How to prevent urinary tract infections

  Urinary tract infection is an inflammation of the urinary tract caused by the multiplication of a large number of microorganisms in the urinary tract, mainly manifested as urinary tract irritation, urinary frequency, urinary urgency, painful urination, and in a few cases, lumbago, generalized chills and fever. However, in clinical work, many patients have atypical clinical manifestations, often with urinary tract irritation and lumbago. It is difficult to identify based on clinical manifestations alone, and further examination is required to confirm the diagnosis. The disease is most common in women, especially in married women of childbearing age and older women, which is related to the anatomical and physiological characteristics of the female urethra, while the high incidence in married women is related to the menstrual cycle, sexual life and pregnancy. It is also associated with fatigue and lowered immunity.  This disease is equivalent to the category of “gonorrhea” and “lumbago” in Chinese medicine. The symptoms of this disease are described in “Jin Kui Yao Luo – Dissipation of Thirst and Urinary Discomfort in Gonorrhea”, “Gonorrhea is a disease in which the urine is like corn, the abdomen is stringy and urgent, and pain is induced in the umbilicus”, which means that gonorrhea is mainly characterized by urinary discomfort and urethral tingling. The manifestation of gonorrhea varies in different stages of the disease. In the Treatise on the Origin of Diseases, gonorrhea is divided into seven types: stone, labor, qi, blood, ointment, cold and heat, and the term “all gonorrhea is used as a general term”. The “Preparedness and Urgency of the Thousand Gold Essentials” proposes “five types of gonorrhea”. In clinical practice, hot gonorrhea and qi gonorrhea are common.  For acute attacks of urinary tract infections, treatment should focus on the use of heat-clearing and dampness-reducing drugs, which should be taken for a period of time to consolidate the efficacy, and to prevent the development of drug resistance, some heat-clearing and dampness-reducing drugs can also be used in appropriate rotation.  Recurrent urinary tract infections are often treated with antibacterial drugs in the acute phase, after the bacteriuria is controlled, but still appear urinary frequency, urinary urgency, painful bladder irritation symptoms, or symptoms of urinary frequency, urinary urgency, painful urination after a phase of treatment of symptoms in the acute phase, then the use of antibacterial drugs is ineffective. You should promptly switch to yin-supporting, heat-clearing and tonifying drugs.  Patients with stubborn, recurrent urinary tract infections rely on antibiotics for a long time, and some have symptoms such as urinary incontinence. To treat such patients, we should apply drugs that benefit the kidney and strengthen the kidney, tonify the qi and spleen, and regulate the qi and resolve dampness in a timely manner after stabilizing the condition, so as to support the righteousness, improve the constitution, enhance the resistance to disease, and treat the root cause.