How can I get instant relief from a UTI?

“A urinary tract infection, or UTI, is an infection in any part of your urinary system, which includes the kidneys, bladder, ureters, and urethra,” explains Dr. Shepherd. “They are generally bacterial infections, most commonly caused by Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Staphylococcus saprophyticus traveling into the urinary system from outside of the body, causing infection and inflammation.” And while you may have heard that UTIs only affect women, it’s not actually true. “Women more frequently experience UTIs,” says Dr. Shepherd, but “men can get urinary tract infections as well.”

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For many people, one UTI is all it takes to make you instantly recognize if it ever happens again. The symptoms of a UTI can include:

• A burning sensation when you pee

• A frequent or intense urge to pee, but peeing only small quantities each time  

• Cloudy, dark, bloody, or strange-smelling pee

• Feeling tired or shaky

• Fever or chills (a sign that the infection may have reached your kidneys)

• Pain, pressure, or discomfort in your back and/or lower abdomen

Dr. Shepherd says that it’s important to first make sure it’s a UTI you’re dealing with: “Although the urgency to pee is a hallmark of UTIs that’s hard to mistake for other conditions, some symptoms may lead people to believe they have another issue altogether,” she says.In women, lower abdominal pain can be confused with menstrual cramps, or even endometriosis, a condition characterized by abnormal menstrual bleeding. The back pain characteristic of upper urinary tract infections that have reached the kidneys may be confused with a pulled muscle or kidney stones (Gupta, 2012).  

“Very mild UTIs can sometimes go away on their own,” says Shepherd. “But UTI treatment generally requires a course of antibiotics that can be as short as three days or as long as 14 days depending on the severity of the infection and any other factors that may complicate it.”

If you are diagnosed with a UTI and your healthcare provider prescribes antibiotics, it’s important that you take them as directed. While your symptoms may resolve before you finish the full course of treatment, it doesn’t mean that the infection is cleared. If you stop taking your antibiotics early, it can lead to the development of antibiotic resistance, a phenomenon where the bacteria causing your infection will no longer respond to certain treatments. That means you should take the pills as prescribed, never save antibiotics after you’re done with your treatment course and never take pills that were prescribed to someone else (FDA, n.d.). 

When most people ask about instant relief, they're usually looking for relief from the pain and urgent need to pee. The frequent urination can keep you up all night and feel unbearable if you’re unable to seek medical attention right away. Even worse, it can make you wonder how you’re going to make it to an appointment with a healthcare provider if you haven’t mapped out all the possible pit stops for pee breaks along the way. 

Your healthcare provider may offer you a medication called phenazopyridine (sold under the brand names Pyridium or Azo Urinary Pain Relief). In addition to helping with that urgent need to pee, these medications can also help with any pain or burning while urinating that you’re experiencing. While phenazopyridine is great at relieving symptoms, it does nothing to treat the underlying condition. For that, you’ll need to take antibiotics. 

Know the difference between upper and lower urinary tract infections

While a lower urinary tract infection (affecting the bladder and the urethra, which is the tube that carries urine from the bladder out of the body) is typically managed easily with antibiotics, if the infection has spread up the urinary tract to the ureters (the tubes that connect the kidneys to the bladder) or to the kidneys themselves, the condition can very dangerous. Symptoms of upper urinary tract infections can include back pain, fever, nausea, and vomiting as well as blood in the urine, and they require treatment with antibiotics to prevent possibly irreversible damage to the kidneys. 

If you are experiencing any of these symptoms, seek medical attention. In addition to antibiotics, your healthcare provider may also suggest that you take an anti-inflammatory medication, such as acetaminophen to alleviate pain and fever. 

About one in every four women who get one UTI will experience another one within six months (Foxman, 1990). While there are certain factors that predispose a person to recurrent UTIs (like incontinence, variations in anatomy and the presence of underlying medical conditions), there are some steps you can take to avoid getting another UTI in the future. The most important thing may be to make sure to take antibiotics prescribed to you as directed by a healthcare professional. Other measures include proper hygiene (wipe front-to-back, ladies), drinking plenty of water, and peeing when you need to. Other commonly recommended tricks include peeing after sex, and modification of contraceptive choices (spermicide and diaphragms have been shown to play a role in the development of UTIs in women). In some instances, your healthcare provider may recommend the regular use of antibiotics to prevent UTIs, not just to treat them when they appear (Rudenko, 2005).  

“Cranberry juice is not a treatment for urinary tract infections,” says Dr. Shepherd. While it’s unlikely to be harmful, a meta-analysis of studies that looked at the use of cranberry juice in more than 2,000 people showed that it didn’t reduce the chance of getting a urinary tract infection in comparison with water, placebo or nothing at all (Jepson, 2012). And what about probiotics? Tried and tested but, unfortunately, probiotics haven’t been proven effective in reducing the frequency of recurrent UTIs or treating existing UTIs either (Schwenger, 2015).

So when it comes to getting quick relief, your best bet is to see a healthcare provider and get a prescription for antibiotics and Azo for pain relief. And in the long term? Make sure to take steps to avoid getting UTIs in the future. 

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Every article on Health Guide goes through rigorous fact-checking by our team of medical reviewers. Our reviewers are trained medical professionals who ensure each article contains the most up-to-date information, and that medical details have been correctly interpreted by the writer.

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Current version

May 06, 2021

Written by

Linnea Zielinski

Fact checked by

Mike Bohl, MD, MPH, ALM

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About the medical reviewer

Mike Bohl, MD, MPH, ALM

Dr. Mike is a licensed physician and a former Director, Medical Content & Education at Ro.