Urinary tract infections involve difficult, frequent or burning urination, sometimes with pain, bleeding or pus in the urine. The infection of the urinary tract may be confined to the urethra, prostate or urinary bladder. In such cases, features of systemic illness are rarely seen and the symptoms are those like that of dysuria. Ayurveda refers to such conditions as mootrakruchhra which means dysuria.
Cystitis is the inflammation of the urinary bladder. It is often caused by infection and is usually accompanied by frequent painful urination. Urethritis is caused by the inflammation of the urethra and prostatitis is caused by the inflammation of the prostate gland. In all the above conditions, the common symptom is painful urination.
Eliminating urine is a function of apanvayu. So disturbance of apanvayu causes problems in uirnation. One such disease is mootrakruchhra which has been classified into four types in Ayurveda. Vatajmootrakruchhra (caused mainly by vitiated vayu) is marked by obstructed urination and severe pain in the pelvic region. Pittajmootrakruchhra (caused mainly by vitiated pitta) shows severe burning micturition with reddish or yellowish urine. Kaphajmootrakruchhra (caused mainly by vitiated kapha) is characterized by swelling and heaviness in the pelvic region and sticky urine. Sannipatikmootrakruchhra is caused by vitiation of all three doshas and therefore have mixed characteristics.
Ayurvedic treatment for mootrakruchhra normally do not recommend surgical intervention in these conditions. The line of treatment involves the removal of infection with internal detoxification, cleaning and removing any blockages in the urinary tract, combined with herbs to tone the kidneys and normalize the functioning of apanavayu.