What is a urinary tract infection (UTI)?
A UTI is an infection in part of your urinary system, which includes your bladder, kidneys, ureters, or urethra.
More than 8.1 million visits per year to health care providers are for UTI treatment. Women are about four times as likely as men to suffer from UTIs. Bladder infections are the most common type of UTI.
What are the symptoms of UTIs?
While you don’t always experience symptoms when you have a UTI, possible symptoms include:
- Burning sensation while urinating
- A strong urge to urinate that doesn’t go away
- Cloudy-appearing urine
- Blood in urine (red or pink-colored urine)
- Passing small amounts of urine frequently
- Pelvic pain in women
- Strong-smelling urine
- Shakiness, fever, or fatigue
- Pressure in the lower belly
- Pain in your back or side (below the ribs)
What are the causes and risk factors of UTIs?
Sometimes no matter how hard you try to avoid it, urinary tract infections still happen. Some common causes of UTIs include:
- E. coli or other bacteria that affect the bladder
- Gastrointestinal bacteria that spread from the bowel to the urethra
Some common risk factors for developing UTIs include:
- A diabetes diagnosis
- Using a catheter
- A spinal cord injury
- Being a woman
- Engaging in sexual activity
- Using diaphragms or spermicidal agents for birth control
- Menopause and decreases in estrogen
- Having a weak immune system
- Recent urinary surgery
- Kidney stones or an enlarged prostate gland
- Having a urinary tract abnormality
How are UTIs treated?
Dr. Martinez diagnoses UTIs using urine samples and lab analyses and prescribes antibiotics that best match the type of infection you have. UTI symptoms often clear up within a few days after starting antibiotics treatment. To ease discomfort when you have a UTI, try the following:
- Take antibiotics as prescribed
- Drink plenty of water
- Avoid alcohol, sodas, citrus juices, coffee, and caffeine
- Use a heating pad
When you’re ready to eliminate UTI discomfort and resume your daily activities without pain, call the team at Femhealth Group to book an appointment, or schedule online today.
