So a urinary tract
infection is an infection
somewhere in the urinary tract,
most commonly in the bladder.
It's associated with
a number of symptoms,
which usually manifest us.
I feel like I have to go to the bathroom
all the time.
We call that frequency urgency.
That constant nagging
feeling like I have
to go to the bathroom.
Sometimes I feel like I'm
not emptying my bladder
because otherwise, why do I have to go
right back in 10 minutes later?
Although most of the time
the patient is emptying their bladder,
they just still have this nagging
uncontrollable feeling pressure.
In the Super pubic area,
that's that area
that's right above the pubic
bone, just constant pressure in there,
sometimes burning as a urine
is coming out the tube
and certainly at the end of the stream.
Sometimes when it gets cutoff.
Get this really intense painful feeling.
Those are classic lower
urinary tract symptoms associated
with the urinary tract
or bladder infection.
The true infection
is treated them with antibiotics
in order to kill those organisms
or those bugs that are in the bladder
that are causing those terrible symptoms.
That's the appropriate course
for a urinary tract infection,
but there are often times
three times where someone has symptoms
that seem like it's
a urinary tract infection
and it's really of a different ideology.
That's where we need to tease things out
to see what really needs antibiotics.
Then what
the underlying reason where those?
Symptoms are if it's.
Not an infection and direct the.
Therapy at those things.
When we hear about a tragic story
like this, it brings
to mind a lot of things like
where do I fit into
that type of a scenario.
If I have urinary tract infections
and I do want to make the point
that what Tanya Roberts died of
was sepsis and sepsis
is a very different entity
than just a urinary tract infection.
Sepsis, you get from a
systemic infection in the body,
and it's the body's response
to that systemic infection.
That you get the cascade
of an inflammatory reaction
from the immune response
that that inflammation goes body wide
and then starts to have its inflammatory
sequelae or issues on other organs
such as the kidneys
and the kidneys, can shut down
the liver, deliver it,
then it's not working,
shuts down the brain.
The other thing
I would really want to impress upon
is when something like this
gets into the media
then so many women think Oh my gosh
I have urinary tract infections.
What does this mean for me
and will I get septic
and will I die again?
The vast majority of urinary
tract infections do not.
Develop into full blown sepsis.
So I do want to reassure
women that what happened
here is an outlier.
Yes, it's devastating.
And as physicians,
we watch for any kinds of symptoms
that the simple bladder
infection is going up to the kidney
and then once gone up to the kidney,
are there any other systemic signs
that there's some early sepsis
that's going on?
I mean, that's our job.
One of the number one reason,
so I will get urinary tract infections
that they're just not
drinking enough fluids and keeping
their urinary tract flushed.
So the general recommendation is 2
liters of fluid a day,
so that spread out
evenly throughout the day to stay
well hydrated and just
keep things moving.
I usually tell women
use the color of your urine as a guide.
If your urine is a light
yellow color, perfect
if the urine looks like it's water.
You're drinking more
than you really need,
and you're just running to the bathroom.
The time you have better things
to do with your time, but if you urine is
that sort of pretty Golden yellow color,
you're not drinking enough.
You need to drink a little bit more.
The other thing is off.
There's also some good data
to support the use
of cranberry, cranberry
juice or cranberry supplements
that have an enough
of the active compound in it.
The active compound is called PAC
and they need to have enough
of that compound
for them to be effective.
There are lots
that are out there on the market
that are not effective,
so it gets confusing,
but we do some education
with the patient about what are good
supplements are what are a waste of time
and then the other thing.
The last thing would be to make sure
the normal flora
or your normal bugs bugs everywhere
right on our body and everywhere,
but we are all living in homeostasis.
The good bugs sort of bad
bug balances and check it's
when one of the bugs overgrows
that it causes a problem
and so we need to do what
we can to keep that balance in check.