Urinary Tract Infection In Adults - Symptoms
What were the symptoms of your urinary tract infection?
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What are urinary tract infection (UTI) symptoms and signs in women, men, and children?
The UTI symptoms and signs may vary according to age, sex, and location of the infection in the tract. Some individuals will have no symptoms or mild symptoms and may clear the infection in about two to five days. Many people will not spontaneously clear the infection; one of the most frequent symptoms and signs experienced by most patients is a frequent urge to urinate, accompanied by pain or burning on urination. The urine often appears cloudy and occasionally dark, if blood is present. The urine may develop an unpleasant odor. Women often have lower abdominal discomfort or feel bloated and experience sensations like their bladder is full. Women may also complain of a vaginal discharge, especially if their urethra is infected, or if they have an STD. Although men may complain of dysuria, frequency, and urgency, other symptoms may include rectal, testicular, penile, or abdominal pain. Men with a urethral infection, especially if it is caused by an STD, may have a pus-like drip or discharge from their penis. Toddlers and children with UTIs often show blood in the urine, abdominal pain, fever, and vomiting along with pain and urgency with urination.
Symptoms and signs of a UTI in the very young and the elderly are not as diagnostically helpful as they are for other patients. Newborns and infants may develop fever or hypothermia, poor feeding, jaundice, vomiting, and diarrhea. Unfortunately, the elderly often have mild symptoms or no symptoms of a UTI until they become weak, lethargic, or confused.
Location of the infection in the urinary tract usually results in certain symptoms. Urethral infections usually have dysuria (pain or discomfort when urinating). STD infections may cause a pus-like fluid to drain or drip from the urethra. Cystitis (bladder infection) symptoms include suprapubic pain, usually without fever and flank pain. Ureter and kidney infections often have flank pain and fever as symptoms. These symptoms and signs are not highly specific, but they do help the physician determine where the UTI may be located.
See what others are saying
If any of you are experiencing frequent UTI symptoms ask your physician about Interstitial Cystitis. This is a condition that affects the lining of the bladder and urethra causing similar, and sometimes frequent, UTI symptoms. Your doctor should send your urine to the lab for a urine culture to definitively rule out a bacterial infection (UTI) first. Many times women and men are treated for a UTI just because they have blood in their urine. However, having blood in the urine (in the absence of bacterial or white blood cells) does not necessarily mean you have a UTI.
I'm nearly 23 and I have been suffering from UTIs for the past four years. There is hardly a week that goes by without experiencing dark and cloudy urine, sharp pain at the end of my urethra, extreme pressure within my bladder, and burning, I also suffer from cold sweats, and occasionally there is blood. I've had kidney scans, numerous rounds of antibiotics, I've been to a urologist, who inserted a camera into my bladder, yet nothing has been found as to why I am so prone to infections. I've given up caffeine and sweets; I've limited my alcohol intake as well. I pee after sex and try to shower before and after, but I definitely think sex triggers it. The worst part is that I've lost partial control of my bladder and end up peeing myself from time to time, which is humiliating. In the past, I've been prescribed doxycycline and erythromycin for my skin, both of which have kept my UTIs at bay. I am just about to start on minocycline for my skin, which is also used to treat UTIs. However, I can't be prescribed these forever.
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