Cystitis and symptoms of cystitis can occur at any time in males and females of any age. Children, grandmothers, husbands, and sisters can develop it, for various reasons. It is most common, however, in sexually active women. So to begin explaining how bladder infections develop in healthy people, we`ll start with Tricia`s story.
It was Monday morning. Tricia woke up and stretched, remembering the delightful evening before. It had started with a dinner date and wonderful conversation and ended with Tricia in the arms of her favorite man. But now, as she sipped a first cup of coffee before work, she noticed something was not right. She had a strange need to urinate. There was a tingling sensation in her urethra and a feeling of pressure in her lower abdomen.
She had the feeling that she needed to go to the bathroom and needed to go now. First, while on the toilet. she removed her diaphragm. It had been in place about eight hours now, and she felt assured that it had worked correctly.
Moments later, Tricia`s feeling of well·being was shattered. When she urinated, it hurt horribly. There was a searing, burning sensation as warm urine trickled out of her bladder, It felt as if someone were pouring acid on an open wound. She squeezed out everything she could and went back into the other room.
She thought, What am I going to do? At work, she had a report to finish before a 2:00 PM. committee meeting and at least a dozen telephone calls to make. This felt like a bladder infection coming on. She knew from experience that it could knock her out of action for several days. She gulped down three glasses of water and went to work.
At the office, Tricia`s symptoms grew worse. When she went to the bathroom, she noticed her urine was a smoky color. Later, there was a hit of blood on the tissue. A colleague gave her cranberry juice and a vitamin C tablet. Another told her to wash her vagina with copious amounts of cool water. But Tricia developed a gnawing pain around her pubic bone and it seemed every time she urinated, the pain was more intense.
By 4:00 PM., Tricia was in agony. She desperately wanted medical help. All the water, cranberry juice, and vitamin C had not helped. She couidn’t stand the discomfort any longer. What went wrong? Why did this happen now?
Cystitis and Your Anatomy
Women who develop bladder infections constantly ask these questions. Why me'? Why now? To understand what went wrong, you need to understand how your urinary tract is supposed to work and to know which parts of your body are affected by cystitis.
Amazingly, most women do not know where their urethra is located. Many of my patients are embarrassed to tell me they don’t know this simple fact. Others think they know where the urethra is located but are way off track. Notice that the urethra is located just above the opening of the vagina. In fact, the vagina and urethra share a common tissue plane. The urethra is a specialized tube that connects the bladder to the outside. It transports urine out of the bladder.
Your bladder is located in the lower part of your pelvis, in front of your uterus. It is very much like a collapsible balloon in that it expands as it fills and contracts as it empties. It stretches slowly to make a reservoir for the urine that your kidneys are constantly making.
Frequency. Burning, Pressure
When bacteria multiply in your bladder, they cause you to feel sensations of burning, pressure, and frequency. Each symptom is correlated with how bacteria affect the tissue that lines your bladder. The bacteria actually adhere to your bladder lining by secreting an enzyme called urease. They then split the urea in urine, which results in the production of ammonium salts and produces that burning sensation and special urine odor As the protective lining is weakened by bacteria, urine crosses over to the cells and tiny capillaries that make up the bladder wall.
When urine comes into contact with these cells, it stimulates special chemical receptors that make you feel the need to urinate These receptors are overly and improperly stimulated by the urine, giving rise to the sensation of frequency. Some women with cystitis may feel the need to urinate as often as event ten minutes. When urine gains access to the nerves that lie between cells lining the bladder, the nerves fire. Smooth muscle within the bladder contracts, giving you the feeling of pressure
The female urinary tract is highly efficient and—this is a very important point to remember—it is designed to perform differently from the male urinary tract. Many physicians, even urologists, mistakenly believe that the male and female urinary tracts are anatomically equivalent and that the female urinary tract is a shortened version of the male urinary tract. This is not so. The female urinary tract serves very different functions and women have different urologic problems from men.
When women void, the urethra is placed so that urine streams down over the labia, the vagina, the perineum (the skin bridge between the vagina and rectum), and then exits over the anal
However, if something prevents the bladder from emptying efficiently, bacteria can be left behind-either in the bladder or on surrounding tissue, where they may End an ideal environment in which to multiply and thrive. It is clear that one bladder infection means that things are not working according to nature‘s design. Something—and there are many possibilities—is compromising your natural system.
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