A few months ago I started to measure the pH of my urine every day with test strips (cheap from eBay). When I get infections they are asymptomatic except for large amounts of white sludge in the legbag pipe. This sometimes blocks the catheter itself (very painful until the emergency district nurse arrives to change the catheter). Because my infections are otherwise asymptomatic, I can't be sure that I always have an infection when I get these white sludge deposits in the pipe, however, whenever I'm on antibiotics the urine rapidly clears to crystal clear and the pH drops to under 7, typically 6.0 to 6.5. (i.e. slightly acidic) Within 3 days or so of the antibiotics course finishing, the urine pH rises above 7, typically 7.5 to 8.5 (i.e. alkaline) and the white sludge deposits re-appear.
I can't find anything to drink or eat that will reduce my urine pH below 7, but I believe that if I could I wouldn't have these blockages and possibly UTIs.
I already drink
at least 7 nights a week, and fluid intake is 4 - 5 litres per day including
. Cranberry tablets don't seem to make any difference to me.
As an experiment (can't help it, I'm a Scientist) I stopped drinking
completely for a week but it made no difference whatever to my urine pH. I did get a lot of ribbing from my drinking mates however.
When pH is over 7 and I'm getting the white sludge I do daily bladder flushes with Suby G or Solution R (3.3% and 6% Acetic Acid respectively). These are tedious and time consuming but do help reduce blockages.
Has anyone measured their pH and managed to lower it? If so, how?