Some people suffering from urinary tract infection (UTI) might feel a sudden stinging pain every time they urinate. More often than not, this is the impetus that will force them to see a doctor for treatment.
Western conventional medicine might see UTI as a simple infection of the bladder that is simply treated with antibiotics to address the infection and painkillers to treat the symptoms. In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), however, UTIs have a unique personality of their own much as the same way back pain, colds, or headaches have. UTI symptoms can range from lower back pain, spasms felt in the lower stomach, sharp pain in the urethra, and urinary dribbling, difficulty, frequency and urgency.
From the viewpoint of TCM, urinary tract infections are basically a matter of deficiency. Excess patterns can be due to an accumulation or too much of something. Deficiency-caused UTIs are often brought about by the aging process, too much sexual activity, poor diet, and insomnia. Living your life too fully may over-exhaust your Spleen and/or Kidney making your body too weak to control the function of your bladder or metabolize water efficiently. Eventually, this can lead to lower back pain, an achy and dull pain, dribbling, or incontinence.
If a UTI sufferer has an excess pattern problem, he/she tends to have an overabundance of heat and fluids (dampness) in his/her body. The most notable symptom of an excess pattern is pain felt while urinating. UTI caused by damp heat may be caused by poor hygiene, too much sweets, hot spicy food, and alcohol.
Besides these two patterns, UTIs are also further categorized into six different forms:
Taxation – A type of deficiency/depletion pattern, taxation is caused by feeling totally exhausted or from overdoing things. Weak or achy in the knees or low back section, fatigue, stress incontinence (leaking after sneezing or jumping), and occasional dribbling of urine are some of the symptoms related to taxation.
Cloudy – This type of pattern can be due to either deficiency/depletion or excess. Urine would be milky or cloudy. If brought about by excess, the signs and symptoms would be cloudy urine combined with urethral burning and pain. If caused by depletion, signs and symptoms may include a cloudy and/or dribbling urine that comes with weakness and pain in the knee and lower back, tinnitus, dizziness, and mild urethral pain. People with a depleted, weak, or thin body type tend to be most affected by this pattern.
Bloody – A bloody urine pattern can also result from a depletion or excess problem. If caused by depletion, the blood in the urine wouldn’t be as much as that of an excess pattern or the bleeding may manifest after a long period of time. Also, pain wouldn’t be as sharp as in an excess pattern although symptoms of achy low back or knees, and a feeling of tiredness may be experienced. If caused by excess, the heat in your body may cause you to bleed in greater amounts than in a depletion pattern and you may experience symptoms of a sharp burning pain, and urinary urgency and frequency.
Qi – This type of pattern can be caused by deficiency or excess. A depleted/deficient Qi means that your bladder may not have sufficient energy to metabolize water. An achy lower back, shortness of breath, tiredness, a pale complexion, incontinence or dripping, and a heavy sensation in your lower stomach are symptoms of a deficient Qi pattern. If you suffer from QI excess, it means that the flow of your Qi (energy) has stagnated and cause symptoms of rib pain, chest tightness, pain or fullness in your lower stomach, and difficult urination.
Stony – This type of pattern comes with really serious pain in the stomach. The pain is caused by kidney stones in the kidney, obviously. Besides pain, other symptoms include passing stones in the urine, hematuria (blood in the urine), dysuria (difficulty in urinating), cramping, and low back pain.
Heat – This is the most common type of UTI in Chinese medicine caused by an infection in the bladder. Symptoms may include a bitter taste in your mouth, thirst, constipation, and fever.
There is a specific form of TCM treatment for each type of UTI. In an excess pattern, the aim of the treatment is to resolve the dampness and clear the heat. Food therapy, Chinese herbs, and acupuncture are the TCM modalities to accomplish this. The Eight Herb Powder for Rectification (Ba Sheng San) formula is an herbal remedy that can remove dampness, clear heat, and in some instances help resolve hematuria (blood in the urine).
For UTI resulting from a deficiency/depletion, the primary objective of the treatment is augment Kidney or Slpeen Qi with Chinese herbs. Food therapy and acupuncture are also used to boost body strength. Treatment for a deficiency pattern takes much longer than in an excess pattern. This is because when you suffer from a deficiency, it takes a considerable amount of time to build up and nourish your body.
Harmony Wellness Center
110 N Orlando Ave
Maitland, FL 32751
(407) 234-6454