Winner selected – Congratulations to comment #2 Patricia A. Hoffmeister
One of my favorite sayings has always been “If Kidney Stones were diamonds I’d be a rich woman”. I am “genetically predisposed” to Kidney Stones and UTIs “apparently” so the pain of it is really nothing new to me. I have tried numerous remedies from prescription medications to what seems like gallons of cranberry juice a day (think of those empty calories – ugh!) to even the cranberry pills and nothing seemed to help. I was even given an antibiotic that I had to take *cover your eyes young ones* each time after my husband and I had “relations” because for some strange reasons I had this weird kind of bacteria that had hooks, yes I said “hooks” that would cause me to have constant UTIs. With a little further research, I found this paragraph that might explain it a little better:
Not only are bacteria able to swim or glide toward more favorable environments, but they also have appendages that allow them to adhere to surfaces and keep from being washed away by flowing fluids. Some bacteria, such as E. coli produce straight, rigid, spike like projections called fimbriae (Latin for “threads” or “fibres”) or pili (Latin for “hairs”), which extend from the surface of the bacterium and attach to specific sugars on other cells—for these strains, intestinal or urinary-tract epithelial cells, respectively.
So basically I had this “pili” bacteria that would cause reoccurring UTIs. If you can imagine taking an antibiotic for 6 months you can imagine your body would build up some kind of tolerance to it. Well, needless to say I didn’t take the medicine for 6 months and yes, I did have more reoccurring infections and better than that, more Kidney Stones. In fact, in the last 10 years, I can count 5 separate surgeries for stones alone. These were only for the stones too large to pass.
Okay, so long story short, we I was given the opportunity to try out Cystex Liquid Cranberry, I jumped right on that idea! First of all, it’s NOT a pill I have to remember to take that is just lowering my resistance to some other kind of potential bacteria, nor is it a ton on empty calories a day from drinking a jug of bitter Cranberry Juice every day (did I mention the heartburn that caused me?) but it’s one tablespoon a day mixed in to a bottle of water, tea or whatever else you are drinking and you would never even know the difference! To me, mixed right in with my water, it kind of tastes like cotton candy. No, I am not crazy…It tastes good I promise!
I looks a little strange, I admit, but I promise, it is amazing. Just weeks before I started taking it, I had been having pain in my right flank area and what felt like I was passing small glass shards. I can only assume it was small stones that has recently shown up on a CT Scan that were small enough to pass – and in fact, were passing according to the doctor. Still, they had been causing pain and would have normally cause me to have a problem when I went in for my next check up. Well, I went in on August 4th and guess what? My urine check was clear! I had only been using the Cystex Liquid Cranberry about a week and already I was seeing positive results. Not to mention feeling better as well. One tablespoon is equivalent to 8 glasses of Cranberry juice. That is a lot of juice in one day for one person to drink!! I know it is hard enough for me to get that much water in!
“New, clinically-proven Cystex® Liquid Cranberry Complex combines the health benefit of eight glasses of cranberry juice in its unique, convenient, pleasant-tasting Proantinox® cranberry formula. More than just cranberry concentrate, its proprietary blend also contains D-Mannose, inulin, bromelain, and vitamin C, a combination designed to boost bladder health. One tablespoon, taken daily to promote urinary tract health, can benefit millions of women most susceptible to recurring, painful urinary tract infections.
Cystex Liquid Cranberry Complex uses the proprietary, clinically-proven Proantinox formula, which contains:
- Natural cranberry concentrate: disables the cell structure of E. coli by inhibiting their ability to adhere to the wall of the urinary tract
- D-Mannose (active ingredient from cranberries): to increase bacterial anti-adherence effect. E. coli bacteria adhere to the D-Mannose forming a compound that is expelled with urine
- Bromelain (from pineapple): a natural anti-inflammatory that may increase antibiotic effectiveness plus digests protein
- Vitamin C (ascorbic acid): to help maintain adequate urine acidity, which helps create a less tolerable environment for E. coli bacteria
- FOS (inulin): a prebiotic that stimulates the growth of bifidobacteria in the colon and reduces the number of E. coli – feeds healthy bacteria
The gluten-, lactose- and sugar-free formula of fast-acting Cystex Liquid Cranberry Complex with Proantinox provides powerful urinary tract protection in one convenient tablespoon (compare this to cranberry juice cocktail, which is only 27% cranberry juice and mostly sugar, where you’d have to drink eight glasses for similar cranberry benefit). This liquid cranberry complex also has a higher absorption rate and 17 times the PACs of cranberry tablets!
This type of safe, effective and drug-free UTI prevention product is also beneficial since there is growing concern about antibiotic resistance within the medical community, so any effort to prevent infections in the first place and lessen the need to use antibiotics (to treat a UTI), the better. And let’s face it, we all want to avoid UTIs. After all, they cause pain and discomfort, burning when urinating, and doctor visits are inconvenient and expensive, along with the cost of antibiotics. Taking antibiotics can also be problematic. Other problems with taking antibiotics include: allergic reactions, the depletion of beneficial bacteria, interactions with food or drugs, side effects, yeast infections, as well as antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic resistance occurs when disease-causing organisms change over time and adapt in ways that allow them to survive exposure to a medication that once killed or controlled them. Frequent and/or inappropriate use of antibiotics can lead to the development of drug-resistant bacteria. For example, taking antibiotics when they may not be needed, using them for a nonbacterial infection, or not taking all of an antibiotic as directed may promote the development of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.”
Thanks to Laurie @ Robin Leedy & Associates, I was given a bottle for myself to try and a have to say I am very pleased with the results so far! I am also pleased to offer one of my readers the opportunity to win a bottle for themselves as well. If you are interested, here is how you can win:
RULES:
Mandatory entry: Fan FrugalQponMom and DSEhealth on Facebook and comeback and leave a comment.
Bonus entries may be the following – up to 14 bonus entries – starting 8/19 and ending 9/2
-follow @FrugalQponMom and @DSEhealth on Twitter and tweet about this giveaway (can be done daily)
Drawing will take place on 9/3/10 and winner will be notified by email so please be sure to include a valid email address in your entry.
15 entries total
Prize will be shipped from sponsor.
US residents ONLY.
Soooooooo, CONGRATULATIONS to Tina – “TRCheek68″ – please send me a message and claim your prize within the next 48 hours or another winner will be drawn. Use the “Contact Me” tab at the top to send me an email with your full name and mailing address so I can forward this information on to the sponsor and your prize will be shipped directly to you!
SweepsU.com site review & 6-month membership giveaway!! Ends 7/30/10
As an avid sweepstaker, I am always interested when fresh, new ideas to finding, entering and tracking contests and sweepstakes come along. When the founders of SweepsU.com offered an opportunity to Beta test their new site, I signed up right away. I was very impressed with all of the information on the site. They provide a Library, a FAQ section and a Forums section as well, with many nice people to help you along the way!
Before I get too far in to the details, I guess I should tell you that yes, people really do win and yes, there truly are legitimate sweepstakes sites out there! I agree, you have to be very careful of what you enter and whom you give your personal information to. That is another reason I like SweepsU so much. The sweeps on the site are all checked by more than one person to be sure they 1) are not spam traps and that the prizes are REAL and offered by legitimate sponsors and 2) as an added bonus (in my book), are not duplicated on the site so that I do not accidentally enter again, disqualifying myself.
I have tried many different ways of keeping track and even other subscription sites and I really have to say I really like the SweepsU tracking and notification system A LOT! With one click, your browser window opens to the entry form and the sweepstake is entered in to your tracker for the day, week or month, depending on what type of entry it is. Sometimes I may bookmark a sweep with good intentions of coming back to enter it tomorrow and the next day and the next…well, I can assure you, with my hectic days, that rarely every happens. With SweepsU.com, you have an option to have an email sent to you to notify you that it is time to enter your sweeps again! What could be better than that? Right from that email you can enter all of the sweeps you have saved to your tracker with one click (per sweep, that is). Also, if you are in a hurry, you can use their Sweeps Unleashed option to have your browser open multiple Internet windows at one time allowing you to enter sweeps at a much faster speed. You can choose from 5 – 50 tabbed windows opened at one time depending on the speed of your computer. This makes entering much easier and faster and I can get the sweep that I feel are my best chance of winning entered for the day and go on with the other things I need to do – like finding bargains!!
The nice folks over at SweepsU.com have given me the not one but two 6-month subscriptions to give away to two of my lucky readers!! Right now, if you head on over to SweepsU you can sign up for a free 7-day trial (no credit card required!) and try the site out for your self! If you are interested in winning one of the memberships, here is how you do it:
The giveaway will begin 7/23/10 at 10:00am CST and the last entry will be counted no later than 10:00am on 7/30/10 CST. Winners will be announced on my blog and notified via email from SweepsU.com shortly after that.
Good luck & happy sweeping!!!