Recurrent Cystitis driving me crazy

Hello Lysa. 

I am also a sufferer or recurrent cystitis. I have had this pretty much since i started having sex. The only difference was it would come on a couple of hours after having sex and would go away after drinking enough water to flush it out. NOW it has got to the stage where even if i drink a lot of water it will still be there. Now i started having sex when i was 16 and i am now 20 so quite a long time to suffer for but it wasn't until a year and a half ago (when i started dating my current boyfriend) that my symptoms seemed to repeat every single day. This as you can probably imagine frustrated me so much and still does as i still suffer from recurrent cystitis BUT i am getting closer to finding out the problem behind my cystitis...

I got referred to hospital for a scan of my kidneys and bladder on the 23rd of March and the results came back 'no action required' so basically my kidneys and bladder were absolutely fine. I then had to go back to speak to one of their doctors shortly after to discuss what he thought it could be and he told me i wasn't drinking enough water to flush all the bad bacteria out, this i knew was not the answer as like i said previously, drinking loads of water didn't make a difference any more so i knew there was another cause to this problem. So i then booked in to get a cystoscopy done which basically looks further into your bladder. I was offered this when i spoke to the doctor but he said it would be like finding a needle in a hay stack but i took my chance. I still haven't had the cystoscopy done, my appointment to go under general anesthestic is on the 2nd of June and my assessment is the 1st (Just to make sure i am ok to be put to sleep) BUT i went for my smear test last Wednesday and while the test was being done the doctor found a lot of disharge inside of me which was a common symptom of THRUSH! I had been tested previously for thrush and was given canesten to clear it but it obviously wasn't strong enough to clear it. So i am going back to my doctors on the 13th of May to be tested for thrush AGAIN which i am hoping could be the cause to my recurrent cystitis as when i read online some people said that thrush can actually cause cystitis to recur. I was quite embarressed about having thrush at the start but it is surprisingly really common in a lot of woman. So it may be worth booking an appointed to get tested for it as some woman don't always get symptoms for it. I never until i started getting recurrent cystitis which before i never knew could have been caused by thrush. I am not saying that thrush is the problem to my illness but it is a possibility and worth getting checked out. I also eat a lot of crappy foods and some people have said that if your body is really acidic it can cause cystitis also, i think you can buy urine test strips at your local pharmacy or boots which i am going to look into buying as it is another possibility especially if you are like me and eat junk food and as far as i have read up on the topic it is easy to treat with changing your diet and eating a lot of greens which i suppose if you are a big chocolate fan like me it can be quite difficult changing your diet, lol. 

Hope you can find the cure to your recurrent cystitis it is a pain and it can put your life on hold if not treated sooner like it has done with me for the past year and a half. 

Hello Lysa, Emma,

You have to stop taking antibiotics. One of the main reasons for persistent cystitis (for both males and females) is systemic candida/candidiasis/fungal overgrowth/fungal dysbiosis. Basically all these mean that the immune system is totally out of balance from an overgrowth of candida, fungus because antibiotics have totally destroyed the immune system, killed off all the vital good flora. Good flora have so many functions, as well as regulating bad bugs, they produce enzymes to aid digestion, they are catalysts for so many other vital immune system functions in the body. Why the medical profession continue to ignore this is totally beyond the comprehension of most wide-thinking and knowledgeable professionals in integrative, holistic medicine.  Also food is a big trigger once candida has gone out of whack so you get food allergies, intolerances.

Advice is: cut out gluten and grain, get onto a nutrient dense diet, cut all sugar, cut all carbs (these feed bad bacteria and fungus), take probiotics and candida reducing herbs. yeast reducers. Look to the immune system and research natural alternatives for interstitial cystitis. There are ways out of this and antibiotics is not the answer. It beggars belief that doctors are still prescribing endless courses of antibiotics when they know they do not work and that there is so much resistence now. Most antibiotics are useless and medical science cannot keep up and make new ones fast enough as bugs are cleverer! Take a new approach. So many just do not understand IC (interstitial cystitis) and that it is an auto-immune condition brought on by fungal overgrowth.

 

Hi lysa, similar to you, I used to take cystitis after sex with my boyfriend, I took all the precautions and still got it. I read about D-mannose online, you can get in a health food store. I take two tablets before and the morning after sex, and then two at night for maintaince. If I feel a bout coming on a take a couple more and it clears in about a day. Hope this helps.