How you get and can get rid of bladder infection

Bladder infection is an ailment that often affects women. Among other things, the symptoms are having to go to the loo often and an inflamed feeling. There are medications for it, but you can take precautions yourself to reduce the chance to get this infection. Drink much, for instance.     

Bladder infection: what is it?

Bladder infection is called cystitisin the medical world. As the name says, it is an infection of the bladder, the ‘pocket’ in the abdomen in which the urine is kept before it is discharged. The infection affects women a lot more often than men. There is a very simple reason for this: women have a urethra that is much shorter, which makes it easier for pathogens to reach the bladder. Bladder infection has a tendency to return once you’ve suffered from it.

What are the symptoms?

When you have a bladder infection you have to go often. You are in a strong state of urgency, although you actually discharge little urine. This urinating may be coupled with an inflamed feeling that may last a while afterwards. The urine may smell badly and it could contain blood and slime. It may also be possible that you feel sick and have to throw up. Some people get a pain in the abdomen.

What are the causes?

Bladder infection occurs when bacteria end up in the bladder. These ‘stick’ to the mucosa in the bladder. How than do they end up in the bladder? This can happen in several ways. There always are bacteria in the intestines; after the bowel movement they naturally are also around the anus, vagina and urethra. If you don’t wipe properly after the bowel movement, the wrong way for instance and not from front to back (from the side of the vagina to the top of the anal cleft) then annoying pathogens can end up in the urethra, and subsequently move to the bladder. Making love can also often give them this opportunity. Sometimes it is caused by other factors, stones in the bladder for example or certain food. With children the cause can also be a defect in the urinary passages; with men a prostate infection can be the cause.

What can you do about it?

Water, once and for all!

As it goes for most things: prevention is better than cure. Drinking a lot is very important. This is good for everybody, but certainly if you are susceptible to bladder infection. By drinking a lot (water, herbal tea) you flush out your bladder regularly. Bacteria that might be present in this case will stay less long (because you urinate more when you drink a lot). Try therefore to drink a minimum of two litres a day. This will not be easy for everyone. Yet it often is just a matter of getting used to it. You can also build it up gradually: you can start with a litre a day for instance. You put a bottle on the dresser that should be empty at the end of the day. Or you can drink a big glass of water during or after every meal. In this way, and if you do this four times a day, you’ll swallow a litre in any case. If you got a bit used to this, you build it up to two or three litres of water. An additional benefit of this is that it is good for your skin, your figure and your resistance! Moreover, you can get rid of your waste products more easily.

Cleanliness and chastity

Good hygiene is important. Keep yourself clean and fresh and wipe your buttocks from front to back. Because you have a bigger chance to catch bladder infection after making love, it is wise to go to the loo afterwards. In this way you discharge bacteria that may have gathered round the urethra immediately. If you have trouble urinating, you should drink a glass of water before making love: a simple measure. You can also stop making love, a more drastic measure that is probably less desirable.

Make it sour for them

Bacteria love a warm and humid environment. No wonder they like to dwell in the bladder. Discharge them properly. Don’t wait to long with going to the loo if you need to go. Furthermore, you can literary make life sour for them. They don’t thrive in a sour environment. You can accomplish this by drinking lemon juice. You can buy a bottle of lemon juice in the supermarket and then pour a couple of drops in your tea or water. This gives a fresh taste, so it works both ways. This is a very simple, but potent measure. You can always do this when you feel a bladder infection coming up. In addition to drinking a lot of water, by this means you can often prevent that it develops into a real infection.

Medications

If these measures do not help, you should certainly see the doctor. If you walk around too long with a bladder infection, you run the risk of getting a pelvis infection. The general practitioner can prescribe antibiotics, a bactericide. In this case you usually will get rid of it quickly, but make sure that you always completely finish the cure. If you stop with the cure sooner, you'll run the risk that bacteria are left behind in the bladder, which subsequently multiply and again cause an infection. Moreover, this makes it possible that these bacteria become resistant to antibiotics: this means they are immune for it. In this way you ruin it for others who also want to benefit from these medicines!

Urologist

 Sometimes children repeatedly catch urinary tract infection. The general practitioner will then often refer the child to an urologist. The urologist will examine the urinary tracts by means of an echo, a bladder function examination and a cystoscopie for instance. A look is taken inside the bladder to see if there are any structural defects. Of course it next depends on the findings of the urologist what measures should be taken.    

Sources: www.todio.nl