How veganism helped my UTI’s and endometriosis
Before I gave up consuming animal products and began advocating for a vegan lifestyle, I frequently ate chicken. Because I have an autoimmune disease, chicken was the only meat I could consume as part of an anti-inflammatory diet that did not negatively affect my body. Along with my autoimmune disease, I also struggled with endometriosis, a condition that affects me to this day. Both of these conditions cause a multitude of symptoms that affect my daily life, including frequent urinary tract infections (UTI). I experience UTI’s roughly 3-4 times a year. My UTI’s can cause intense discomfort, including a constant feeling of having to use the bathroom, a painful burning sensation, and even bleeding. After many years of battling this condition, I started to have issues with treating UTI’s. Antibiotics that would resolve my infections within five days were not working, and I would have no choice but to complete another round of an even stronger antibiotic. In 2020, I had three UTI’s that lasted for several weeks because I had to take more than one round of antibiotics to finally overcome them. My last UTI occurred around Christmas while I was battling symptoms of COVID-19; doctors prescribed me the strongest antibiotic available for treating UTI’s.
When I began my vegan journey, I spent countless hours researching the foods I needed to consume to avoid aggravating my complicated health issues. As I ventured into this vast world of scientific articles and helpful blog posts, I stumbled upon research regarding antibiotic resistance in animal meat. Because animals are in close proximity to one another in small areas or cages, they often contract illnesses from each other. These diseases require treatment, and the only way to treat them is with antibiotics. Just as with human animals, however, nonhuman animals also build resistance to antibiotics over time, especially in the chronic, low doses the industry feeds to farmed animals as a preventative measure to reduce death from disease and accelerate growth. In the US, over 95% of farmed animals are raised in extremely cramped, factory farm conditions, necessitating the use of a large number of antibiotics to prevent and manage the frequent diseases that spread between animals in close quarters. The overuse and abuse of antibiotics in factory farms, in turn, leads to increasingly resistant bacterial strains that can be transferred from nonhuman animals to the human animals who consume them; in fact, the overuse of antibiotics in animal agriculture has led to a major public health issue of antibiotic resistance in human animals across the US.
Although I went vegan because of my empathy for our nonhuman animal companions, I also discovered immense benefits for my own health and America’s public health overall. This switch has lessened the intensity of the symptoms I experience daily from my intersecting conditions, and it has also reduced the frequency and severity of my bladder infections. I can now use the standard line of antibiotics for treating UTI’s after years of battling bacterial resistance. I believe my overall resilience against UTI’s will continue to improve as my body further adjusts to veganism and my diet encourages the growth of bacteria less resistant to antibiotics. This astonishing improvement in my life doesn’t even include improvements in my joint pain, bloating issues, and plaque psoriasis.
Despite the profound health benefits associated with a vegan lifestyle, tens of millions of Americans have yet to realize the enormous benefits—both personal and societal—of switching to veganism. To those who are hesitant, I implore you to try veganism for just one month. Set up a good meal plan with all the necessary nutrient building blocks you need, and take notes each day on how you are feeling physically and mentally. I noticed a major change after only two weeks in my physical health, mental health, and energy levels. The fact that I am reducing my footprint on the environment and saving animals by making the simple decision to consume vegan foods makes switching to veganism that much more profound. Try veganism today, and make this January your first annual Veganuary! 2021 is our year to change the world, end animal suffering, and begin solving our public health crisis.
—Article submitted by Taylor Seabolt, an intern on our Resource Development and Finance Committee
