Untreated Urinary Bladder Infections

The result of an untreated urinary bladder infection is a kidney infection. A bladder infection is simple to treat, but if the signs are ignored and untreated, it will spread to the kidneys and cause a serious illness.

Kidney infection

• A kidney infection, pyelonephritis, results from bacteria traveling through the ureters from the bladder. Once the infection reaches the kidneys, serious complications can occur and it is harder for your body to fight off the infection.

Symptoms

• The symptoms of the untreated bladder infection now in the kidney are nausea, vomiting, fever, pain in your back and sides, pus or blood in the urine, and an inability (or only minimal ability) to urinate.

Complications

• Once the infection gets into the kidneys it can cause kidney failure, which is a complete shutdown of your kidneys. The infection can further travel to your bloodstream and become systemic. If the infection is very severe, it can cause permanent kidney damage.

Treatment

• The treatment for urinary bladder infections is antibiotic therapy. If the victim is vomiting and in severe pain, she may be hospitalized until she can take medicines and fluids by mouth.

Prevention/Solution

• The best prevention for avoiding a kidney infection is to treat the bladder infection. At the first sign of symptoms, call your doctor for antibiotics.