Recurrent Urinary Tract Infections (UTI): Where They Come from and How to Prevent Them

Anyone who has ever had a urinary tract infection knows how crippling the symptoms can be, myself included. Due to the intense and burning pain during urination, and the frequency of such, many sufferers find it difficult to go about their day to day activities. Going to work, grocery shopping, and taking the children to their activities all become crisis situations. All you can think about is getting back home so that you can be close to the bathroom and in your own comfortable surroundings, even though being there does not relieve your pain.

Urinary tract infections, often referred to as UTI's, are caused by bacteria that invade the urethra. This can occur in many ways. In females, fecal bacteria can easily be introduced due to the proximity of the two openings. Also, bacteria that normally inhabit the female genital tract, can migrate into the urethra and adhere to the surface mucosa. A drastic change in pH of this area, due to intercourse or the use of certain feminine hygiene products, can also cause some types of potentially harmful bacteria to proliferate and overwhelm the normal colonization pattern.

It is bad enough to get one urinary tract infection, but when they recur, over and over again, even after antibiotic treatment, one can feel helpless. Here are a few tips about what you can do to try to prevent a recurrence of this painful illness.

1. Increase your intake of fluids, particularly water. By increasing the amount of fluids that you take in, you will in turn increase the amount of fluid that you put out. In doing so, it becomes more difficult for these harmful bacteria to take hold.
2. Always wipe yourself from front to back to prevent introducing fecal contaminants to the urethral opening.
3. Try to urinate after intercourse. This will help to expel any bacteria that may have found their way in.
4. Avoid using feminine hygiene products that may alter the normal pH of your body. Certain creams, jellies, and feminine washes are all capable of doing this.
Make sure you read the package before using these items.
5. Drink cranberry juice, or take cranberry tablets. There have been many published studies to suggest that cranberry can help to ward off urinary tract infections.
These will not cure a UTI if you already have one, but they have been shown to help reduce the number of recurrences.

If you already do all of these things, and are still struggling with recurrent urinary tract infections, you definitely need to seek medical advice. There could be other anatomical or health related reasons for your symptoms, such as anatomical malformation, kidney stones, etc. Long term, low-dose antibiotics are sometimes prescribed to help to rid the body of the bacteria that continuously causes these recurrences.

Help is out there, so don't give up hope.