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Page 14
| Cystitis and Urethritis |
| Preventing UTIs |
| In the healthy individual, a number of factors keep the lower urinary tract in balance. |
| For starters, as in all entrances into the body, there is a healthy community of native flora in the urethra. These are tolerated and even encouraged by the body, and our immunity is careful not to attack them. They flourish and dominate when the local environment is stable and consistent. Because they dominate and are amicable to that environment, other organisms cannot compete and seldom take hold. |
| This is also true in the colon, where good digestive functions nurture similar beneficial flora and poor digestion changes the colon environment and the balance and type of intestinal flora . . . often with low-level inflammation resulting. |
| Change the environment in the mouth and the normal flora becomes abnormal; the gums become puffy and the tongue becomes coated. Changes in environment also affect the vagina, the upper bronchial membranes, the ears, and the skin. |
| In a healthy urethra, the dominant bacteria are the Lactobacillus group, and in women the dominant healthy organisms of the vagina are also Lactobacilli. They thrive well in the acidity of the lower urinary tract and the vagina. |
| Further, the acid wastes of the urineurea, uric acid and other organic acidshelp to maintain the osmolality |
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