Re GBS and Cranberry Juice for Urinary Tract

September 22, 2006

Thank you for taking the time out to give me the info about GBS. My OB doctor

tortured me after my test revealed that I was colonized. She put all kinds of

guilt trips on me because I didn't want antibiotics intravenously during

delivery as a precaution. (I hadn't taken any antibiotics or any other drug

including aspirin in over 20+ years and didn't want antibiotics to affect my

newborn although my OB assured me they wouldn't!) She kept telling me that I

was not thinking about the baby and I almost feared that she would take measures

to force me to have the antibiotics. In frustration, she wanted me to sign a

paper when I arrived at the hospital saying that I couldn't hold her liable for

any harm that might come to my baby as a result of my refusing antibiotics. As

I mentioned before, thank God my labor was so super short that no one had time

to prep me for antibiotics, let alone sign a paper! After my baby was born, I

was only allowed to hold my baby for a few minutes and he was taken away for

several hours to make sure he didn't have GBS. I was crushed by this. This

was 3 years ago.

I searched the net and other sources, looking for information on GBS and how it

could affect my baby. I still don't know how I " got " GBS and how I could get

rid of it, even after asking my OB. I was fearful of having another child

because I didn't want to go through the thought of possibly infecting a child

with this " dreadful " disease and didn't want to experience the guilt my OB

doctor put on me for not wanting the antibiotics.

It sounds as if you know of some ways to " fix " GBS. Would you be willing to

share them with me and/or sources of valid information on GBS? This may sound

strange, but once I learned that I " had " GBS, I started cleaning myself with tea

tree oil castille soap, I guess because of the antibacterial properties of tea

tree oil. My doctor said I had a urinary tract infection early in my pregnancy

and wanted me to take antibiotics. I never filled the prescription and drank

pure, unsweetened organic cranberry juice instead. I never told my OB what I

did and when I was retested for the infection, the results turned out

negative!!!

Thank you for sharing!

-

earthmother

Thursday, September 21, 2006 5:39 PM

Re: re: epidurals

you can indeed colonize GBS between pregnancies, so that's not out of the

question. but they cannot tell just from doing a vaginal exam whether or

not you are colonized. did they do a test? GBS works like this: about a

fifth of the population is colonized at any moment. it's normal intestinal

flora -- it's not correct to refer to a positive mom as " infected. " a tiny

fraction of moms who are positive will pass it to ther babies. of those

babies, a tiny fraction will become sick, and of THOSE babies, a tiny, tiny

fraction will become so sick they might die. it is such a small statistic

it practically doesn't even compute. almost all babies with GBS+ moms do

just fine, and there are several arguments against having a woman on

antibiotics in labor. there's a lot of controversy surrounding GBS right

now, but the way my midwife handles it is, i choose whether or not to be

tested (and i haven't decided), and if i'm positive, we do some things to

try to fix that, and if they don't work, then my baby is watched very

carefully, and nothing, absolutely nothing, is done to interfere with my

labor, since that raises the risks. so when i hear of women who are GBS+

going in and being induced, having their water broken, having an internal

monitor and lots of internal exams, i think they're not actually taking that

risk very seriously, ya know?!

September 22, 2006

GBS colonizes in many women's intestinal tract (25% of women) quite normally

and without symptoms. these women become " carriers. " the potential for

problems arises when it is passed to the vagina and then possibly passed to

the baby during a vaginal birth. so one way to prevent becoming colonized

with GBS during your pregnancy is to be very meticulous about your

toileting, i.e. wipe front to back, don't wear thongs, only wear cotton,

etc. about 1500 babies a year are infected. that is an extremely small

percentage and i couldn't find any information about how many of those

babies became seriously sick and/or died. if you are GBS+ you have about a

1 in 200 chance of your baby getting extremely sick. i will say that when a

baby is infected it is very serious. they can develop meningitis,

pneumonia, etc.

there are many ways of making the body inhospitable to GBS as a way of

preventing it. with my first baby, my midwife did not insist on being

tested because she'd had great success with an herbal suppository. she made

the suppository for me and i used it every night for a week about two weeks

before i was due. sadly i am not sure now what she put in the suppository,

although i know tea tree oil was the base. i also ate a very probiotic

diet, i.e. lots of yogurt and fermented foods, and i took lots of

astragalus, acidophilus and echinacea in the week before i gave birth.

another midwife i know has had good success changing the status of a GBS+

mom by having her use live yogurt or straight acidophilus as a suppository.

here is a website of several natural health professionals (naturopaths,

midwives, etc.) weighing in on the issue of handling GBS holistically:

http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/gbsAlt.html

it sounds to me like you did everything right in trying to " fix " your GBS.

many women are retested to find out they are no longer positive. GBS is a

fickle condition and comes and goes. you should not be tested more that 2

weeks or so before your due date, and if possible you should be retested as

close to birth as possible. you should basically do whatever you can to not

have antibiotics. there is also a very good argument that during the test

you should not have your rectum swabbed, only your vagina, or you may insist

on two separate tests -- just because you are colonized in your intestine

does not mean you are colonized in your vagina, and as already mentioned,

meticulous hygeine can prevent the spread of GBS into your vagina quite

effectively. this is an excellent article from mothering magazine about GBS

(it's even in my midwife file) and antibiotics in labor vs. alternatives.

http://www.mothering.com/articles/pregnancy_birth/birth_preparation/group-b.html

you should not be too worried to have a baby! there is such a high chance

that you aren't even colonized anymore and even if you are, this time you'll

know you have options. it's so rotten to go into labor not feeling like you

have options. i hope this works out for you and let me know if you have any

other questions.

chandelle'

September 22, 2006

Hi-

I had a postitive GBS with my last pregnancy. I had a homebirth. My midwife

said to get extra vitamin c, so I took them in tablet form.

We tested again, and I was negative!

I also drank tons of cranberry juice with calcium, ocean spray..

Anway, with other pregnancies at the hospital I had an IV and didn't realize

why until my homebirth midwife looked over my charts and told me.

They didn't have time to do an IV with baby 2 and 3.

HTH

Rebecca

><admartin5

>

> Re GBS and Cranberry Juice for Urinary Tract

>Fri, 22 Sep 2006 00:11:07 -0400

>

>Thank you for taking the time out to give me the info about GBS. My OB

>doctor tortured me after my test revealed that I was colonized. She put

>all kinds of guilt trips on me because I didn't want antibiotics

>intravenously during delivery as a precaution. (I hadn't taken any

>antibiotics or any other drug including aspirin in over 20+ years and

>didn't want antibiotics to affect my newborn although my OB assured me they

>wouldn't!) She kept telling me that I was not thinking about the baby and

>I almost feared that she would take measures to force me to have the

>antibiotics. In frustration, she wanted me to sign a paper when I arrived

>at the hospital saying that I couldn't hold her liable for any harm that

>might come to my baby as a result of my refusing antibiotics. As I

>mentioned before, thank God my labor was so super short that no one had

>time to prep me for antibiotics, let alone sign a paper! After my baby

>was born, I was only allowed to hold my baby for a few minutes and he was

>taken away for several hours to make sure he didn't have GBS. I was

>crushed by this. This was 3 years ago.

>

>I searched the net and other sources, looking for information on GBS and

>how it could affect my baby. I still don't know how I " got " GBS and how I

>could get rid of it, even after asking my OB. I was fearful of having

>another child because I didn't want to go through the thought of possibly

>infecting a child with this " dreadful " disease and didn't want to

>experience the guilt my OB doctor put on me for not wanting the

>antibiotics.

>

>It sounds as if you know of some ways to " fix " GBS. Would you be willing

>to share them with me and/or sources of valid information on GBS? This may

>sound strange, but once I learned that I " had " GBS, I started cleaning

>myself with tea tree oil castille soap, I guess because of the

>antibacterial properties of tea tree oil. My doctor said I had a urinary

>tract infection early in my pregnancy and wanted me to take antibiotics. I

>never filled the prescription and drank pure, unsweetened organic cranberry

>juice instead. I never told my OB what I did and when I was retested for

>the infection, the results turned out negative!!!

>

>Thank you for sharing!

>

> -

> earthmother

>

> Thursday, September 21, 2006 5:39 PM

> Re: re: epidurals

>

> you can indeed colonize GBS between pregnancies, so that's not out of

>the

> question. but they cannot tell just from doing a vaginal exam whether or

> not you are colonized. did they do a test? GBS works like this: about a

> fifth of the population is colonized at any moment. it's normal

>intestinal

> flora -- it's not correct to refer to a positive mom as " infected. " a

>tiny

> fraction of moms who are positive will pass it to ther babies. of those

> babies, a tiny fraction will become sick, and of THOSE babies, a tiny,

>tiny

> fraction will become so sick they might die. it is such a small

>statistic

> it practically doesn't even compute. almost all babies with GBS+ moms do

> just fine, and there are several arguments against having a woman on

> antibiotics in labor. there's a lot of controversy surrounding GBS right

> now, but the way my midwife handles it is, i choose whether or not to be

> tested (and i haven't decided), and if i'm positive, we do some things

>to

> try to fix that, and if they don't work, then my baby is watched very

> carefully, and nothing, absolutely nothing, is done to interfere with my

> labor, since that raises the risks. so when i hear of women who are GBS+

> going in and being induced, having their water broken, having an

>internal

> monitor and lots of internal exams, i think they're not actually taking

>that

> risk very seriously, ya know?!

>

September 22, 2006

Ocean spray has only a small amount of juice and a lot of high fructose corn

syrup. You can purchase concentrated cranberries in a capsule (I have treated

UTIs this way, without antibiotics.). Blueberries and blueberry capsules are

also quite effective.

rebecca richard <rebecca_richard wrote: Hi-