Chronic cystitis, with repeated bouts of frequent painful urination, can be annoying and disruptive or seriously debilitating. Many women have cystitis symptoms over and over again with no apparent permanent cure available.
If you’re a sufferer, you already know there are lots of remedies available – some effective, some ineffective – but you may have real trouble finding a permanent cure.
Chemists sell treatments to ease the pain and inflammation and make the urine more alkaline. Doctors prescribe antibiotics to fight bacterial infection. For severe pain you can take high doses of codeine, paracetamol, aspirin, Tylenol or Nurofen as long as you stay strictly within the safe limits advised.
Many women, finding orthodox treatments inadequate, try herbal remedies and cranberry juice.
And always there is advice to drink water, drink water – and drink more water. After which, you have to hang around near a bathroom, usually in pain. Not a great way to organise your day.
Chronic cystitis is a ‘minor’ ailment that can cause great pain and, when it’s frequent, serious frustration and depression.
Too often, the medical profession treats each attack in isolation without identifying or curing the underlying problem.
Cystitis that is chronic may be ‘honeymoon cystitis’ – where the bladder is prone to bruising during sex – or bacterial. Or it may be both. Simple inflammation of the bladder, caused by vigorous sex, can develop into an infection. Whichever form it takes, it can be painful enough to prevent you leading your normal life for several days during each attack.
To find a permanent cure, ask your doctor to investigate the problem thoroughly rather just treating each bout. X-rays using radio-opaque substances are painless and may show a problem that can be resolved.
If nothing shows up but you continue to have repeated infections, you can ask for long-term antibiotic treatment which will prevent infection from recurring. One anti-biotic a day, or one a week depending on the prescription, can keep you cystitis-free.
If you don’t like the idea of long-term treatment, try to prevent bruising and infection with these tips. Make a general habit of drinking lots of water. Don’t drink too much alcohol or coffee and don’t get dehydrated. Ideally, never put off going to the loo – the longer urine stays in the bladder the more bacteria will build up. Pay attention to personal hygiene, before and just after sex, and insist your sexual partner does too. Take a painkiller at the first cystitis ‘twinge’ – don’t wait till it takes hold as the pain will be harder to treat. And take an anti-inflammatory painkiller after energetic sex to soothe inflammation that may otherwise make itself felt some hours later.
If you still have trouble, get referred to a urologist and ask about urethral dilatation. Also called urethral dilation, this is a quick and simple procedure to stretch the urethra. For more detail, click here. Used for several urological problems, urethral dilatation can be very effective in curing chronic cystitis. The female urethra is narrow. Natural bacteria accumulating there can infect the bladder. When the urethra is dilated to make it a little wider, the bladder can become less prone to infection. Your urologist will assess your case to determine whether the procedure can cure your tendency to get cystitis. The operation is quick. You’re out of the clinic the same day. You’re sore for a day or so afterwards so stock up on painkillers. But if your chronic cystitis was caused, or partly-caused, by a narrow urethra, the operation will make a huge difference to your life. No more cystitis twinges, no more burning pain, no more anti-biotics. Good luck.
