The Treatment of Bladder and Kidney Infections
The GU system (genito-urinary) is involved with eliminating waste and clearing metabolized substances from the bloodstream. It is comprised of
kidneys
ureters (tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder)
bladder, and
urethra (tube that carries urine from the bladder to the outside world)
When infected, most commonly happening in the bladder (“cystitis”) and the kidney (“pyelonephritis”), in that order, antibiotics are necessary to limit suffering and damage. Damage to the kidneys, especially, can impact it function and even cause problems like hypertension and electrolyte imbalances; heart problems are therefore only one oversight away.
Cystitis Explained
The bladder is only one urethra away from the outside world. In men this isn’t much of a problem, but in women, where the urethra is much shorter, it is. Exposure to bacteria can allow contact and colonization, via the urethra, lik ...
The vagina remains in good health if things remain stable and friendly, but since it exposes an internal part of a woman’s body to the outside world, it is at risk for infection. Vaginitis is the word used to describe an irritation of the vagina.
The most common three conditions resulting in vaginitis are, in order of frequency:
Bacterial vaginosis (BV)—from bacteria
Yeast vaginitis—from fungus
Trichomonas vaginitis—from a protozoan
When it is a bacterial infection, this usually entails a change in the vagina’s internal environment, swapping out the beneficial lactobacilli for an overgrowth of the invader. It is the good lactobacilli bacteria of the vagina which help it maintain its acidic environment so it will be hostile to infections, except for yeast.
Yeast vulvovaginitis
I explore this ahead of the others, because yeast infection is the first thing suspected by a woman when she begins symptoms that involve burning, itching, redness, ...
