Urethritis is an inflammatory process that occurs in the walls of the urethra. Directly urethritis( as an independent disease) is more common in males. Women, along with the inflammation of the urethra, acquire also inflammation of the bladder.
As soon as you suspect symptoms of urethritis, do not hesitate to consult a doctor. This disease can be caused by bacteria and viruses, whose activities can subsequently lead to complications.
Most often, the disease occurs against the background of other diseases of the genitourinary system or pelvic organs, in addition, because of the peculiarities of the structure of the female urinary system, almost simultaneously with urethritis, often develops cystitis. Therefore, every woman should know the symptoms and treatment of this disease.
Reasons for
What is it? To the causes of urethritis can be attributed to bacteria, fungi and in some cases viruses such as herpes simplex virus. Although usually only the urethra is affected, but in some cases, the vagina, the fallopian tubes, the uterus and the ovaries may also be affected. The E. coli bacterium that causes urinary tract infections can also cause urethritis.
Here are some situations or diseases that can cause this disease in women:
- Gonorrhea: organisms "Neisseria gonorrhoeae" that cause gonorrhea can move up the female urethra during sex with an infected partner.
- Chlamydia and herpes simplex are also common venereal diseases that can lead to this ailment.
- Insufficient hygiene of : poor hygiene of the vagina can also cause problems. However, one should refrain from using soapy varieties of soap and perfumery in this area.
Symptoms of urethritis
The first signs of urethritis in women are:
- Discharges from the urethra ( the nature of the discharge depends on the pathogen, most often there are greenish or white-yellow or spotting with an unpleasant odor).
- Pain in the lower abdomen of the - it is constant, of low intensity.
- Burning( itching) in the area of the urethra, redness of the outlet of the urethra.
Most often, the symptoms of urethritis in women appear several hours or days after intercourse.
Symptoms of urethritis in women
In acute urethritis, characteristic symptoms in women are burning, pain and itching at the beginning of urination. In some cases, there may be purulent discharge from the opening of the urethra.
In the future, pain and swelling become less pronounced, and the discharge may stop. Urine, as a rule, is transparent with single purulent threads.
In most cases, the acute form of urethritis is accompanied by frequent irresistible urge to urinate, as well as noticeable pain at the end of it.
Common symptoms of urethritis in women:
- In acute urethritis, both in men and women, there is an increase in body temperature, a decrease in appetite, and weakness.
- Subacute is characterized by a decrease in swelling and pain, the discharge becomes less abundant or completely discontinued. From the urethra in the morning can be allocated crusts.
- If there is trichomoniasis urethritis in women, symptoms develop several weeks after infection, with about a third of cases occurring without specific manifestations. For the disease is characterized by: itching and burning sensation in the urethra, as well as in the zone of the external genitalia. Chronization of trichomonas urethritis leads to the disappearance of symptoms.
- With insufficiently effective treatment, urethritis can provoke chronic development: complaints are usually associated with neurotic phenomena. Most often these are small compartments from the urethra, which increase under the influence of provocative causes: alcohol consumption, hypothermia, sexual arousal. Symptoms of chronic urethritis, often reminiscent of clinical manifestations of torpid urethritis.
- Candid urethritis develops on the background of thrush in the defeat of the urethra with yeast fungi. It is accompanied by mild symptoms: mild curd discharge, discomfort in the abdomen, itching in the area of the urethra.
If the urethritis of women is not cured in time or the treatment was not properly prescribed, then the disease can become chronic, in which case it will be much more difficult to treat the disease.
Chronic urethritis
It is accompanied by periodic rezi in the process of urination and sharp pains in the lower abdomen, arising from time to time. Acute symptoms of inflammation of the urethra in women take place during 2-2,5 weeks. This does not mean that the disease has disappeared. On the contrary, this is an excuse for going to a specialist to start treatment, until the pathogens penetrated much deeper during the "dormant" stage.
The causes of this type of disease are most often local and general hypothermia, excessive alcohol consumption and frequent sexual intercourse.
Treatment of urethritis in women
In the case of uncomplicated urethritis, treatment does not require hospitalization and occurs at home. A woman should clearly perform the doctor's appointment and periodically visit the clinic to monitor the progress of therapy.
Depending on the symptoms of urethritis, treatment is assigned appropriate, it will depend on the pathogen.
During the period of therapy should:
- avoid hypothermia;
- abstain from sexual intimacy( even with a condom) until complete cure;
- strictly comply with the rules of personal hygiene.
In most cases, the treatment of urethritis in women is limited to the course of antibiotics, they are actively fighting the causative agent of the disease that was found during sowing.
How to treat uterine in women can be roughly divided into 3 main points:
- The use of complex actions aimed at restoring the properties of the walls of the urethra. Of particular importance, this action takes on the diagnosis of complex forms of the disease, when the inflammation on the line is no longer associated with infection
- Restoration of the microflora of the vagina. Urethritis will return again and again until infection of the urethra by certain microorganisms from the vagina stops. You can interrupt this vicious circle in one way - to populate the vagina with microorganisms that should be there. This action is selected individually for each patient.
- Work on the restoration of the immune system. With long-term treatment and inflammation of the urethra, the immunity of the whole organism as a whole and the walls of the urethra often suffer. As well as in the last paragraph, an individual course of restoration of the immune system is prescribed. Therefore, weak immunomodulators without additional actions and drugs will not give anything.
At the end of this course of treatment in most cases, all the symptoms and painful sensations disappear, but there are also rare cases when traditional treatment does not help. This usually happens with neglected forms of urethritis, when the infection is no longer present, and the symptoms remain.
An obligatory component of the treatment of urethritis in a woman should be a diet - from the diet exclude salty and spicy food, marinades and smoked products, showing abundant drinking and compliance with the milk-plant diet during the acute stage( exacerbation of chronic inflammation).
During this period it is important to reduce physical activity, to exclude alcoholic beverages, smoking and hypothermia, to limit sexual contacts.
Drugs for the treatment of urethritis
Now a few words about how to treat urethritis in women, and what drugs are considered most effective in fighting this unpleasant ailment. In the treatment of inflammatory urethral defenses, the following groups of medicines are used:
- Antibiotics is an indispensable tool that will help fight infection. Their reception is possible only after a series of tests that determine the sensitivity of the infection to certain antibiotic drugs. Taking a common antibiotic without a preliminary definition of the pathogen, in a number of cases, the effect of treatment can not be achieved.
- Special antiseptic sedentary baths, which will additionally help to neutralize the infection.
- Physiotherapy, involving the use of electrophoresis on the zones of the disease, heating applications.
- Tampons treated with medicinal ointments that are injected into the vagina.
- All kinds of drugs that stimulate, support the immune system - immunomodulators, immunostimulants.
- Vitamin complex also helps the body cope with urethritis.
When the diagnosis is passed and the causative agent is determined, a course of antibiotics is prescribed for the treatment of urethritis. The very form of the medicine depends on the microorganisms against which it is to fight. It can be ceftriaxone, tetracycline, ornidazole, metronidazole, doxycycline, azithromycin. Antibiotics of a wide spectrum of action are an indispensable part of the treatment of urethritis.
Together with drug treatment, physiotherapeutic procedures are prescribed( vaginal electrophoresis or on the pubic region with a solution of Furadonin, diadynamic therapy of the lumbosacral zone).To improve immunity apply immunomodulators, multivitamins.