I haven’t blogged for quite a few months. An explanation: life got life-y, and my bladder and general urinary system has been screaming at me for ages. It’s not a condition that’s life threatening but it’s certainly life-limiting. It’s not one that pairs well with hours sat down in front of a laptop. And it’s a bit…embarrassing.

But I thought to myself, okay, let’s put some juice back into the old blog and detail what is a very misunderstood, unglamorous and very under-researched area of health – though it’s getting a bit better. And what better place to start than my own personal experiences with a burning, aching, impossible-to-ignore condition that gets in the way of so much of life’s pleasures and indeed, day-to-day, mundane activities? After all, needing the loo every flipping 30-60 minutes of the day tends to interrupt things a bit, as does ALWAYS needing to know where the toilets are.

I’m going to go in deep pretty quickly, so if you don’t want to know about childhood trauma, then perhaps skip this section of the blog. Because, yes, even though I’m of a generation that does not readily air its laundry in perpetuity – revelations of this type on the internet tend to linger – I’m going to have to put this in because I might not be the only one out there with this kind of story. One thing I’ve learned about processing all the crappy bits of the past is that common experiences make you feel less alone.

In summary, there was plenty about my childhood experiences that was not usual, normal or healthy. I had one parent whose tolerance for all the bodily needs of his children was at an astonishing low level – sometimes less than zero. In fact, he seemed to regard any need whatsoever as dreamed up by us to deliberately upset him. Suffice it to say, we were punished frequently for needing to go to the toilet especially on road trips or at night. I believe these long spells of holding water way past the point of physical pain to avoid a terrifying tirade of untrammelled rage and violence have had a particular long-standing detrimental effect on my genito-urinary system. All systems really, but this one especially.

So, I’ve been living with genito-urinary symptoms of various kinds since childhood which have worsened over time and become screamingly-impossible to ignore at times of stress. These have included:

• Increased frequency
• Increased urgency
• Increased number of ‘accidents’
• Burning sensation/soreness
• Pain
• Swelling – at its worst, my whole pelvic area has become inflamed and painful and it is difficult to sit down, particularly on hard surfaces, and as for travel of any kind…omg!
• Itchiness
• Cloudy or foamy urine
• Strong smelling urine
• Lower back or loin pain

And in that time, I’ve had all kinds of investigations. Sometimes I have a cultured bacterial infection and sometimes not. For years, I had microscopic haematuria (tiny amounts of blood) in my urine but with few other symptoms. Often, I got protein show up in my urine but no obvious infection. I’ve had two cystoscopies – a camera in the bladder – which turned up nothing but were both very stressful experiences. For a while, I thought I might have Interstitial Cystitis and tried a low-acidic diet which was very restrictive. I have had all the antibiotics. I have to avoid tight-fitting clothing, have to be scrupulous about hygiene, and I have to watch consumption of caffeine and alcohol in particular when I’m experiencing a flare-up of symptoms. Going to the gym is out of the question at these points because I cannot risk getting hot and sweaty and causing things to flare-up further.

I still don’t have an official diagnosis – interestingly this comes from the Greek meaning two people NOT knowing! How appropriate!

In future posts, I am going to look at the difference between acute and chronic urinary system or bladder infection and explore the overlap in symptoms with another related condition called Interstitial Cystitis. I will also be discussing how my own management of the condition is going and my thoughts on areas for future research and exploration. In my case, I believe there are at least two extra aggravating factors: an inability to process oxalates in the diet efficiently – more on that in a future post – and the trauma in my past that may be leading to some pelvic floor dysfunction. I hope that by doing so, anyone else who is suffering in a similar way may find something in my writing to help them. After all, I studied Naturopathic Nutrition in order to help both myself and others.

What I won’t be doing is providing a one-size fits all protocol for others to follow. As with all other dis-ease, medicine needs to be personalised to be truly effective. That said, there may well be some knowledge that I share as a result of my own exploration of this condition, and what I have learned in clinical practice and from other practitioners.

As ever, comment below if you’ve had similar experiences or just feel moved to say something. Or email jop.naturalnutrition@gmail.com if you’d like help with your own condition. I can offer a FREE 20-minute discovery call to help you on your way to better health.