How to prevent cystitis?

1. Causes of cystitis

Cystitis is an inflammatory condition in the bladder that can be acute or chronic. The main cause is due to bacterial invasion causing infection . This disease occurs in both men and women, causing patients to feel pain and discomfort.

In mild cases, cystitis can go away on its own within a few days, but in severe cases, it seriously affects your health and can cause infection up to the kidneys.

The most common cause of cystitis is bacteria, but it can also be due to other causes.

• Causes due to bacteria:

Bacteria entering the bladder often follow the upstream path from the urethra into the bladder. The inflammatory process is usually acute inflammation. If the inflammation is chronic, it is often accompanied by chronic pyelonephritis due to bacteria traveling back from the bladder. radiating into the renal pelvis causing inflammation. The urethra is located in the perineum area close to the anus, so intestinal bacteria often enter the urethra and then into the bladder.

The disease can occur in both sexes, but it is more common in women because the urethra in women is shorter and straighter than in men. It occurs in both children and adults, but it is more common in children and the elderly than in young people due to the Poor fertility in the perineal area, elderly men often have an enlarged prostate causing urine to stagnate in the bladder, postmenopausal women’s vulva and vagina are often dry and the mucosa is thin and easily inflamed.

Bacteria enter the bladder, multiply and grow, causing inflammation. The bladder mucosa is congested, edematous, ulcerated, and may bleed. Inflammation causes irritation, causing the patient to urinate frequently, causing painful and frequent urination.

Favorable conditions causing cystitis: women, children and the elderly, after sexual activity, people with urethral abnormalities or urethral trauma, bladder stones, benign prostatic hypertrophy , bladder catheterization procedures, cystoscopy, especially people who have to keep the bladder catheter in for a long time, and patients with diabetes.

• Non-bacterial causes (rare): drugs, chemicals, radiation.

2. Signs of cystitis

When suffering from cystitis, patients may have the following typical symptoms:

• Blood in urine, pink urine, cloudy or foul-smelling urine.
• Urinating more times a day than usual, especially just a little each time.
• Pain or even a burning sensation when urinating.
• Always having to urinate, having to urinate urgently.
• Cramping pain in the lower abdomen.
• Back pain, either side of the waist or in the middle of the back.
• In children, bed wetting is common.
• Mild fever ranges from 37.5 to 38 degrees Celsius.

If cystitis is not treated promptly, it will lead to complications that cause irreversible kidney damage. Especially in the elderly and young children, the signs of cystitis are often rarely detected or mistaken for other diseases.

3. How to prevent cystitis?

To prevent the disease, pay attention to the following measures:

• Do not hold in your urine, you need to urinate every time you feel the need to urinate.
• Move your body or exercise regularly every day to support the excretory system and better urine circulation.
• Drink 2 liters of water a day or more.
• Build a scientific diet to increase resistance to diseases, especially infections.
• Take a shower, limit soaking in the bathtub as well as bathing in rivers, streams, ponds, and lakes.
• Women should use sanitary napkins instead of tampons every time they have their period.
• Avoid using douches and feminine hygiene products that cause irritation.
• Wear loose, airy underwear made from cotton and change underwear every day.
• Urinate before and after sex.
• Diaphragms and spermicides should not be used.
• Clean the external genitals every day. People with polio need to pay attention, because they have incontinence and have to use diapers.
• Active treatment of urinary tract infections, urinary stones and prostate diseases.