Cystitis in women: what is it, what is dangerous, symptoms and prevention of cystitis

1. What is cystitis?
2. Causes of Cystitis
3. Symptoms of cystitis
4. Not shelving
5. Cystitis and pregnancy
6. 10 ways to prevent cystitis
7. And if you do not treat cystitis, what will happen?

Frequent painful urination, pain, burning - this is cystitis. And mainly women suffer from this disease: according to statistics, 35% of the fair sex know firsthand what is cystitis.

It's all about the anatomical features of the female body: the urethra is short and wide, while located near the vagina. This allows bacteria and viruses to freely enter the bladder and cause inflammation. No one is immune from cystitis: both an elderly woman and a little girl can get sick, because the physiological features are the same for everyone. The most difficult time to identify cystitis in women during menopause and in children, because in these categories the disease is almost asymptomatic. In such cases, only tests can reveal cystitis.

What is cystitis?

Cystitis is an inflammation of the bladder due to infection or bacteria. It can develop as an independent disease — primary cystitis — or be a complication of other diseases of the urogenital tract — secondary cystitis.

Primary cystitis is usually in an acute form: accompanied by sharp pain and noticeable discomfort. Secondary often do not have a chronic form: the symptoms do not appear immediately. However, any cystitis should be treated.

Causes of Cystitis

Cystitis can be caused by bacteria (bacterial) or infections (infectious). In addition, it may develop due to long-term medication or alcohol abuse (non-infectious).

* Bacterial inflammation provokes pathogenic microflora of the urinary organs, intestinal microflora or respiratory bacteria. Infection with this comes from the kidneys - through the urethra, as well as from other foci of infection in the body: from the ears (otitis), oral cavity (caries), respiratory tract ( bronchitis ) and others. Less often, but still it happens that pathological microflora is introduced during surgery, catheterization or examination of the bladder.

* Infectious inflammation is the most common. Typically, the basis for the appearance of such cystitis is infection, which penetrates into the bladder during inflammatory processes in the urethra, external genital organs, as well as kidney disease, with blood or lymph (if the infection is in other, more distant, organs and tissues).

* Non-infectious inflammation can occur as a result of irritation of the mucous membrane of the bladder with urine containing aggressive chemicals due to prolonged use of drugs, consumption of spicy or fatty foods, alcoholic beverages. Hypothermia or hormonal failure can also give rise to the development of inflammation. In most cases, due to the lack of timely treatment, infection is sooner or later associated with a non-infectious cystitis.

Symptoms of cystitis

Symptoms of cystitis appear almost immediately. The first sign is a constant and irresistible urge to urinate. This often causes pain in the lower abdomen, a burning sensation in the perineum, and a feeling of emptying the bladder. To make thinking about going to the doctor should change the color of urine or its sharp smell.

If you do not pay attention to these "bells" and do not start treatment, the next and more unpleasant symptoms will be blood in the urine, unexpressed fever and chills, pain during intercourse, urethral pain, fatigue and malaise. So it is better to consult a doctor in time.

Not shelving

For some reason, there is a mistaken opinion about the treatment of cystitis among women: they say, we can do it ourselves! Nobody goes to the doctor, and at the same time the first antibiotic is taken by hand, it is taken within a couple of days and the disease “removes it like a hand”. But it only seems. In fact, only the symptoms are eliminated in this way, the problem itself remains and soon makes itself felt again. Even worse, cystitis can become chronic. So self-medicating is the same as consciously harming yourself. The only correct and adequate treatment can be selected only by a doctor, having previously determined the nature and cause of the disease on the basis of laboratory research and examination.

Chronic and advanced stages of cystitis are much more difficult to cure than the initial ones. But, alas, they usually seek medical help when it is no longer possible to fight on their own. However, fortunately, even with complicated forms, well-chosen complex treatment (antibiotics, uroseptics, antispasmodics, as well as drugs that change general and local reactivity) make it possible in most cases to completely get rid of the disease within 2-3 weeks. But in order to achieve this result, in order to help the drug treatment, the patient must strictly follow a strict diet: no fried and spicy dishes! Plus - plenty of drinking and temporary rejection of sexual relations.

Cystitis and pregnancy

In women with chronic cystitis, the disease is almost guaranteed during pregnancy is exacerbated. And to cope with it in this case is much more difficult, since the drugs that are usually prescribed for cystitis are contraindicated for pregnant women. A special bladder instillation scheme comes to the rescue: administering drugs directly to the site of the disease. Symptoms are eliminated in 1-2 procedures, and subsequent sessions already restore the bladder wall, so that the symptoms do not recur and do not harm the child.

10 ways to prevent cystitis

No one is immune from cystitis, but there are a few simple rules that can reduce the likelihood of becoming a victim of an insidious disease or provide prevention of exacerbation:

1. Avoid hypothermia: dress according to the weather, do not sit on cold surfaces and do not swim in cold or polluted water.

2. Carefully observe the hygiene of the genitals.

3. Treat any inflammatory diseases in time.

4. Limit alcohol.

5. Do not get carried away with spicy and fried food, and if you have “sinned”, then drink plenty of water.

6. Avoid physical and nervous stress - they weaken the immune system, which makes the body vulnerable to environmental factors.

7. Move more, go in for sports.

8. Do not allow forced retention of urination. In other words, do not tolerate when you want to use the toilet. This has a negative effect on bladder function.

9. If you suffer from frequent constipation, eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.

10. And most importantly: listen to your body, do not ignore its signals, do not be afraid to disturb the doctor with suspicious symptoms, because, as already mentioned, the sooner the disease is diagnosed, the easier it is to treat it.

And if you do not treat cystitis, what will happen?

Cystitis and so unpleasant, and if it is still not treated, the consequences can be generally deplorable. Most often, untreated cystitis becomes chronic and ultimately leads to irreversible changes in the bladder.

So the infection that caused the cystitis can get into the kidneys and cause pyelonephritis - it will make itself felt by fever and back pain. To cure pyelonephritis is much more difficult than cystitis, and as a rule, the treatment is already in the hospital - mass therapy is used. Remember: pyelonephritis can even make a person disabled, as each of his new attacks reduces kidney function.

With some individual structures of the bladder wall, the inflammatory process provokes an incurable form of cystitis - interstitial, in which only antibiotics relieve suffering. And that is not always: they often do not give any results at all, and even worsen the condition. In such cases, the only way to eradicate suffering is surgery to remove the bladder.

Elena Malysheva talks about the disease of cystitis