Urethritis - Causes, symptoms and treatment. MF.

Urethritis is an acute or chronic inflammation of the urethra, which in the medical language is called the urethra. This disease can occur under the guise of both an infectious and non-infectious process. In this case, the reasons for the first and second are completely different factors.

Causes of urethritis

It has long been accepted that urethritis is a shameful disease. Much more emotion occurs in a person when he hears other variants of this pathology - gonorrhea or gonorrhea. In fact, gonorrhea is only one of the types of acute urethritis that develops during the defeat of the mucous membrane of the urethra by the causative agent of gonorrhea. If, in relation to this pathogen, the sexual way of transmission of the disease is really justified, then it is not at all worth reproaching your partner for accidental sexual relations if he has a streptococcal or staphylococcal urethritis. Most often, this pathology develops during the sharing of personal care items or visiting the city baths.

A large group consists of non-infectious urethritis. Their causes, in the first place, can be injuries of the urethra. Also lead to inflammation of the urethra may be poorly processed medical instruments that are used to study the mucous membrane of the bladder.

There are cases when urethritis developed against the background of a general allergic reaction.

To understand the cause of the disease is extremely important not only for the doctor, but also for the patient. It may even at the beginning of the disease coordinate you to contact the right specialist and receive qualified care. Well, the doctor, knowing the immediate cause of the disease, can easily and correctly choose the appropriate treatment, which will lead to the desired result.

Symptoms of urethritis

The first bell that can indicate urethritis is painful urination. A characteristic feature of such pain is that it occurs, as a rule, at the beginning of the act of urination. This is the stage of the disease, when an appeal to a specialist can prevent its further flow. If at this stage you do not seek help from a doctor, the appearance of pus from the urethra is simply unavoidable. In addition, there may be inflammation of the external opening of the urethra, which is manifested by redness of the outlet from it.

If you notice at least one of these symptoms, you should immediately consult a doctor. However, before the patient there is a choice, to which physician to come for help. Urethritis is treated by at least two physicians-a urologist and a venereologist. If you doubt your sexual relations, it is better to contact the venereologist immediately, otherwise the urologist will be able to help you.

It is very important not to confuse urethritis with prostatitis, which is also manifested by difficulty urinating. Such self-diagnosis is unacceptable, since in case of self-treatment of the wrong disease, urethritis can develop into the same chronic prostatitis or even testicular tumor. It is also important to prescribe adequate treatment in advance to protect yourself from the generalized inflammation of all urinary tract.

Diagnosis of urethritis

It can not be said that urethritis is a disease with pleasant diagnostic methods. At first glance, to verify the diagnosis, it will only be necessary to isolate the urethritis pathogen from the urethra itself, but this is not always easy to do. If during a visit to the urologist or venereologist from the urethra pus is not allocated, then it is extracted in all possible ways. For this, special chemical, physical or thermal provocative tests are used. In the first case, the patient will be given only a medicine, like pus from the urethra and flows through the stream. Much more unpleasant is a mechanical or thermal test, when the mucous membrane of the urethra is irritated by temperature or a thin metal probe. When the discharge is in the test tube from the doctor, the patient's participation in the diagnosis of the disease will be completed.

Tools for sampling

It will be possible to further identify the pathogen by bacterioscopic or bacteriological pathway. In the first case, a smear from the urethra is simply examined under a microscope, and if bacteria are found there, the diagnosis will be confirmed. If this way to identify gonococcus, staphylococcus or some other wand will not succeed, then most likely, the doctor will use the bacteriological method. In this case, the discharge from the urethra will be sown on a nutrient medium, on which, in the case of a positive effect, whole colonies of microbes will grow.

In addition to these classic diagnostic methods, modern medical centers use a polymerase chain reaction. This complex and expensive hardware method implies the isolation of the DNA of the pathogen from the blood or other biological fluid of the patient( the same pus).

Also if you have a pelvic trauma in the history of the disease, then in order to exclude urethral ruptures, it is necessary to conduct X-ray methods of investigation.

X-ray of the urethra. The dashed line indicates the pathology of the urethra

Contrast radiography will help to identify defects in the wall of the urethra. Also now, the urethroscopy method is widely used, when the mucous membrane of the urethra is inspected with the help of a special optical device that is injected directly through the external aperture of the urethra.

Urethroscopy

Treatment of urethritis

Antibiotics are the drugs of choice for the treatment of urethral inflammation. It is best if the choice of antibiotics is carried out taking into account the antibioticogram. This procedure involves determining the sensitivity of the causative agent of urethritis to a particular group of antibacterial agents when carrying out bapsoseva. To make an antibioticogram it is possible only in some days after allocation of the originator. Naturally, all this time the patient is not without treatment. In this case, antibiotics of a wide spectrum of action are prescribed to him. The drugs of choice are antibiotics from the penicillin group. To date, most often used semi-synthetic penicillins, protected by clavulanic acid. Such drugs are more resistant in the human biological environment and more strongly affect the pathogen. Medicines of this group, amoxiclav and augmentin, can be purchased at the pharmacy. However, it can be done only after the diagnosis is officially confirmed, otherwise the use of these drugs before visiting the doctor will distort the picture of the disease and you may be diagnosed incorrectly.

If the funds of this group are ineffective, usually stronger antibiotics are prescribed. To date, more often used fluoroquinolones, whose bright representative is ofloxacin, and cephalosporins with its own, all known, ceftriaxone.

In addition, topically prescribed antiseptic drugs for washing the urethra. For this purpose, use furatsillin or more modern decanas. True, the washing procedure may not be very pleasant, so it's better if the doctor does it.

Features of diet and lifestyle with urethritis

During treatment of urethritis, it is recommended to avoid eating foods that increase the secretion of mucus urethra. As a rule, these are powerful extractive substances such as spices and various condiments. In addition, it is desirable to adhere to the general rules of personal hygiene - do not use other people's towels and regularly change underwear.

Rehabilitation after urethritis

. However ridiculous it may sound, but most often rehabilitation after a disease is not needed for the patient himself, but for his wife. Therefore it is extremely important to go to the doctor together, so that he explains in detail that urethritis is not an indicator of betrayal. Most often this disease is perceived by bayonets in many women, because they do not know that they themselves can be the bearer of the problem, not at all ill.

Traditional methods of treatment of urethritis

For two millennia of the existence of this disease, folk healers, in their opinion, have learned to treat urethritis as well as doctors. And the delicate origin of this pathology forces patients to seek help from them. The wrong, and most importantly long, treatment of urethritis leads to a chronic process that is characterized by a narrowing of the urethra. And in such a case, not usual antibacterial drugs are used for treatment, but rather unpleasant instrumental methods. One of them is called bougie and involves the introduction of a metallic catheter into the urethra to widen the lumen of the latter.

It is best to use folk methods of treatment in combination with traditional ones. For example, diuretic teas used together with antibiotics lead to an increase in the concentration of the latter in the urine, which significantly speeds up the treatment process.

Complications of urethritis

In addition to the aforementioned narrowing of the urethra, there are many more problems that can develop after urethritis. For example, untimely treatment of the infectious process leads to inflammation not only of the urethra, but also of the bladder, prostate, and the internal system of the kidneys. Such complications are treated much longer and more difficult than urethritis, which indicates a high need for timely access to a doctor.

In addition, a direct link between urethritis and neoplasm of the testicles has recently been observed. Therefore, more recently, timely treatment of urethritis has been included in the program for the prevention of development of tumors of the reproductive apparatus.

Prevention of urethritis

Inflammation of the urethra is such a disease, the proper prevention of which can save any man from him forever. Firstly, in order not to become infected with urethritis, it is necessary to avoid accidental sexual contacts and adhere to the elementary rules of personal hygiene.

In addition, it is extremely important not to let the pathogen into the body. This can be done only when the time to treat any acute and chronic diseases. Men with inflammation of the gallbladder, intestines, pancreas, especially those who are constantly sick with angina, are more likely to develop urethritis.

Rev.the doctor the urologist, the sexologist-andrologist Plotnikov А.N.