What To Do If You Think You Have A Kidney Infection
For your GP to be confident you have a kidney infection, you need to have a positive urine test plus certain symptoms, such as a fever or a pain in your side. will also be referred to hospital for further testing. In these circumstances, scans can check your urinary tract for signs of problems. This may include:
When To See A Doctor
If you have signs of a kidney infection, you should see a doctor right away. Again, a kidney infection is seriousit can sometimes lead to a dangerous, life-threatening health condition called , the NIDDK says. Even if your infection doesnt progress to that, a kidney infection can become chronic, i.e., long-lasting, and can cause permanent damage to your kidneys, the NIDDK says. Kaufman recommends heading to your local urgent care facility or emergency room if you have signs of a kidney infection.
Kidney Infection Risk Factors
Anyone can get a kidney infection. But just as women get more bladder infections than men, they also get more kidney infections.
A womanâs urethra is shorter than a manâs, and itâs closer to their vagina and anus. That means itâs easier for bacteria or viruses to get into a womanâs urethra, and once they do, itâs a shorter trip to the bladder. From there, they can spread to the kidneys.
Pregnant women are even more likely to get bladder infections. This is because of hormone changes and because a baby puts pressure on the motherâs bladder and ureters and slows the flow of urine.
Any problem in your urinary tract that keeps pee from flowing as it should can raise your chances of a kidney infection, such as:
- A blockage in your urinary tract, like a kidney stone or enlarged prostate
- Conditions that keep your bladder from completely emptying
- A problem in the structure of your urinary tract, like a pinched urethra
- Vesicoureteral reflux , which is when pee flows backward from your bladder toward your kidneys
Youâre also more likely to get an infection if you have:
- A weakened immune system, as with type 2 diabetes
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Can Urinary Tract Infections Be Prevented Or Avoided
There are many lifestyle choices that can help you prevent UTIs. These are some of the things you can do to protect yourself from them:
- Drink plenty of water to flush out bacteria. For some people, drinking cranberry juice may also help prevent urinary tract infections. However, if youre taking warfarin, check with your doctor before using cranberry juice to prevent urinary tract infections. Your doctor may need to adjust your warfarin dose or you may need to have more frequent blood tests.
- Dont hold your urine. Urinate when you feel like you need to. Some children dont go to the bathroom often enough. If your child does this, teach him or her to go to the bathroom several times each day.
- Wipe from front to back after bowel movements. Teach your child to wipe correctly.
- Urinate after having sex to help wash away bacteria.
- Use enough lubrication during sex. Try using a small amount of lubricant before sex if youre a little dry.
- If you get urinary tract infections often, you may want to avoid using a diaphragm as a birth control method. Ask your doctor about other birth control choices.
- Avoid taking or giving your child bubble baths.
- Wear loose-fitting clothing , and dress your child in loose-fitting clothing.
- If you are uncircumcised, wash the foreskin regularly. If you have an uncircumcised boy, teach him how to wash his foreskin.
Causes Of Kidney Infections
A kidney infection happens when bacteria infects your kidneys. The bacteria are usually a type called E. coli, which live in your bowel.
The bacteria get in through the opening of the urethra and move upwards through your urinary tract, first infecting your bladder and then your kidneys.
It’s thought the bacteria can get into your urinary tract by accidentally spreading from your anus to your urethra. This can happen if you wipe your bottom after going to the toilet and the soiled toilet paper comes into contact with your genitals. It can also happen during sex.
In rare cases, a kidney infection can develop if bacteria or fungi infect the skin and the infection spreads through your bloodstream into your kidney. However, this type of infection usually only occurs in people with weakened immune systems.
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Can A Bladder Infection Turn Into A Kidney Infection
They can also happen if people try to cure their bladder infections with home remedies, like drinking cranberry juice. Cranberry juice is not a treatment for a urinary tract infection, Dr. Kaufman says. In either case, not treating a bladder infection quickly enough gives it a chance to turn into a kidney infection.
Urinary Tract Infections: Kidney Infection Symptoms And Treatment
While a bladder infection is the most common type of urinary tract infection, the infection could even spread to the kidneys. In this article, we would be looking into kidney infection symptoms and treatment options.
While a bladder infection is the most common type of urinary tract infection, the infection could even spread to the kidneys. In this article, we would be looking into kidney infection symptoms and treatment options.
Women are more likely to suffer from urinary tract infections due to the shorter size of urethra and the proximity of the urethral opening to the vagina and the anus. If a bladder infection is not treated at an early stage, bacteria can move further up into the kidneys through the ureters, thereby causing a kidney infection. Such an infection is medically referred to as pyelonephritis.
How Do You Know If You Have Kidney Infection
People suffering from a kidney infection are most likely to experience certain symptoms.
- Pain and burning sensation during urination
- Strong urge to urinate
- Stinging pain in the lower back
- Sudden unexplained fever
- Blood or pus in urine
- Malaise
If there is a burning sensation accompanied by pain during urination, it may be a sign of a kidney infection. This symptom should not be confused with the burning and itching sensation that is felt by those suffering from a yeast infection.
How is Kidney Infection Treatment
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Can Bladder Infections Turn Into Kidney Infectionshow Can You Tell My Lower Back Is Killing Me And My Ms Fatigue Is Crazy Worries Me Something Is Up
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How Can Parents Help
At home, these things can help prevent recurrent UTIs in kids:
Drinking Fluids Encourage kids to drink 810 glasses of water and other fluids each day. Cranberry juice and cranberry extract are often suggested because they may prevent E. coli from attaching to the walls of the bladder. Always ask your doctor, though, if your child should drink cranberry juice or cranberry extract, because they can affect some medicines.
Good Bathroom Habits Peeing often and preventing constipation can help to prevent recurrent infections.
No Bubble Baths Kids should avoid bubble baths and perfumed soaps because they can irritate the urethra.
Frequent Diaper Changes Kids in diapers should be changed often. If poop stays in the genital area for a long time, it can lead to bacteria moving up the urethra and into the bladder.
Proper Wiping Girls should wipe from front to back after using the toilet to reduce exposure of the urethra to UTI-causing bacteria in poop.
Cotton Underwear Breathable cotton underwear is less likely to encourage bacterial growth near the urethra than nylon or other fabrics.
Regular Bathroom Visits Some kids may not like to use the school bathroom or may become so engrossed in a project that they delay peeing. Kids with UTIs should pee at least every 3 to 4 hours to help flush bacteria from the urinary tract.
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What Are The Common Causes Of Urinary Tract Infection
Treatment for kidney infections can vary depending on the cause and severity of an infection. Infections in the urinary tract most commonly occur when bacteria travel through the urethra to the bladder to use urine as food for growth and multiplication. Excess levels of bacteria can lead to infections that, when they migrate to the kidneys, are known as kidney infections.
The most common cause of an infection in the urinary tract is from the bacteria Escherichia coli, also commonly referred to as E.coli. They are found in our colon and feces.
Improper wiping or toilet backsplash that accidentally causes the bacteria from the anus to contact the genitals is one of the most common ways to spread E. coli into the urinary tract. Bacteria transfer can also occur during sex irritation of the urethra from frequent sexual intercourse can increase womens likelihood to develop cystitis. Men or women who take part in unprotected anal sex are also more likely to develop urinary tract infections.
Certain sexually transmitted infections, including chlamydia, herpes, gonorrhea, and mycoplasma, can also lead to an infection that spreads to the kidneys. Holding your urine for six hours or more can give time for bacteria that enter the bladder to overgrow without being flushed out, increasing the risk of infection.
Other people at risk due to a condition that prevents proper voiding of urine from the body include those with:
How Do I Know If The Treatment Isnt Working
If the treatment isnt working, your symptoms will stay the same, get worse, or you will develop new symptoms. Call your doctor if you have a fever , chills, lower stomach pain, nausea, and vomiting. You should also call your doctor if, after taking medicine for 3 days, you still have a burning feeling when you urinate. If you are pregnant, you should also call your doctor if you have any contractions.
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How To Know When A Uti Turns Into A Kidney Infection
The main job of the kidney, a part of the urinary tract, is to remove waste and take extra water from your blood.
When bacteria or viruses create problems in either one or both of your kidneys, its known as a kidney infection.
This can easily happen when bad bacteria or viruses travel up your uterus.
When a kidney infection is left untreated, it can become life threatening, so its important that you seek medical attention immediately if you notice blood or pus in your pee, pain in your lower back, upset stomach or vomiting, fever and chills or loss of appetite.
Research And Statistics: How Many People Get Kidney Infections
The Cleveland Clinic estimates that each year between 3 and 7 out of 10,000 people in the United States develop a kidney infection.
Kidney infections are much more common among pregnant women, occurring in about 2 percent of pregnancies.
There are about 100,000 hospital visits for UTIs each year in the United States, most of which are related to kidney infections, according to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disorders .
One important area of research for kidney infection is antibiotic resistance when bacteria contain a way to block the effect of the drugs designed to kill them. Currently, guidelines for treating kidney infection recommend adding intravenous antibiotics to oral drugs when a certain percentage of bacteria from a urine sample show signs of resistance.
Treatment for kidney infections has largely stayed the same over the last several years, says Amin S. Herati, MD, an assistant professor of urology at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore. But, Dr. Herati says, there are some new therapies in the pipeline that are very exciting.
One promising potential treatment on the horizon, says Herati, is bacteriophage therapy, which involves injecting a virus that targets specific bacteria, causing them to burst and die. This approach could be useful for UTIs and kidney infections in which antibiotic resistance is a problem.
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How Are Kidney Infections Treated
A physician will treat the disease based on his or her examination. He or she may start the patient on the standard treatment of a course of antibiotics before the lab tests results are available. The medication may change once the exact strain of bacteria is revealed by the lab tests.
If the treatment is effective, the patient should feel better in two to three days. If not, your healthcare provider will start looking for additional problems. Most antibiotic treatments last for 14 days and it is essential that patients take the pills as recommended for the full 14 days even though symptoms may disappear after a few days. The disappearance of symptoms does not mean all bacteria are killed. Some may remain and the infection may reappear.
There is also a concern that those bacteria that remain may develop resistance to the medication. For some reason the disease is more difficult to treat in men and they may have to take medication for up to six weeks. Patients with severe illness, those that have significant nausea and vomiting, high fevers, significant pain and signs of dehydration may be hospitalized for a few days while the antibiotics are administered intravenously. Urine samples are taken after about six weeks of treatment and examined to insure the bacterial infection is eradicated.
Symptoms Of Kidney Infection
Symptoms of pyelonephritis often begin suddenly with chills, fever, pain in the lower part of the back on either side, nausea, and vomiting.
, including frequent, painful urination. One or both kidneys may be enlarged and painful, and doctors may find tenderness in the small of the back on the affected side. Sometimes the muscles of the abdomen are tightly contracted. Irritation from the infection or the passing of a kidney stone can cause spasms of the ureters. If the ureters go into spasms, people may experience episodes of intense pain . In children, symptoms of a kidney infection Urinary Tract Infection in Children A urinary tract infection is a bacterial infection of the urinary bladder , the kidneys , or both. Urinary tract infections are caused by bacteria. Infants and younger… read more often are slight and more difficult to recognize. In older people, pyelonephritis may not cause any symptoms that seem to indicate a problem in the urinary tract. Instead, older people may have a decrease in mental function , fever, or an infection of the bloodstream .
In chronic pyelonephritis, the pain may be vague, and fever may come and go or not occur at all.
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Infections Can Also Be Caused By:
- Kidney stones, enlarged prostates, and other conditions that obstruct the urinary tract, preventing proper emptying of urine from the body
- Spinal cord injury and other conditions that prevent you from properly emptying your bladder
- Menopause or medications that alter the hormones in your body, thus changing the bacterial environment in your urinary tract system
- Any condition that suppresses the immune system
- Certain sexually transmitted infections, including chlamydia, herpes, gonorrhea, and mycoplasma
In rare cases, a virus or fungus can cause UTIs.
What Are The Symptoms
The first telltale sign is pain when you pee. Its not always sharp or burning pain, but its an obvious discomfort. You may feel like you have to go all the time, even though not much comes out when you do. Your urine may also smell funky and could have spots of blood in it. Any or all of these signs point pretty clearly to UTI.
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Are There Risk Factors For Pyelonephritis
There are several developmental conditions that increase the risk of pyelonephritis:
- Ectopic ureters – a condition in which the ureters do not attach to the bladder properly
- Vesicoureteral reflux – backflow of urine from the bladder back into the ureters
- Renal dysplasia – abnormal development of the kidneys
There are several medical conditions and medical procedures that increase the likelihood of urinary tract infection including:
- Diabetes mellitus
- Kidney failure
- Administration of medications containing steroids
- Catheterization of the urethra
What If The Infection Does Not Clear Up With Treatment
Most infections clear up with treatment. However, if an infection does not clear up, or if you have repeated infections, you may be given some special tests such as:
-
a type of x-ray called an intravenous pyleogram , which involves injecting a dye into a vein and taking pictures of your kidney and bladder
-
an ultrasound exam, which gives a picture of your kidneys and bladder using sound waves
-
a cytoscopic exam, which uses a hollow tube with special lenses to look inside the bladder.
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Can A Kidney Stone Cause An Urinary Tract Infection
Sometimes, kidney stones can lead to a urinary tract infection or a kidney infection, so its important to get them checked out by your doctor. And, since the symptoms are so similar, getting a checkup is probably a good idea anyway just to rule out the possibility of an infection, and to make sure the stone is moving along as it should.
Preventing Urinary Tract Infections And Kidney Infections
Urinary tract infections and kidney infections can generally be prevented through similar means.
If you suffer from any symptoms of a urinary tract or kidney infection, talk to your doctor immediately. The faster you act, the more effective the treatment.
If you experience any symptoms of urinary tract infection or kidney infection, call or book online with PlushCare to set up a phone or video appointment with a top U.S. doctor today.
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