David H. Lamb, MD, FACS, is a urologist at Lexington Urology, a Lexington Medical Center physician practice that provides comprehensive urologic care and advanced treatment for urologic conditions.

Q: What are the most common problems you see in female patients? A: I see two urologic problems on a daily basis. The first is recurrent urinary tract infections. They occur when bacteria is not cleared from the bladder regularly. Any activity with the potential to introduce bacteria into the bladder is a risk factor, including sex. Treatments include antibiotics or preventative therapy. UTIs that recur often may require low-dose nightly or post-intercourse antibiotics if they infections are associated with sex. And, cranberry juice can decrease adherence of bacteria inside the bladder.

The second problem is overactive bladder, which is an urgent and frequent need to urinate and frequent urination. I think of it as the bladder in control of the person instead of the person in control of the bladder. It can be debilitating, but it’s treatable. Urologists look for infections, introduce behavioral and physical therapy to improve bladder control, use bladder relaxation medicine and even a Botox® injection to decrease unwanted muscle activity.

We have effective strategies to treat these problems, and there is no need to suffer in silence.