Acupuncture for Recurrent UTIs

How Chinese medicine understands recurrent UTIs

In Chinese medicine, a bladder infection with burning, urgency and dark urine is called a Lin syndrome, a “painful urinary dribbling” disorder. The acute infection is usually seen as Damp-heat collecting in the Bladder. That is the stage for your doctor and antibiotics.

Recurrent UTIs raise a different question: why does the Damp-heat keep coming back? Between infections, Chinese medicine looks at the ground it grows in. The common patterns are:

• Spleen and Kidney Qi deficiency. Infections return whenever you are run down, tired or overworked. Between them you may have frequent urination, a dragging feeling low down, and low energy. This is sometimes called “exhaustion Lin”.
• Kidney Yin deficiency. A lingering mild burning, dryness, night sweats or a feeling of heat in the evenings, often after menopause or after many rounds of antibiotics.
• Liver Qi stagnation. Infections or flares that follow stress, frustration or poor sleep, with tension low in the belly.
• Lingering Damp-heat. Low-grade symptoms that never fully clear between infections. Ongoing symptoms should be checked with a urine test.

Treatment between infections works on the pattern underneath rather than on the infection itself.

What treatment involves

Treatment here is support alongside your family doctor, urologist or gynaecologist, not a replacement for them. The first visit includes a lot of questions: how often infections come, what seems to set them off, what has been prescribed, your cycle or menopause, bowel habits, sleep and stress. I also look at your tongue and take your pulse.

Acupuncture points are commonly chosen on the lower belly, the lower back and the legs, along with points for your pattern. The aim is to support the body between infections. Treatment is best started while you are clear of infection.

Chinese herbal medicine may be used between infections, with a formula written for your pattern and dispensed at the clinic. Tell your doctor and pharmacist, and tell me every medicine you take, including antibiotics and vaginal estrogen, so the plan fits around them. Where the pattern is cold and weak, moxibustion can warm the lower back.

The clinic is in Keswick. Plan on 5–10 treatments to judge progress. If an infection starts during your course of treatment, see your doctor or pharmacist the same day.

Between visits

• Drink enough water to keep your urine pale, spread through the day.
• Do not hold it in. Empty your bladder when you feel the need, and pass urine soon after sex.
• Wipe front to back, and avoid douches, scented washes and spermicides if they are part of your history.
• Keep your bowels regular. Constipation can make it harder for the bladder to empty fully.
• Ask your doctor about prevention options that suit you, especially vaginal estrogen after menopause.

When to see your doctor first

An active bladder infection needs medical assessment and usually antibiotics. See your doctor, a walk-in clinic or your pharmacist for any new infection, and seek care urgently if you have:

• Fever, chills, shaking, or pain in your back or side under the ribs. These can mean a kidney infection.
• Nausea or vomiting with urinary symptoms.
• Blood in your urine.
• Symptoms during pregnancy.
• Symptoms in a man, a child, or someone with diabetes or a weak immune system.
• Symptoms that do not improve within two days of starting antibiotics, or come back soon after finishing them.
• Confusion or sudden weakness in an older person, which can be the only sign of infection.