Urinary Symptoms Following a UTI

Anyone who's ever had a urinary tract infections knows that the symptoms involved with this infectious disease can be incredibly painful. While UTIs are more prevalent in women, men can still catch them and they are no less harmful or dangerous to the health of the urinary system. But sometimes men and women may have a urinary tract infection and have no idea that what they're experiencing is anything more than some shooting pain. What are some of the urinary symptoms common to a urinary tract infection?

Identification

• According to the Mayo Clinic, a urinary tract infection is any infection that begins in your urinary system. The urinary system is made up of the kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra. Even though these are all protected by skin, these important organs and parts of the body can become just as easily infected as the ears, eyes or nose. If you're feeling sharp pains in this part of your body, you should identify immediately as a possible infection of the urinary tract and call a doctor. Because it's an infection, treating urinary tract symptoms is as easy as taking antibiotics. But there are also ways to reduce your chances of getting a urinary tract infection in the first place.

Prevention

• Any doctor will tell you that drinking plenty of liquids is necessary to a healthy lifestyle, but having nutritious liquids that are easy on the kidneys (such as water or organic juices) serve to flush out many potentially infectious diseases. Also (and this may sound a bit crude) when going to the bathroom, wipe from front to back. Wiping back to front can get excretion near the urethra, the passageway to the urinary system. Also, if you're engaging in intercourse, use the restroom as soon after as possible. Leaving seminal fluids in the urinary system can trigger an infection.

Increases in Frequency or Urgency

• The most obvious symptoms for a urinary tract infection will show themselves when you're trying to urinate. Look for a rise in frequency of feeling like you have to go to the bathroom or a sharp increase in urgency for having to urinate. This can be caused by an infection putting pressure on the urinary tract thereby pushing down on the bladder, giving you the illusion of having to use the bathroom more often than you actually do.

Burning or Stinging Sensation

• Also, if you feel a burning or stinging sensation when urinating, that can be a sign that you have a urinary tract infection (or possibly even something worse!) and need to seek medical attention. A burning, stinging sensation is usually caused by the infection eating away at the protective cover of the urinary tract and leaving that lining raw and vulnerable to urine flowing from the body. A burning sensation should never be dismissed. Because the average person urinates 4-6 times a day, the urinary tract will need antibiotics to help restore its strength and fight off the disease.

Discharge of Blood

• Further, if you are experiencing discomfort of any kind while going to the bathroom, you are more prone to discharging blood with your urine. The infection can eat away at the lining of your urinary tract so much that when urine flushes through the kidneys and down the urethra, it can pick up blood usually protected by the thin wall of the urinary tract. Antibiotics are your best bet, but you can only do that by being proactive and seeing a doctor the first time you notice symptoms common to urinary tract infections start to develop.