Do only women suffer from cystitis?
Not at all, men also have cystitis, frequently, and when they have it, it is usually more serious because it usually affects the prostate and produces a prostatitis with a more complex treatment.
What is true is that women have cystitis more frequently, in fact almost 90% of women have at least one urinary tract infection during their lifetime. And up to 20% of women have at some point in their lives periods of repeated urinary tract infections meaning 3-4 or more episodes of cystitis in a year.
Why does this happen?
The characteristic anatomy of the female may be the key to understanding why bacterial colonization (bacteriuria) occurs in the bladder mucosa producing painful urination and even blood in the urine forming the characteristic clinical picture commonly known as “cystitis.”
The particularity in women that can predispose to “cystitis” is the fact that the urethra, vagina and anus are in close proximity and bacterial contamination can pass more easily from one orifice to the other.
In the medical community it is widely accepted, although not as the only theory, that probably the bacteria we have in the anus and rectum (and it is good that we have them because they are part of the intestinal flora and help the intestinal balance, for example the Eschreria coli bacteria) are able to migrate from that anal location through the perineal territory to the urethra and trigger “cystitis”.
Why do some women have many cystitis throughout their lives and others have very few or none at all?
There is the immunological variability of each person.
What makes it easier for the bacteria we have in the anorectum to migrate to the urethra and produce cystitis?
Anything that alters the intestinal flora and the vaginal mucosal area.
Classical cystitis is not a sexually transmitted disease, what happens is that normal sexual intercourse, with penetration can facilitate the bacteria that the woman has in the vaginal area ascend the urethra and produce cystitis, so there are women who have cystitis within a few hours after intercourse.
Public baths in itself is not usually a cause of cystitis, but if the urge to urinate a lot with a full bladder facilitates the ascent of bacteria through the urethra.
Wet bathing suits create a humidity in the “intimate” perineal area that facilitates bacterial migration, so it is advisable for women predisposed to infections to change their bathing suits after bathing to avoid this situation.
It is also important to avoid constipation, as it facilitates bacterial overgrowth at the anal level, which predisposes to the migration of germs.
Do blueberries help prevent cystitis? Are there any foods that prevent them?
Well, indeed blueberries (at high doses, pharmaceutical presentations and not eating too many blueberries) curiously help prevent infections. And the reason is that a great majority of cystitis is caused by a bacterium called “Escheriria Coli” and that bacterium sticks to the bladder mucosa to produce cystitis, because the cranberry has a substance that inhibits this adhesion, that is why many women benefit from cranberry concentrates.
It is known that acidifying the urine is good to avoid bacterial concentration in the bladder, so foods rich in vitamin C such as lemon or orange juice can help prevent urinary tract infections.
Doctors who are frequently dedicated to solving the problems of recurrent urinary tract infections, have for some years had the resource of individualized vaccines that are applied with sublingual spray for two months to the patient, and the rebellious cases of urinary tract infections that do not resolve conventionally with these vaccines have been resolved in many cases, with great satisfaction of the patients.