What Is a Bladder Infection?
A bladder infection is inflammation or irritation of the bladder, typically caused by bacteria. Your doctor may also refer to this as cystitis or a urinary tract infection (UTI) in your bladder. This kind of infection is different than a UTI in your kidneys.
Bladder infections are more common in women than men. Our multidisciplinary specialists are here to help when your primary care provider can't successfully treat any frequent infections.
What Are the Symptoms of a Bladder Infection?
Your body may signal a bladder infection in different ways. Some patients experience many symptoms while others experience just a few:
- Urgent and frequent need to urinate
- Pain when urinating
- Pain in your pelvic area
- Fever
- Blood in your urine
- Burning sensation while urinating
When to Seek Treatment
You should discuss simple, preventative strategies with your primary care provider to prevent any recurrent infections you may be having. Your primary care provider is your go-to person when you are having symptoms.
Many women can treat their bladder infections successfully at home. Some women find that cranberry supplements and other over-the-counter supplements also help resolve the UTI. Research suggests that increasing their liquid intake and flushing out the problematic bacteria from their bladder can help decrease the frequency of their infections.
Our bladder infection specialists will only see you if you have already experienced three UTIs in a year and consulted with your primary care provider.
Why Choose University of Utah ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½?
Our highly trained urologists and gynecologists have years of experience serving patients with recurrent bladder infections. U of U ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½ providers will work with you to understand why you have chronic infections and what needs to change to improve your health.
Our urology services have bladder infection experts who collaborate with our specialty-trained advanced practice clinicians (APCs) to help you tackle these issues.
Bladder Infection Causes
Bladder infections in women are caused by bacteria from the rectum entering the vagina and bladder. Some common risk factors are the following:
- Not urinating for long periods of time
- Not drinking enough liquids
- Constipation
- Intercourse
- Severe diabetes
- Stress
- Wiping incorrectly after urination
- Menopause
As women age, their risk of these kinds of UTIs can increase as their level of estrogen decreases during menopause. Estrogen helps plump up vaginal tissues, increase moisture, and fight off infection.
How Bladder Infections Are Diagnosed
Our specialists will ask about your symptoms and then take a sample of your urine to understand more about your infection. This sample, which may be referred to as a urine culture, may be done at the doctor’s office or at a lab.
The goal is to analyze the level of bacteria in your urine to see if it exceeds normal levels. In rare cases, patients do not experience any bladder-specific symptoms, but a urine sample can confirm a UTI.
Bladder Infection Treatment
For severe or acute bladder infections, your provider may prescribe oral antibiotics, which are typically taken for three days. The medication prescribed will depend on what bacteria is present in your urine at the time of infection. Once you begin antibiotic treatment, most patients begin to feel better after one or two days.
Our specialists will also discuss what behavior modifications you may need to prevent future infection:
- Increase your liquid intake.
- Make dietary changes to avoid constipation.
- Increase your bathroom breaks.
- Manage your diabetes.
Patients with diabetes often struggle with bladder infection because of increased sugar levels in their bladder. The sugar feeds the bacteria and can encourage it to grow.
In rare cases, patients may need surgery if a structural problem is leading to recurrent infection.
How Long Do Bladder Infections Last?
For some patients, a bladder infection will last until it is treated with an antibiotic. For others, the infection will resolve on its own in a few days. We recommend trying to increase your fluid intake to see if the infection resolves on its own but if you have severe symptoms, urgent care or your primary care provider can help you treat your acute UTI.
Home Remedies for Bladder Infection
You can take several simple steps at home to help treat your bladder infection symptoms:
- Drink lots of liquids to flush the bacteria out of your system.
- Take D-Mannose, which is typically available over-the-counter at your pharmacy. This simple sugar product can reduce the amount of your problematic bacteria but is not effective for all patients.
- Take cranberry supplements. While the research is mixed on the effectiveness of cranberry supplements, it is a low-risk strategy that works on some bacteria. Cranberry juice is not recommended.
How to Prevent Bladder Infections
You can keep bladder infections at bay with the following habits.
- Urinate after intercourse.
- Stay well hydrated.
- Go to the bathroom regularly.
- Treat your constipation.
- Use vaginal lubricants without sugars.
- Manage your diabetes.
Women with declining estrogen levels may want to use topical vaginal estrogen cream. This will not increase your overall estrogen levels or increase your risk of breast cancer.
How to Make an Appointment
To see one of our specialists for your bladder infection, your primary care physician or gynecologist must first make a referral. Your doctor can make that referral by placing a referral in the electronic medical record system (EPIC) to urology or urogynecology.
Once that referral is reviewed, we will contact you to set up an appointment as appropriate with the best provider for your needs.
To contact us for more information, call urology services at 801-213-2700 or urogynecology at 801-213-2995.