Cystitis: how to cope

Bladder infections can be avoided and their effects reduced if you take this advice, says Barbara Lantin

Around 50 per cent of women suffer from cystitis at some time in their lives and many endure repeated, painful attacks.

Cystitis is an inflammation of the bladder, usually caused by bacteria. The most common symptoms are an overwhelming need to urinate frequently, even when there is very little urine, and an excruciating burning sensation when passing water, which sufferers say feels ‘like passing razor blades’.

Women are more prone than men to the condition because the tube that carries urine from the bladder (the urethra) is much shorter and bacteria do not have so far to travel to get up into the bladder. Also, the opening of the urethra is close to the anus and vagina, where bacteria are present.

Cystitis is not sexually transmitted, but intercourse can provoke an attack by encouraging bacteria to enter the bladder, especially when sexual intercourse if frequent. This is sometimes referred to as 'honeymoon cystitis'.

Dehydration is another common cause.
‘If the urine is dilute and the bladder is emptied regularly, bugs are flushed out of the system,’ explains Mrs Helen Parkhouse, a consultant urological surgeon at the London Clinic. ‘But if the urine is concentrated and the bladder is not regularly emptied, it becomes like a stagnant pond and provides the ideal medium for bacteria to proliferate.’

Some women seem more prone to the condition than others and there is evidence that it runs in families. Those who are susceptible can take various precautions. The first and most obvious is to drink plenty of water and urinate regularly. This applies particularly when you are at risk of dehydration – in hot weather, during and after exercise and when travelling on an aeroplane.

‘People do not realise how dehydrating air travel is,’ says Mrs Parkhouse. ‘They tend to avoid drinking on planes because they do not want to go to the toilet, but I advise my patients to take their own bottle of water and to get an aisle seat so that they can keep their system flushed through.’