If you have asked your self this question then you need to read this article.
in order for you to defeat the UTI that is coming back to you, you must know what has caused it to return to you after you have treated it.
you could be asking yourself is there something wrong within my body that is causing the UTI to keep coming back. or is there something that I did wrong that has made the UTI to keep coming back.
for some people, it might be something that they did wrong like they didn’t stick to completing the whole regimen of drugs that was given to them by their physician.
some people might treat themselves by themselves and use whatever antibiotic or drug that they have in their home pharmacy to treat their UTI.
for other people, it might be something that their physician did wrong like giving them an unsuitable antibiotic to treat their UTI.
other types of people who might ask themselves this question (why do I keep getting a UTI?) might have a biological problem that is causing them a UTI that keeps coming back.
this biological problem is that they could be borne with a weak immune system that is incapable of defeating the UTI bacteria when they invade their urinary tract. or they could have a good immune system but they have some kind of an illness that is weakening their immune systems like diabetes or an infectious disease.
many times there could be nothing wrong with their immune system and they do not have some kind of illness that is weakening their immune system but it’s just the bacteria that has invaded their urinary tract is strong.
sometimes there are some people who are unfortunate enough to have a UTI that is caused by strong and resistant bacteria. and we will get to that later
but now let’s discuss one of the conditions that happen to females that is responsible for many of the recurrent UTI cases in females.
this condition is called vaginitis Vaginitis
Vaginitis is the inflammation of the vagina. It happens because of multiple things one of them and the most common one of them is because of a bacterial infection inside the vagina.
Other things that might cause bacterial vaginitis is a fungal infection in the vagina and a trichomonas infection also. But what concern us the most now is the most common one which is a bacterial infection in the vagina that will cause bacterial vaginitis.
Bacterial infection in the vagina happens for many reasons. It could be that the vaginal flora (the good bacteria that lives inside the vagina) are decreasing in its numbers which gives the opportunity to the harmful bacteria to invade the vagina.
It also could be transmitted through sexual intercourse.
Any decrease in the acidity of the vagina can open the door for the bacteria to come in. (acidity kills the bacteria)
It also could happen due to a previous urinary tract infection (UTI).
Because sometimes when a patient has a UTI and goes to the physician and takes antibiotics, some of the bacteria might run away from the patient’s urinary tract and go to the vagina as an asylum from the antibiotic.
So in the vagina, they may have the chance to grow in there if the conditions were right for them. Sometime they will stay there dormant without doing any actions or without growing to something noticeable. But they are still there.
in any case when the opportunity strikes they will invade they urethra which is the first part of the urinary tract from downwards. Causing the reappearance of the UTI after the patient thought she has gotten rid of it.
So whatever might be the cause, whether it was because of low concentrations of normal flora in the vagina or because of the decreased acidity in the vagina, Or because of previous urinary tract infection.
All of these things can cause bacterial vaginitis. And as we emphasized earlier, The bacteria that are causing Bacterial vaginitis and even bacteria that are remaining dormant in the vagina can wait for the opportunity to attack the urethra.
And when they attack they will cause a recurrent uti or a UTI that keeps coming back.
The urethra in women is located right above the vagina. That’s why it can be very easy for the bacteria to go to the urethra from the vagina because the distance is very short.
People with a weak immune system can also have a higher risk of bacterial vaginitis and thereby a UTI. People with a weak immune system have a higher risk of UTI even if they don’t have bacterial vaginitis.
If you have the problem of bacterial vaginitis and you notice that your UTI is coming back after each time you treat them, Then maybe what is causing your recurrent UTI is the bacterial vaginitis.
if that is the case try to treat your bacterial vaginitis as soon as possible. Vaginal external douches (the acidic ones) can be very helpful in that matter.
ps: only choose the acidic vaginal douches Also consult your physician. Bacterial vaginitis or any other type of vaginitis can also happen due to hormonal imbalance. That’s why it’s very important to consult your doctor.
image by Sshirly
another thing that might be causing your UTI to keep coming back is your own bowel.
something wrong with your intestines (gut)
sometimes the intestine of a human being can be very messy.
the normal flora (the good bacteria living in your intestines) can be sometimes on the decreasing side.
if the normal flora in your intestines or gut is on the decrease this could create problems in the intestines.
problems like diarrhea, constipation, colic, or bloating. when the normal flora amount in your gut is less than enough this could let the opportunity for the bad and harmful bacteria to come and invade your gut.
because the presence of the normal flora in your gut will repel the bad bacteria from going there. the normal flora can secrete substances at the foreign bacteria coming to your gut, these substances will kill the foreign harmful bacteria.
so the normal flora plays an important role in protecting your intestines.
so as we said earlier, when there is little or less than enough normal flora in your gut, the harmful bacteria will invade your gut. and the presence of the harmful bacteria in your intestines can cause you these problems of diarrhea, constipation, bloating, and or others.
now, what does all of that have to do with the recurrent UTI?
well, it has to do with the UTI a lot. the most common pathway in which people can get a UTI is through bacteria coming from the intestines. from the intestines and then to the anus region and from there to the urethra which is the first part of the urinary tract from the downward direction.
so you see the connection now.
if your intestines were healthy and clear of any bacteria then you will cut the way for the bacteria to reach your urinary tract.
but, if your intestines were full of harmful bacteria then without no doubt some of these bacteria will try to go to your urethra (urinary tract).
and that is exactly what could be causing the UTI to keep coming back for some people. because these people will treat the UTI and kill the bacteria in their urinary tract but the bacteria in their intestines are still there.
and whenever these bacteria will find a chance they will go to the urinary tract again and cause another UTI after some period of time of treating the first one.
and then the cycle will go on.
people would treat their UTI but the bacteria in their guts are causing the UTI to appear again and so on. the unhealthy guts or intestines could have many types of harmful bacteria.
and just some of these types would prefer to go and invade the urinary tract.
one of these types of bacteria is the E. coli bacteria.
these bacteria can live in the intestine and use it as a base.
if they invaded the intestine some of them will stay in the intestine while others will prefer to invade the urinary tract. so having an unhealthy intestine could be the reason why your UTI is coming back to you.
diarrhea, constipation, bloating, and or colic are signs that your intestines or gut is unhealthy.
and these signs could be caused or could cause a bacterial invasion in your intestines. meaning that if there are harmful bacteria in your intestines they will cause you one or more of these signs.
but that doesn’t mean that whenever you have a bloating, colic, diarrhea, and or constipation then you have a bacterial infection in your intestines. sometime these signs could be caused by stress.
sometimes the cause for it could be unknown.
other times it could be an infection by a harmful microorganism but not bacteria. it could be a fungal infection or even a viral infection that is causing you these disturbances in your gut.
these fungal or viral infections are problems on their own.
but you know that every infection can weaken the immune system. also, they can kill some of the normal flora living in your gut.
so, they can pave the way for a bacterial infection to also come in the intestines. and a bacterial infection in the gut can lead to the problem of recurrent UTI.
what I’m trying to say here is every disturbance in your gut whether it was because an infection or because of stress or because of an unknown thing can lead to bacteria invading your gut, or bacteria just passing through your gut to the urinary tract, and bacteria in your gut can cause your UTI to keep coming back.
so having a healthy intestine is just as important as actually treating your UTI.
keep in mind that many of the bacteria that invade the gut are gas producing bacteria.
so if you have a problem like bloating or diarrhea or the others and it’s not going away there is a big possibility that it’s caused by bacteria. and this problem is what could be causing you the recurrent UTI.
mostly if it was due to stress or there was no underlying cause to it, the bloating or diarrhea or constipation or others will go away after a short period of time.
so tell your doctor about the other problems that you are having besides the UTI. especially if they were in your gut because they are the ones that could be causing your recurrent UTI.
your doctor might some medicine to treat your condition at the time but if you want to prevent it from happening in the first place you will have to take probiotics.
as we said earlier if your gut has a balanced amount of probiotics that will protect it from most gut problems that people have to face and this will protect you from UTI eventually.
this 60 million probiotics product contains a variety of probiotics strains that will not only protect your intestines but also will restore the health of your urinary tract because some strains of these probiotics live in the urinary tract.
it’s on amazon you can check it’s the price.
if you want to know more about the probiotics subject please visit the probiotics for UTI article.
infections anywhere in the body
an infection in your lung, brain fluid (meningitis) or anywhere in the body can send some bacteria through the blood or lymph system to your kidneys.
so first the patient could have a UTI the has come to him through the intestines to the urethra. and after that, he or she could have a UTI that has come to him through the blood or lymph system.
what can increase the possibility of that is that every infection can weaken the immune system.
because the immune system can be busy fighting the infection in the lung for example and another infection pops up in the kidney (UTI).
so always try to stay healthy and eat food that contains a lot of vitamins to strengthen your body and immune system.
stress
stress could be another thing that causes the problem of the recurrent UTI stress makes the body produce a substance called cortisol.
this cortisol has many functions and it’s good only if the body is exposed to it for a short period of time. long term exposure to it will cause many problems.
one of which is the decreased immune function. a decreased immune function is a problem that can cause the UTI to keep coming back. so always try to relieve the stress you have and I know that’s hard but it’s important.
back to the subject of a strong (resistant) bacteria causing a UTI.
UTI caused by resistant bacteria.
if a UTI is caused by a resistant bacteria then this UTI will be harder to be cured than if the bacteria was not resistant.
note: resistant bacteria means the strains of bacteria that can’t be killed by normal or typical antibiotics like penicillin or ampicillin or similar antibiotics. these strains of bacteria will require stronger antibiotics or maybe a large dose of an antibiotic to eliminate them completely.
another note: most of the infections nowadays including the UTI are caused by strains of bacteria that are considered resistant. but the degree of their resistance to antibiotics might vary.
so some of them might require a very powerful antibiotic and others might require a mildly powerful antibiotic while others might require a very specific antibiotic to eliminate them completely.
now back to our subject if the UTI was caused by a very strong and resistant or maybe a new strain of bacteria then this UTI might not go so easily. and the person carrying this type of bacteria in his urinary tract might suffer from a recurrent UTI problem or a UTI that keeps coming back.
that’s why it’s very important for you if you have a recurrent UTI to do a culture test to know which type of bacteria that is causing your UTI.
by knowing the very specific type of bacteria that is causing your UTI your physician can select for you the very specific type of antibiotic that can kill this bacteria.
note: a culture test is a test where the people at the lab take a specimen or a sample of the bacteria that is causing the infection and they put it in a certain type of environment to determine the type of bacteria that is causing the infection.
so a culture test determines into which type that bacteria that has caused you the UTI belongs. not every antibiotic is capable of killing every type of bacteria.
so by knowing the type of the bacteria, the doctor or the pharmacist can select the antibiotic that can kill this specific type of bacteria.
sometimes the doctor may indeed know the specific type of bacteria that has caused the UTI.
but, the bacteria that has caused the UTI is very strong that it keeps coming back after each time the doctor treats it with a powerful antibiotic. and that may happen because of multiple reasons
the bacteria is getting stronger
sometimes the doctor administers a powerful antibiotic to eliminate the bacteria and this antibiotic does its job but, there may be some bacteria that haven’t been killed by the antibiotic.
even if it’s a small amount of the bacteria that has survived the attack of the antibiotic, this small amount of bacteria could reproduce again. and by the time they have grown and reproduced again, they have gotten stronger.
so when you give them the same antibiotic they may not be killed by it because they have adapted for it.
generally, bacteria is getting more and more adaptive to our antibiotics. also, new antibiotics are being introduced to deal with bacteria.
in some cases, patients may get infected with somewhat powerful bacteria, but their physician gives them a weak antibiotic or an antibiotic that is not suitable for that kind of bacteria. this will only increase the resistance of the bacteria.
and this is what may have caused their UTI to keep coming back.
so always try to make sure that your doctor or pharmacist is giving you a suitable antibiotic.
some people may try to cure their UTI on their own.
although this might work in some cases where the bacteria is not very strong or maybe the infection is at it’s beginning. but for many other cases, this will backfire.
so if you think that you have a UTI and then try to take whatever antibiotic that you might have in your home pharmacy like amoxicillin or Keflex or whatever then you could be endangering yourself.
you could be endangering yourself to the danger of a UTI that keeps coming back (a recurrent UTI)
even if you take an antibiotic like amoxicillin or Keflex and then say I will go to the doctor tomorrow or the day after it, it will not be beneficial for you.
because taking a weak antibiotic or an antibiotic that is not suitable for your UTI will only make the bacteria stronger. and this is called generally a drug misuse and more specifically an antibiotic misuse.
antibiotics as prophylacsis
another thing that is making the bacteria nowadays stronger is using antibiotics for prophylactic purposes.
prophylactic = preventative
meaning people or maybe even doctors are prescribing antibiotics to prevent the possibility of their patient getting an infection in the future. and they have used them for prevention from urinary tract infections as well as other infections.
this has proven to be very wrong and it will only increase the resistance of the UTI causing bacteria to antibiotics.
this also considered a drug misuse or antibiotic misuse.
ps: doctors may give advice to their patients to take one pill or cap or to take a short antibiotic course after sex and this is especially for women.
this is a precautionary measure especially for people who are prone to recurrent UTI or people who are prone to sexually transmitted infections.
this precautionary measure is a good thing and is different from taking antibiotics as prophylaxis.
because after sex there is a somewhat high possibility for UTI especially for women or for people who suffered previously from recurrent UTI or a UTI that keeps coming back.
so the infection (the bacteria) may already have gotten into the urinary tract or the urethra of the patient if we want to be more specific. and if there is bacteria in your urethra it’s better to get rid of them before they reach your bladder.
so this is actually giving an antibiotic to a possibly existing infection (bacteria) and the doctors will want to rule out that possibility.
not finishing the whole regimen.
another thing that is making the bacteria stronger is not completing your whole antibiotic course given by your physician.
In this way, you will give the chance to the remaining bacteria to gather their forces again and come back stronger.
so these drug or antibiotic misuse mistakes that are done by both the people and the doctors are making the bacteria stronger as time goes by.
so for some unfortunate people, they may get a urinary tract infection (UTI) that is caused by a new and strong (resistant) strain of bacteria.
in the case of a UTI caused by resistant bacteria, the treatment will be more difficult and the possibility of a UTI that keeps coming back increases.
Besides to making a culture test and knowing exactly what strain or strains of bacteria are causing you this UTI, drinking a lot of water and drinking lemon or orange juice and using other home remedies will greatly help in the treatment process.
And here is our 13 home remedies for uti article if you want to check it out.
so the increasingly growing stronger bacteria is one of the reasons for the recurrent urinary tract infections (UTI). and with that we will conclude this article
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thank you for tuning in don’t forget to check out the other articles on this website that talk about the subject of UTI. so thank you and goodbye.