Cystitis

Cystitis is mild urinary bladder disease. It is an infection of the bladder, but the term is often used indiscriminately and covers a range of infections and irritations in the lower urinary system. It causes:

• Burning sensations or pain at urethra
  
• Painful urination
• Pain directly above the pubic bone
• Frequent or urgent need to urinate
• Need to urinate at night
  
• Abnormal urine color
• Occasional blood in the urine
• Diarrhea occurs
• A small amount of urine comes out
• Foul or strong urine odor

What is this disease got to do with me?

The National Kidney Foundation estimates that 10 to 20 percent of women have had at least one episode of cystitis, and 80 percent of this group has had it recurrently. The condition frequently affects sexually active women ages 20 to 50 but may also occur in those who are not sexually active or in young girls.

I'M one of that 10 to 20 percent of women!

Well, obviously.. I GOT this disease people! For god's sake!

Note that the bold lines is the symptoms that I had.

My first episode started on Monday. It was very painful I tell you. It felt like your urethra is being pinch! I freaked out when it happened. I was like, OMG! What's happening to me? But I decided not to tell no one and let's wait for a day or two if there's any better and hoping that the pain will go away.

B.. but.. the pain was getting unbearable indeed! I suffered like hell! I have to go to the toilet every 10 minutes and at one time, I felt so scared to pee because I don't want to feel the pain but I have to. Morever, I can't neither hold nor control the urine from coming out like I used to do. I did feel like seeing a doctor but I don't want to skip my MGT and ACC class. They are very important too. Besides, my last class finish at 5 PM and the government clinic has close by that time. (I can only afford to go to government clinic because private clinic costs me)

Finally, I went to the cybercafe to google do research about my health problem and I found it! It's cystitis! It's a big relief when I figured out that it's just a mild disease and takes a short period of time to recover. Wheeeeeewwwww~

Besides consult it to the doctor, the patient also must drink a lot of water and it is recommended to drink citrus juice. This is because the bacteria is attached to the wall of urinary bladder and by having amount of liquid in it, the bacteria could be washed away and will be flushed out during urination. The result is, the urinary bladder will be clean and urination process will be normal back.

I did that and as I'm writing this post, I confirmed that myself have physically recovered! So my "treatment" period only took me 4 days. Anyhow, I'm still going to see a doctor tomorrow to get some antibiotics. Even though I am physically fine now but I'm having doubt with the bacteria inside my urinary bladder.

Good advice

• It is important to drink sufficiently, so the bladder is flushed thoroughly.
• During urination the bladder should be emptied completely. It is a bad habit to sit on the toilet bent forward and reading while urinating.
• A trick is to place yourself backwards on the toilet, so you lean against the wall. This posture is more suitable in securing a complete emptying of the bladder than the usual sitting posture.
• Warm clothes on the lower part of the body will also help prevent cystitis.
• As a prevention, it may be helpful to drink cranberry juice every day or take capsules. There is no doubt that this simple and natural treatment may help to reduce the frequency of recurrent infections. It is thought that the cranberry juice works by preventing common bacteria from ‘sticking’ to the walls of the bladder and so preventing infection taking hold.
• Urination immediately after sexual intercourse will flush out most bacteria from the urethra.
• Try to urinate at least once every three hours. Women who avoid urination for long periods suffer from more infections of the urinary system.

You must be wondering how did I get cystitis. I strongly believe that it is because of my habit which is to hold/control the urination. Whenever I'm doing something and suddenly I feel like to urinate, I will get my things done first then I will go urinate. Secondly, I did not drink sufficiently because I don't like to drink plain water. I'm gonna break these habits!

A big YAY for me because I feel so proud of myself that I figured out the disease by myself and treat myself. Thanks to Google and Yahoo! Answers! Hehehe.

P.S: Cystitis is also known as kencing tidak lawas in Bahasa Melayu. =D
P.P.S: My family doesn't know anything about this. For those who are concerned, just zip your mouth! =x