Acupuncture Pelvic or Groin Pain and Upper Urinary Tract Infection or Pyelonephritis

Females have a much higher incidence of pyelonephritis than males. Symptoms and signs vary from kidney pain, back pain, or flank pain with chills and fever that persists for more than 2 days. Nausea, vomiting, fatigue and a general ill feeling are also common but severe abdominal pain occurs occasionally.

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Another concern for ladies to keep in mind is Cystitis or bladder infection or LOWER Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). This E. Coli bacterial infection can spread upwards to the kidney to affect the UPPER urinary tract. So please click on the link to learn more about that.

Men should read about Kidney Stones or Urinary Calculi or Renal Calculus.

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In the elderly, mental changes or confusion are often the only signs of a possible urinary tract infection.

Upper Urinary Tract Infection or Pyelonephritis is inflammation of the kidney and ureters with two types of manifestations: acute and chronic.

Chronic pyelonephritis is a long standing infection that does not clear up. It develops slowly after bacterial infection of the kidney and may progress to renal failure. Most cases are associated with some form of obstruction, such as a stone or a stricture of the ureter.

Western medical treatment includes removal of the cause of the obstruction and long–term antimicrobial therapy, which raises some concern due to damage of the good bacteria in the intestinal tract.

Acute pyelonephritis, the sudden development of kidney inflammation, is one of the most common complaints of kidney pain that presents to my acupuncture clinic.

This is due to an infection that ascends from the lower urinary tract of the kidney following bladder infection or UTI (also called cystitis). It is mainly as a consequence of contamination of the urethral meatus by E. Coli, or Escherichia coli. But fungal infection such as candidiasis or parasite infection can also cause pyelonephritis.

Given that everything is normal, the urinary tract is usually sterile and very resistant to bacterial colonisation. But the infection can spread to the kidneys. The spread is often rapid and characterised by fever, chills, pain in the flank, nausea and urinary frequency.

In all age groups, bacterial infection is the most common cause of upper or lower urinary tract infections.

The most common development of pyelonephritis is due to LOWER urinary tract infection (cystitis) particularly in the presence of transient, occasional or persistent backflow of urine from the bladder into the ureters. Cystitis is more common than pyelonephritis.

Urinalysis will reveal the presence of bacteria and white blood cells. Relapse or reinfection is common. Treatment with antibiotics is continued for 10 days to 2 weeks.

What you can do to help yourself

- The first aim is to control or stop the infection and reduce symptoms.

- Acute symptoms may persist longer than 2 days after the commencement of treatment, but symptoms can also rapidly improve.

- Treat the cystitis promptly and completely to prevent development of pyelonephritis

- Chronic or recurrent lower urinary tract infection should be treated thoroughly and aggressively because of the chace of infection of the kidneys.

- For the elderly, prompt treatment is recommended to avoid the risk of permanent kidney damage.

Back to Acupuncture Kidney pain

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Dr Pier Tsui-Po Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine Clinic
Berwick Specialist Suites,
Level 1, Suite 8, 50 Kangan Drive, Berwick 3806,
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Telephone: 9796 2388