Woman and Urinary Tract Infections

Written by Barbara Green

Urinary tract infections, or UTIs as they’re more commonly called, can be a constant part of many women’s lives.

Urinary tract infections can be very painful, but fairly easy to take care of with an antibiotic prescription. That’s if you catch them within a reasonable time and if the infection is confined to the bladder and urethra.

Urinary Tract Infection Complications

Sometimes a UTI can sneak on by with little or no discomfort. This makes it very hard to notice until the infection is quite severe. The UTI can infect the kidneys before treatment is sought. Severe infection may need a hospital stay with intravenous antibiotics being used.

Any severe infection can also result in kidney dysfunction with results that will not be reversible. So it is important to catch the UTI in its earliest stage. To do that, we need to know what symptoms to watch for and to always be aware of changes in our bodies, even when they are subtle changes.

Urinary Tract Infection Symptoms

The symptoms we need to be aware of may include both the urge for more frequent urination and the fact the output may be less. A slight burning feeling during urination is sometimes one of the first signs. A definite ‘go to the doctor now’ sign is blood in the urine-it doesn’t matter what the amount is-just get to the doctor.

Urine that looks cloudy, and smells strong can be another indication of a UTI. If the bladder is infected you may experience lower abdomen pressure, a feeling of uncomfortable bordering on hurting. You could also have a slight fever. If the infection has settled in the kidneys you might experience lower to mid back pain, or even some side pain.

There will probably be fever, nausua, and possible vomiting to go along with the back pain. At that point you will definitely need to see a doctor.

Urinary Tract Infection Medical Treatment

The treatment will depend on the severity of the infection when you see the doctor. Usually 3-7 days of an antibiotic and perhaps some special pain medication will be prescribed. You will begin to feel much better within a day or two, but take the complete prescription of antibiotics or you’ll be back to square one in a hurry.

Don’t be alarmed if you’ve been prescribed some of the special pain medicines for a UTI and your urine is suddenly a bright blue or orange. It is a side effect of the medicine, but it can be disconcerting.

Women and Urinary Tract Infections

Why do women get more UTI’s than men? It has to do mostly with anatomy. To begin with, women seem to have shorter urethra then men. The urethra can also be irritated during sexual activity, and because our urethra is located so closely to the anus and the vagina, germs can easily be transported from both areas to the urethra.

Diabetes, kidney stones and certain kinds of birth control can also work against us. And, then there is ‘aging’- as the walls of the uterus thins and loses some of its moisture it naturally becomes more easily irritated and thus a good home for infections.

It’s believed that anyone who contracts three or more UTI’s will continue to get them. But after over two years of fighting constant UTI’s I have gone to a Urologist that has put me on a year of low-dose antibiotics. He said that most of his patients that do this one year stint have been UTI free afterwards.

It has actually been worth it during this first 4-5 months as I haven’t had any problems. This is the longest I’ve gone without a UTI in a very long time. He also told me it is NOT my age, nor what I eat. I love sweets but they don’t factor in to how often I was getting UTI’s. In fact, nothing I did brought about the disease; the doctor said it has more to do with the bacteria in your system.

To put it simply, sometimes the ‘bad’ bacteria takes over the good bacteria and causes an imbalance in the body’s system. The medical results make it worth giving the year of low-dose antibiotics a try. So if you’ve been fighting UTI’s for a long while, go see a Urologist and ask about low dosage antibiotics.

Summary

Urinary tract infections include symptoms like the urge to urinate or pain on urinations. The symptoms can lead to very serious side effects than include severe kidney disease. Women are more prone to the disease and the propensity to getting a UTI increases with age and how many times you’ve had one. UTI’s are generally easy to fight with antibiotics.

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