UTI help...

So, I went to see the doctor about some yellow discharge and the pain I'm having when I pee, and you won't believe his response... He tested my first morning sample and found absolutely zero bacteria. His big "medical" solution? Drink cranberry tea. No antibiotics, nothing—just told me to eat dried cranberries and sip on some tea. Does anyone actually know if that works at all? :S

Nathan Turner4 said:So I went to see my doctor about yellow discharge in my semen and some pain when I pee. And you know what he tells me? He says they didn't find any bacteria in my first morning sample and just told me to DRINK CRANBERRY JUICE. No antibiotics. Just eat dried cranberries and drink tea. Does that actually work at all? :S

This sounds like something out of an X-Files episode. You should tell him you want a referral to a urologist.

Nathan Turner4 said:So I finally see the doctor about the yellow discharge and the stinging when I pee, and you won't believe his brilliant advice... he looks at my first morning sample, says there aren't any bacteria found, and then tells me to just drink cranberry tea. No antibiotics, nothing, just eat some dried cranberries and sip tea... does that actually even work? :S

It helps, but it’s not a magic bullet.
If you already got the swab done, your best bet is just to follow through with what they said for now...
If it drags on, there are a few more tests you might need to go through, which can be slightly awkward, though probably not as bad as you're imagining—just a little stinging and that's about it...

I mention this because last summer I dealt with that same burning sensation for maybe three or four months, and every single test came back totally clean, until my urologist finally put me on an antibiotic like Azithromycin, explaining that sometimes tests for guys can give false negatives... and sure enough, once I finished the course, everything cleared up...

But keep in mind—that was after we tried everything else! Sometimes basic natural stuff like cranberries actually does the trick, or you could try snacking on pumpkin seeds if you think it might be a prostate thing...

You should definitely consider submitting both a semen sample and a urine sample for testing, along with a urethral swab... this is the most effective way to isolate the potential pathogen. In the meantime, try to stay hydrated by drinking plenty of tea; if you get tired of cranberry juice, feel free to switch to anything else, as long as you're flushing out your urinary tract with about 2 to 3 liters a day, though even more wouldn't hurt if you can manage it.