Bladder Infection

Description

Sensitive Bladder Syndrome is a medical condition that describes a too-frequent sensation of needing to urinate.

Many people suffer from either an overactive bladder or a sensitive bladder. With an overactive bladder, the sufferer wants to urinate more than normal, often at night, disrupting their sleep and making life miserable for them.

With a sensitive bladder, the sufferer frequently has a feeling of "wanting to go", again, very often during the night, and when they do actually go to the bathroom they pass little urine. It's simply that their bladder is telling them that it is full, hence the "sensitive" term.

All this can be very distressing for the person, who may find little information about the problem. In the first instance, they should go to their family doctor, who will in turn refer them to the urology department at their local hospital. Various tests can then determine the best way to treat the problem, whether it be with medication, biofeedback, surgery (as a last resort) or retraining the bladder.

Cystitis is the inflammation of the bladder. The condition primarily affects women, but can affect all age groups from either sex.

Symptoms

The symptoms of a UTI include:

Pressure in the lower pelvis

Pain or burning with urination

Frequent or urgent need to urinate

Need to urinate at night

Cloudy urine

Blood in the urine

Foul or strong urine odor

Causes

E col) can cause 80% of bladder infections in adults. These bacteria are normally present in the colon and may enter the urethral opening from the skin around the anus and genitals. Women may be more susceptible to bladder infetion because their urethral opening is near the source of bacteria and their urethra is shorter, providing bacteria easier access to the bladder. Other bacteria that cause urinary tract infections include Staphylococcus saprophyticus (5 to 15% of cases), Chlamydia trachomatis, and Mycoplasma hominis. Men and women infected with chlamydia trachomatis or mycoplasma hominis can transmit the bacteria to their partner during sexual intercourse, causing bladder infection.

Sexual intercourse triggers bladder infection in some women, for unknown reasons. Women who use a diaphragm develop infections more often, and condoms with spermicidal foam may cause the growth of E. coli in the vagina, which may enter the urethra.

Bladder InfectionTypes

There are several types of cystitis:

bacterial cystitis, the most common type, which is most often caused by coliform bacteria being transferred from the bowel through the urethra into the bladder
interstitial cystitis, which is rare, difficult to diagnose, and does not involve foreign organisms
hemorrhagic cystitis
The remainder of this article considers the more common bacterial cystitis.

Bladder InfedtionPrevention and Treatment

Juice therapy of cranberry juice is known to prevent cystitis, although it has not been discovered yet why cranberry juice has this effect.

An antibiotic is the initial treatment for bacterial cystitis (see also in urinary tract infection). Drinking lots of water will usually result in the removal of the bacteria from the bladder, and the cystitis will clear after a week or so. Natural remedies and some drugs which counteract the acidity of urine, such as Cystopurin (potassium citrate), can help to relieve symptoms, but will not clear up the infection. The old remedy was barley water.