What You Need to Know about Using Antibiotics for UTIs
Almost everyone has had a UTI or urinary tract infection. This condition can be mild and can heal on its own, but
Urinary tract infection or UTI is an infectious disease that occurs in the urinary system, ranging from the kidneys, ureters (channels that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder), bladder, to the urethra or urinary tract.
There are several risk factors that can cause a person to be exposed to UTI, namely:
- Have suffered from urinary tract infections before.
- Poor maintenance of genital area. In women, the wrong way to clean the vagina, ie from back to front (anus to the vagina), can make germs from the anus carried into the urinary tract and cause infection. This is what often causes UTIs in women.
- Frequently hold back pee.
- Blockage of the urinary tract, for example due to kidney stones, enlargement of the prostate gland, or congenital abnormalities born in the urinary tract.
- Conditions that make the immune system weak, such as diabetes and side effects of chemotherapy treatment.
- Use of vaginal cleansing soap.
- Frequent sexual relations.
- Long-term use of the catheter.
Should UTI be Treated with Antibiotics?
Not all UTIs need to be treated with antibiotics. If it is still mild, UTIs can generally heal on their own or in a natural way, which is drinking lots of water to increase the frequency of urination, so that bacteria can come out with urine.
However, in severe UTI symptoms, which are accompanied by fever, pus or blood in the urine, difficult to control urination, frequent bed wetting, or severe pain in the waist or back, antibiotics for UTI are needed.
In addition, antibiotics also need to be given to UTIs that do not improve in more than 2 days, are felt to be getting worse, or very often recur.
There are many choices of antibiotics for UTI that can be used, including:
- Levofloxacin
- Cefixime
- Ciprofloxacin
- Nitrofurantoin
- Trimetophrime/ sulfametoxazole
- Fosfomycin
- Amoxicillin
To determine which type of antibiotic is right to treat a UTI, it is necessary to see a doctor first.
Before determining the type, dosage, and duration of antibiotic use for UTI, the doctor will first assess how severe the UTI is experienced by the patient. Sometimes it is also necessary to check bacterial culture and drug resistance to find out what type of antibiotic is effective in killing the bacteria.
Therefore, antibiotic drugs for UTI should be obtained and used according to a doctor's prescription. The use of antibiotics for UTI without medical supervision can be the wrong type, dose, or duration of use. This risks making the UTI not heal or even making the infectious bacteria resistant to antibiotics.Besides antibiotics, doctors can also prescribe other UTI drugs, namely pain medications or NSAIDS (such as diclofenac, paracetamol, and mefenamic acid) to reduce inflammation and pain arising from UTIs.
Consumption of Antibiotics for UTI Must Be Exhausted
Even though you feel better after undergoing treatment with antibiotics, you still have to spend the antibiotics prescribed by your doctor. The reason is, if the use of antibiotics is stopped too quickly, the bacteria in the urinary tract can grow back because not everything has been eradicated.
If this happens, UTI symptoms will reappear and are even more difficult to treat.
So, do not just buy antibiotics for UTI yourself and stop using them without your doctor's knowledge. Consult with your doctor first if you experience symptoms of urinary tract infections, so that you can be given the appropriate medication. Likewise, if UTI often recurs or does not improve with antibiotics.
Label : Health
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