Does Urinary Frequency and Urgency Indicate Urethritis or Some Other Disease?
Frequent and urgent urination is a symptom of urinary tract irritation. People usually associate the mention of frequent and urgent urination with urethritis, but the reality is not as simple as that. Urinary frequency and urgency are symptoms, not a disease. However, urethritis is not the only disease that may cause it. Only by finding the cause of this symptom can the doctor better treat the symptom and solve the patient's unspeakable problem.
There is a particular term for urinary frequency and urgency, which is lower urinary tract symptoms, and it belongs to the storage phase symptoms of patients. In the storage phase symptoms, patients who urinate more than eight times during the day and more than twice at night are called daytime urinary frequency and nighttime urinary frequency, respectively. Urinary urgency and frequency may be caused by non-inflammatory stimulation, inflammatory stimulation, neuropsychiatric factors, post-morbid physical weakness, parasitic disease, and other factors.
Clinically, the most common cause of urinary frequency and urgency is acute urethritis. Urethritis is a generic term for inflammatory diseases occurring in the urethra and is a common condition. The main symptoms of urethritis are burning pain during urination and frequent and urgent urination.
After having urethritis, the inflammation stimulates this part of the urethra and causes sensory hypersensitivity in the urethra. This is a solid subjective desire of the patient to urinate, not being able to get a subjective delay, and this is also related to the sensory allergy of the urethra.
But urethritis is not the only reason causing urinary frequency and urgency. Many other diseases, like bladder stones, urethritis, urethral stones, stones in the lower ureter, and overactive bladder, which is common in young women, also tend to have frequent urinary urgency as the first clinical manifestation.
In older men, urinary frequency and urgency are most common in prostatic hyperplasia patients with this condition. This is because the prostatic hyperplasia blocks the urethra and causes excessive contraction of the bladder's forced urinary muscles, resulting in symptoms of frequent urgency to urinate.
The frequency and urgency of urination in patients with prostatic hyperplasia are often more severe at night. Patients have several or ten urination times every night, which seriously affects the patients' sleep and quality of life.
So, in general, how do urinary frequency and urgency occur?
1. Inflammatory irritation. Such as acute cystitis, urethritis, pyelonephritis, tuberculous cystitis, vulvovaginitis, prostatitis, etc.
2. Pathological conditions. This condition may occur in some diabetic patients or urolithiasis patients. Some physiological conditions, for example, after drinking large amounts of water. The increased water intake leads to increased urine volume, urinary frequency, and urgency.
3. Non-inflammatory irritation. For example, urinary tract stones, foreign bodies, etc.
4. Decrease in bladder capacity. Symptoms of urinary frequency and urgency can occur when there is an occupying bladder lesion, when a woman's enlarged uterus during pregnancy compresses the urethra, or when the patient has a tuberculous bladder contracture or a large bladder stone.
For urethritis caused by inflammatory stimulation, patients can choose the herbal medicine Diuretic and Anti-inflammatory Pill, which is effective in treating urinary tract infections, prostatitis, cystitis, and other urinary tract conditions. Patients should avoid excessive acid intake because the acid-base balance of the diet has a particular relationship to frequent urination.
It is essential to exercise regularly and get more fresh air. Usually, drink more water in a small amount of water each time. Do not hold urine. Stay away from spicy, cold, and stimulating foods. Quit smoking and alcohol.
In short, when frequent and urgent urination symptoms are found, please do not be ashamed to talk about it, and do not blindly take medicine. The correct approach is to seek medical help. Therefore, patients can have the proper medicine and end the torture of the disease.
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