidney stones, hay fever, headaches, heartburn, hiccups, indigestion, insomnia, kidney and bladder problems, metabolism, nasal congestion, sore throats, stiff joints, ulcers and weight loss"

This is typical of the sort of laundry list of conditions that ACV-promoting sites claim it will help. As in this case, there's no solid clinical evidence presented that the stuff is worthwhile, except maybe as a tasty addition to one's salad (as for the potassium supplementation, there are plenty of foods rich in potassium (like bananas, for example) that can make up part of a balanced diet, but are not wonder supplements either.

I'm sorry you feel the need to resort to personal attack. Facts and calm debate go over better here.

Here is a link that might be useful: Foods rich in potassium

I am a fan of apple cider vinegar. I have not heard of it causing any problems. I used to have problems with bladder infections. Cranberry juice will clear up bladder infections. It works very quickly--the frequency and burning will clear up after one glass. Of course, the infection is not yet conquered. I continue to drink a couple of glasses of the juice twice a day for a week, which has always healed the problem.

Hi,

I am 52, and I was diagnosed with an overactive bladder 2 months ago, which causes me lots of burning pain in spite of not having any infection in my bladder or in the urine samples provided. I have looked for alternative medicine and started drinking 2tbs of cider vinegar mixed with 1tsp of Hungarian accacia honey in a glass of hot water (as recommended by hundreds of so called 'clever and scientific women':) on these web pages). I drink this horrible drink twice a day, sometimes even 3 times, but it had no effect on my problems, whatsoever. Eric_oh is right; if the cider vinegar was so effective then it would be recommended by doctors and specialists to so many bladder sufferers. Every time I mentioned it to my GP or to the other doctors, they have just smiled politely, probably thinking how stupid I was :(.

My husband is a physicist/scientist and he is very sceptic about it, too. I am still drinking it religiously each day, but I do not get better, so I was now referred to a Gynaecologist for further investigation, and I have also not lost any weight in spite of eating very little food (no chocolates, no cakes and biscuits, no sugary drinks, hardly any bread or cheese). I am not so overweight at 12 stones and 5.5 feet tall, but I could lose a few pounds here and there. Well, I should probably get in touch with a UFO expert, who may find a cure to my sudden bladder problems. Or it may be genetic, in which case, I have to blame my Hungarian mother and Swedish father, ore perhaps blame my English husband for it, as that would be the easiest option right now to solve the unsolved problem.

I hope that you will all get better and you will not hate me for being so honest about my experience on drinking cider vinegar. Brrr!!!!!!!! At least I am happy and optimistic about the medical research team that does a good work at my multinational Health Care company.
All the best for you all. Stay positive!

Regards

Lady Zelda

>> ... just as the supposed health benefits of ACV have not been borne out by human studies.

You seem to be implying that studies were done, and that they found no effects. In fact, no such studies have been done, and making firm conclusions without any evidence requires a leap of faith.

>> Eric_oh is right; if the cider vinegar was so effective then it would be recommended by doctors and specialists to so many bladder sufferers.

I don't know if vinegar would be of use in such conditions, but it is an error in thinking to assume that the average doctor would be in a position to evaluate such claims - as noted above, no research has been carried out.

The case of cranberries is somewhat analagous. As recent as the 1990s, the prevailing scientific wisdom was "Cranberry juice has developed a following as a simple, nonpharmacologic means to reduce or treat urinary tract infections, yet the scientific basis for such a claim has been lacking." Today, a more common opinion is "There is evidence that cranberry juice may decrease the number of symptomatic urinary tract infections..." and many doctors do recommend cranberry products as part of a regimen for treating/preventing urinary infections. In this case, the anecdotal evidence or 'wives tales' was far ahead of the doctors.

Actually, many physicians have long promoted a role for drinking cranberry juice in prevention of UTIs, and it's thanks to evidence-based medicine (EBM) that we actually have some decent data showing that it's somewhat effective, particularly in certain groups (i.e. women with recurrent bladder infections) and a mechanism to show how it works. EBM has also demonstrated that drinking cranberry juice is not a good strategy for treating bladder infections.

Assuming that a belief about health must have something to it because it's rooted in folklore most often leads us astray. You can easily find extensive lists of such beliefs that have been debunked.

But that's an essential difference between old wives' tales and science. Science adapts to take in compelling new evidence and discard false and outmoded ideas. Folklore and, sad to say, its adherents in alternative medicine seldom to never toss out an old-time medication or treatment on the grounds that it's ineffective and/or dangerous.

ACV is probably going to remain a cure-all in some folks' minds no matter what logic or medical science says. It's just too tempting to think that there's a cheap, simple way to good health that requires no real effort.

High science from "Women's Day" and "Parenting" mags, Eric?

;o)

Actually, though, there are all sorts of fermentation critters in apple cider, and it wouldn't surprise me if some of them bothered some people.

The amount of sugar put into commercially produced cranberry juice bothers me, too.

Do you disagree with the articles or are just making fun of the magazines in which they appear?

Seeing as there've been gripes about posts which quote articles in scientific journals as being too hoity-toity for this forum, I'd think that accurate information in popular mags would be welcomed. :)

eric you are so wrong! Cuz youre a man maybe you don't understand. . . Like most men! When I went to the bathroom this morning, I pissed so much blood. . . First thing I did was got a huge glass of water then folowed by ACV and water! Calmed the burning down asap. . . Blood stopped right away. I hate haters, go find your nitch on some other site! Get a clue dude!

Sheesh, Eric. You can even piss-off people from a post a year and a half ago! My hats off to you! lol

(I get what you're saying.)

Charlie in Arizona

Nothing like reviving a zombie thread nearly two years after the last post in an attempt to stir things up.

Drinking a lot of water is generally recommended in the case of urinary tract infections. That's what the (male) vet suggested (in addition to a ten-day antibiotic course) for our eight-month-old (female) Labrador pup who developed blood in her urine because of a UTI. She's doing a lot better.

I have battled recurrent uti's for most of my life. I have been to doctors and urologists. I am not a fan of taking antibiotics and try to avoid them whenever possible. I have found that at the first hint of a uti I drink a tablespoon of ACV mixed with organic honey every hour or so for a day and it goes away. Also, since I have started this treatment, I have had far fewer infections.

The reason that doctors do not recommend home remedies is that there are no kick backs from drug companies, and if we were able to take care of our own ailments, then we wouldn't be running to their offices paying high co-pays!

Oh yes. THEY don't want you to know about simple, cheap, wonderfully effective home remedies.

It couldn't be due to the fact that so many are useless, and docs want to use proven prevention and treatment strategies to relieve your distress and get you healthy again. Nope, the obvious explanation is:

They're just plain evil.

"They don't want you to know" is apparently a great selling point, since it's being used to promote all kinds of products and treatments over the Internet. And those marketers obviously have our best interests at heart.

Don't they?

Now, now, Eric. Can't you see that Chrissy is passionate about what she believes and practices? Furthermore, passion is an emotion. Don't try to use logic when someone is so passionate or emotional about a subject. It just makes you look like you're badgering her. Right or wrong, she's entitled to her opinion without being berated.
As an old Amishman once told me . . . "A man with a cause is a man to reckon with."

No doubt the vinegar takes the edge off for her. But in all my years of treating clients, I've discovered that there are a few different contributing factors to UTI's. So, I doubt that I'd apply the use of vinegar in every situation if any at all. Though vinegar has its virtues, there are better ways.

Just my thoughts.

Charlie in Arizona
The Herbalist

Please read my post again, Charlie. I did not "berate" anyone (and it'd be nice if you'd stop it).

It's good to see that apparently you do not buy into the pervasive meme about how They Don't Want You To Know.

It is particularly off-base and destructive when it comes to health advice/marketing. You can find numerous examples of people touting cancer remedies with the suggestion that physicians don't want you to know about safe, cheap and effective cancer cures. I don't know what form of "passion" would lead people to believe that doctors, their families and friends do not get cancer too, and that docs would forego these supposedly fabulous remedies because of allegiance to Big Pharma or whatever.

One can disagree with an approach without claiming that its practitioners must be evil.

Doctors don't always use "proven methods" for their medicine. Current studies show that doctors are being suprised by the medications they are giving their patients. Side effects, lack of results, even deaths. Most doctors do not take time out of their busy day to look up how their meds are tested, by whom,or with what degree of rigor. Often, drug companies themselves are the only testers of the drugs we use, and the lack of ethics that prevails in the marketplace means that deaths due to unsafe drugs will go on if not rise.
On the other hand, I have noted that tests for natural medicines printed in the peer reviewed journals use doses clearly below the theraputic dose recognized by the majority of herbalists for their studies. I noted this in tests printed in the New England Journal of Medicine, no less. This crap must stop. That it goes on at all is WHY there is a growing number of people using herbal methods. I have also noted that herbs that are usually used in a mixture with other herbs are tested alone, in a way they are not used. This happens with tests of Chinese herbs.
I have used a variety of herbs, and can attest to the fact that many of them rival the potency of the drugs used by physicians. Some are even better because resistance hasn't been developed yet.
I say that if ACV helps some people, then they should use it. It may not help others. Unlike the Chinese, who have studied what kinds of body types certain remedies work for, we have to reinvent the wheel for our herbs.

If you think Docs only use proven drugs to treat you ask yourself why this list exists: http://www.yourlawyer.com/practice_areas/defective_drugs

The short answer: The list exists to make money for lawyers. Lots of drugs on it are effective for a variety of indications, but may have side effects that can be exploited in lawsuits (which mostly benefit attorneys).

Of course, this is an herbalism forum and neither I nor anyone else has suggested that posters take prescription drugs for bladder infections. What's been pointed out is that ACV has no demonstrated effectiveness (or any mechanism by which one could imagine it being effective) against such infections. Cranberry juice, on the other hand, does have some evidence in its corner.

"I have noted that tests for natural medicines printed in the peer reviewed journals use doses clearly below the theraputic dose recognized by the majority of herbalists for their studies. I noted this in tests printed in the New England Journal of Medicine, no less. This crap must stop. That it goes on at all is WHY there is a growing number of people using herbal methods. I have also noted that herbs that are usually used in a mixture with other herbs are tested alone, in a way they are not used. This happens with tests of Chinese herbs."

This would be an interesting subject for a separate discussion, to include any examples of studies supposedly using suboptimal doses of herbal drugs. As to mixtures, there are in fact numerous studies looking at them. What can be problematic is when a mixture contains one herb believed to be the effective agent and the rest may or may not be filler. The only way to know if the purported effective component works is to test it separately (it could be, for example, that one or more other components of the mixture actually interfere with the active herb which might work better on its own). One old-time example is the folk remedy for heart failure that an 18th century British physician, William Withering studied, and discovered that while multiple elements in the herbal mix were unrelated to its actions on the heart, one herb (digitalis) was responsible for increasing heart contractility. That discovery paved the way for digitalis' use in general medicine (at a standardized, safer and more effective dose than one could count on in a home remedy).

Chinese herbal mixtures are notorious for containing elements not listed on the label. "Contamination" (apparently deliberate) has included powerful prescription drugs (such as indomethacin and steroids) or toxic herbs like aristolochia, so that would be a major reason for being careful about using such mixtures.

To get back to the cry of "They don't want you to know" (about supposedly cheap and effective home remedies): this hits close to home for me and many other health professionals who have experienced serious illness in ourselves or close family and friends. My mother (a physician) died of colon cancer. Does anyone doubt that she would have been willing to use a cheap home cure and enthusiastically promoted it to others if one existed?

Hi,
I just wanted to say I have only ever had a bladder infection about 2 years ago. I don't normally take ACV, but I'm staying with a couple that take it regularly and so I thought I would try it.
It's interesting because it's only been a week of taking a teaspoon each morning and now I have a bladder infection. So it could quite possible be linked. It may be different for different people,as we all have different body types.
I always believe in listening to your body. I'm now going to try the cranberry juice and hopefully avoid a visit to the doctor.
Cheers. Annette

Using vinegar during oab has been linked to causing cancer in some cases, bleeding in your urine is a sign of cancer. I would recommend going to a doctor straight away.

Have a lot of cranberry juice as it helps during this. Also if you have problems with ur urine, avoid taking any further acidic drinks or food as it can make it worse and even lead to complications

Yes, I have had that happen. I quit taking ACV and haven't touched it since. I have thought maybe I would give it another try, just more diluted, since I have insulin resistance and it's supposed to help with that. I use cranberry juice and lots of water to help with symptoms, but it doesn't clear the infection. Once I stop drinking it, the pain and bladder cramping come back.

Yes, I have had it happen to me. I tried it a long time ago and I got an infection. I tried again years later and it happened again.

Happened to me as well. I was taking ACV supplements - that resulted in UTI symptoms almost immediately - cleared that with antibiotics - symptom free - tried ACV again, not knowing that was the culprit - and right back to square 1 with symptoms, again, almost immediately. The thing to remember is that we are all bio individuals - “One person’s “food” is another person’s poison!” ☠️ Know your body!

With regards to ACV and urinary infection .I woke up at 1Am with serious pain and bleeding. I put an oz of ACV in An 8 oz glass of water and drank it. At 5 AM was able to pee freely no pain.