Using Ibuprofen for a Severe UTI Is a Bad Idea

Ibuprofen is often prescribed to treat uncomplicated urinary tract infections.   Resent research shows that this may not be a good idea.   Physicians are worried about antibiotic resistance, needing stronger antibiotics to cure infections. Instead of prescribing antibiotics it was thought that ibuprofen could alleviatee UTI symptoms and your body would rid itself of the infection.    Those women being treated with ibuprofen alone are having complications.   Their symptoms are lasting longer and the primary infection can spread.

UTIs are becoming more common, in fact one in five women will contract a UTI in their life. Excess use of antibiotics, as noted in the trend previously, can make women more susceptible to UTIs and complications. Because of this, researchers have been scrambling to find a non antibiotic treatment.

Women with UTIs were treated with both antibiotics and ibuprofen. The results showed that the women taking ibuprofen recovered as much as three days slower than women on antibiotics. In addition, 12 of the women using ibuprofen contracted complications, and 4% got kidney infections.

Seek a doctor immediately if you are having painful urination, fever, back pain and nausea.

In conclusion, it is much more beneficial for women with UTIs to take antibiotics than ibuprofen for treatment.

Key Points:

  • 1Due to antibiotic resistance, more doctors are giving Ibuprofen to women to treat Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) but new studies show that this could result in serious complications.
  • 2A 2010 study that suggested Ibuprofen might be similar to antibiotics in UTI treatment gave a false sense of efficacy and is being questioned.
  • 3Using Ibuprofen to treat UTI isn’t a safe recommendation because it can cause issues like serious upper urinary tract infections and damages to kidney function.


This study found that women who took ibuprofen took three days longer to get well on average.
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Written by HealthStatus
Medical Writer & Editor

HealthStatus has been operating since 1998 providing the best interactive health tools on the Internet, millions of visitors have used our health risk assessment, body fat and calories burned calculators. The HealthStatus editorial team has continued that commitment to excellence by providing our visitors with easy to understand high quality health content for many years.

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