Important Information About Bladder Infections During Pregnancy

Bladder infections, sometimes called urinary tract infections or UTI, are common and usually harmless to the patients who get them. They are not STDs and are not something that you can "catch" from someone else. Although bladder infections can be uncomfortable, even painful, at times, they are easily treatable and go away without any lasting side effects posing no real danger to the infected person. However, getting a bladder infection while pregnant can be dangerous if not treated quickly. Since bladder infections are considered common and harmless, many pregnant women are unaware of the hazards of an untreated bladder infection.

Symptoms Of Bladder Infections

Before we can talk about the dangers of bladder infections, we should discuss the symptoms that will be your first clue that something is wrong. Bladder infections are most often accompanied by an urgent need to urinate followed by stinging pain while urinating. It is common to feel this urgency to pee and then only release a small amount of urine. Sometimes there is a tiny amount of blood in the urine, which will give it a pinkish color. Bladder infections can also cause the urine to smell very bad and be cloudy in appearance.

Bladder Infections During Pregnancy

Sometimes if a bladder infection is left untreated it can back up into the kidneys and turn into a kidney infection as well as a bladder infection. Kidney infections are more painful than bladder infections and can include such flu-like symptoms as chills, fever and nausea. Patients with kidney infections often feel sharp pains in their backs, low, on one or both sides where the kidneys are located. Although they are more uncomfortable, kidney infections are also relatively harmless and go away quickly with proper treatment.