If you have a urinary tract infection (UTI) it can make you feel very uncomfortable and can affect your normal life considerably. As the name suggests, UTI’s are an infection that happens somewhere along the urinary tract. An infection can occur at any point from the kidneys to the urethral opening. Along this path are the urethra, the ureters, the bladder and the kidneys.
antibiotics for UTI
The symptoms of a urinary tract infection can differ as the infection can occur in different places. If the infection is in the urethra then the person will experience great discomfort and even a burning sensation when urinating. Urinary tract infections are most common in women and research has shown that up to 50% of women have experienced a UTI in their lifetime. Men can suffer from these infections as well but cases of this are a lot less. It can also occur at any age from a young child right through to senior citizens.
Symptoms of UTI can be numerous and the most common ones are a burning sensation when urinating, finding blood in your urine, foul smelling urine, cloudy looking urine, women experiencing pelvic area pains, men experiencing rectal area pains and having the urge to urinate and not being able to. Other symptoms can include nausea, a mild fever, vomiting or a general feeling of malaise or not feeling well.
Sufferers of urinary tract infections often have inflamed bladder or urethra linings and this can only be confirmed with the use of specialist medical machines. Often they are not clear cut and may be hiding other problems and it can be difficult to diagnose the real problem without the proper medical help. To be certain that you have a urinary tract infection you need to visit your doctor for tests. A doctor will take a sample of your urine and either diagnose through in house testing or sending to an external lab for tests. A test on the urine is conducted to compare the number of white blood cells with the number of red ones. If the white blood cell count is high then an infection is the likely cause. You really must seek professional advice if you suspect you have a UTI.
There are a number of actions that you can take if you do have a UTI. It is likely that a doctor will recommend antibiotics to fix the problem and this will help but it may not get rid of it altogether. If you prefer a more natural approach then cranberry juice is known to be a very good remedy and many people swear by it. Prevention of UTI’s begins with cleanliness and it is very important that the genital area is washed thoroughly each day. Always avoid holding on to your urine for long periods as this can lead to excess urine being held in the bladder due to it being stretched which can lead to a urinary infection.
If you have just had sexual intercourse then make sure that you wash carefully. It is also good to take lots of vitamin C and drink a lot of water.
Diagnosing urinary tract infection symptoms is best left to the professionals and never forget that if you do have an infection then there are a lot of things that you can do to ease your UTI symptoms and even eradicate them for ever.
