The Second Pee to Prevent Urinary Tract Infections

September 14, 2017 Mom MD Hawaii

Are you a woman who has gotten a urinary tract infection (UTI)? Or are you one of the unfortunate few who get recurrent urinary tract infections? Then this post is for you. Learn what you can do to prevent urinary tract infections in women, and learn the secret method to UTI prevention with the second pee.

Almost every woman has had a urinary tract infection at some point in our lives. Just add it to another wonderful gift that women have and men don’t, along with our monthly periods. Men usually don’t get UTIs because they are blessed with a much longer urethra (urination tube). Unluckily for females, UTIs are the most common bacterial infection in women of all ages.1

Causes of Urinary Tract Infections

Sex
Sex
and Sex again
Holding on to your pee
Constipation
Dehydration
Dirty Pads, Tampons, and Underwear
Stones

Measures to prevent UTI’s

Peeing After Sex
Urinating Regularly
Stooling Regularly
Hydrating Well
Keeping Clean
Avoid Caffeine
THE SECOND PEE

Peeing After Sex

So if you noticed sex is number 1-3 for the causes of UTIs and most women have heard about urinating immediately after sex to prevent infections. Urination flushes bacteria out and should be done within 30 minutes after having sex.2 Unfortunately, just having lots of sex increases your risk for recurrent infections. In premenopausal women having sex three or more times a week, spermicide use, and new or multiple sexual partners are risk factors for recurrent UTIs.3 Ultimately these risk factors all point back to sex.

Urinating Regularly

In other words, NOT HOLDING ONTO YOUR PEE, flushes out bacteria before it can overgrow in your bladder. Mom’s words of wisdom continue to ring true. Don’t wait to pee until you really have to go. Doing the pee pee dance is definitely a bad idea when it comes to your UTI risk. This is also true for your kids, who don’t want to go to the bathroom until they’re almost bursting with urine because they’re always having so much fun playing.

Stooling Regularly

Having regular bowel movements is good for your colon and for preventing UTIs. Having a lot of poo stopping you up actually prevents you from completely emptying your bladder. The residual urine is a place for bacteria to grow and thus may cause UTIs.

Hydrating Well

Staying well hydrated helps you urinate regularly and flush out bacteria. Lots of fluids prevents kidney stone formation. It also helps prevent constipation, which in turn allows you to completely empty your bladder.

Keeping Clean

Good hygiene is always a good idea so you don’t stink. Cleanliness is also important for preventing UTIs. Changing pads and tampons is important because bacteria can grow in them overtime and because they sit near the urethra the bacteria can climb on up and cause an infection. Dirty tampons alone can cause a deadly illness called toxic shock syndrome where the bacteria in an old tampon can release fatal toxins into the blood stream. So change tampons and pads regularly.

The best underwear is cotton, which allows some breathing and aeration, which in turn prevents bacterial growth. Thong and G-string underwear are not recommended because they allow bacteria to crawl up to the urethra by getting stuck and wedged.

Avoiding Caffeine

Don’t fret, I said avoid caffeine, not get rid of it completely. Caffeine causes dehydration, because it makes you diurese and lose water. As we said earlier, dehydration is bad and contributes to UTI’s. Maybe you could cut out that afternoon dose of caffeine, especially cause it makes it hard to have a good slept night.

THE SECOND PEE

The methods listed previous all definitely help prevent UTIs, but I’ve actually still had a lot of patients complain about recurrent infections in spite of using all of these preventive measures. I have amazing information on preventing UTIs with THE SECOND PEE! What is the second pee? It is when you wait on the toilet after you’re done urinating and a second smaller amount of urine comes out. The second pee is usually just a little dribble of urine that comes after most of your urine is already out.

You have to be completely relaxed and comfortable with both feet on the floor in order for the second pee to come. Many women do not wait for the second pee, or they’re not relaxed enough. Without the second pee a little dribble of urine is left in the bladder and is where bacteria grows. This allows infections because you’ve never completely emptied your bladder to get rid of that last bit of urine and bacteria.

I had never heard about the second pee until recently, when a urologist explained that this is one of the main reasons women get recurrent UTI’s, even after doing all the other preventative measures above. It makes so much sense and I couldn’t believe that no one had ever told me before. So now I’m passing on this information to you so that you can use the second pee yourself and teach others about this miraculous way to help prevent UTI’s.

Toilet Stools

The numerous commercially specialized toilet stools allow complete relaxation on the toilet. The relaxation probably also helps facilitate your bowel movements, which in turn will allow complete bladder emptying and prevent UTIs. Below are several examples of commercially available toilet stools on Amazon. Who knew there was such a big market for this?

Let me know if you try the second pee and how it goes in the comments. I especially want to know if it is the key to preventing your UTIs. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

There are affiliate links above provided for your convenience. I may make a small commission if you choose to purchase products using the provided links. There is no obligation to buy.

References:

Gupta K, Hooton TM, Naber KG, et al. International clinical practice guidelines for the treatment of acute uncomplicated cystitis and pyelonephritis in women: a 2010 update by the Infectious Diseases Society of America and the European Society for Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. Clin Infect Dis. 2011;52(5):e103–e120.
Knottnerus BJ, Geerlings SE, Moll van Charante EP, Ter Riet G. Toward a simple diagnostic index for acute uncomplicated urinary tract infections. Ann Fam Med. 2013;11(5):442–451.
Arnold JJ, Hehn LE, Klein DA. Common questions about recurrent urinary tract infections in women. Am Fam Physician. 2016;93(7):560–569.