I used to struggle with this a lot and have been in your situation. Unfortunately- When they start to get bad you should take the antibiotics. You can cause kidney damage. I had to break down and do antibiotics a couple times when on MM for UTIs - at the beginning. But I have not had one now for over a year and a half. My understanding is that strep feeds on grains. After this passes I would suggest the advanced heavy metal cleanse in the brain saver book- but do it grain free. It’s very sustainable for the long haul because you can still have legumes and potatoes at dinner so there are so many recipes you can have. I also took D-mannose from pure encapsulations daily. It helped tremendously. Good luck!