AIBU to ask for good, quick cystitis remedies?

[UnexpectedPigeon]

I’ve just finished a horrible, heavy 10 day period and was celebrating my first day of period free-ness yesterday, when at bedtime I had one of those hot, slightly burning wees Then up all night felling like I need a wee, and having tiny burning wees. So straight from horrible period to cystitis - argh!

Does anyone have any quick remedies or ways to make it more bearable? I know that sometimes I can kind of fight it off without needing antibiotics but I’ve got to get through a day at work before I can get to a chemist/get cranberry juice.

Obvs I’ll go to the gp if doesn’t clear up quickly but I can’t handle another sleepless night

I remember DH's grandma drinking pearl barley water to alleviate cystitis. Seemed to help her.

Drink a large glass of water every hour and take paracetamol.
If the infection has taken hold I find the only solution is to get antibiotics .

Half a teaspoon of bicarb of soda in a glass of water. Works for me in less than half an hour! Tastes yuk but bearable.

This only works on the symptoms not the cause so obvs if it carries on see your GP or pharmacist.

Drink plenty of water.

The cystitis sachets from the supermarket and cranberry extract tablets

Pumpkin seeds and cranberries.

Nothing works for me ever. I usually lose control of my bladder within 4 hours of symptoms starting. So straight to GP or walk in centre I am afraid.

I second the bicarb! Works for me too. Hope you feel better soon OP

Waterfall D Mannose tablets are a game changer IMO. Especially as a preventative measure if you suffer a lot.

Cranberry juice lots of it and lots of water regularly

Sodium citrate sachets from the pharmacy.
Then to the GP if it doesn't clear up.
The current recommend AB will turn your wee vivid yellow.

Loads and loads of water. If no better in a couple of days see a doctor.

Oh I feel for you - I used to be plagued by cystitis. I found Buscopan really worked for me. It's for IBS, but for some reason it works for cystitis. I always carry some around in case it comes on.

Teaspoon of Bicarbonate of soda in a glass of water definitely makes it less painful to wee but I’d say go to the doctors and just use that until antibiotics kick in

Drink loads and loads and loads of water. Takes the edge off the sting.

At night I've found that sleeping on my side with a pillow beneath one leg is helpful. Almost as though I'm in the recovery position (so upper leg bent and resting on a slim-ish pillow). It sounds odd, but I naturally sleep in that position anyway and having the pillow there seemed to reduce the urgency to wee enough for me to fall asleep.

During the day - hot water bottle and a lot of water. It's definitely a pain in the backside at work, but it helps.

I don't know what your local surgery is like, so forgive me if this is a useless suggestion. At my local practice, if you've had a case of (uncomplicated) cystitis in the past you can call and go onto the 'urgent care' callback list. You then speak to a nurse practitioner who's triaging (or a GP) and they'll issue a script over the phone (they screen for red flag symptoms etc, so there is some filtering). I know it varies from practice to practice, though, but it's worth a shot if you're at work and getting an appointment seems unlikely.

Arghh I’m sorry, it really is the one of the worst things isn’t it.
As others have said keep drinking water, and keep an eye on it and go to the GP if it doesn’t improve.
One thing I struggle with is sleeping with cystitis, I feel like I constantly need a wee and can’t relax. Something I found that helped combat this was to put earphones in and listen to gentle music (classical, chill out) or rain sounds, it almost blocked the feeling out by distracting me and is quiet/gentle enough to fall asleep to. I’m not sure it would work for everyone, but worth a try.

2 tbsp Bicarbonate of soda in glass of water. Washed down with a serious amount of water (I drink 4 glasses one after the other) and then a glass of water every 30 mins. Also painkillers. Usually much better after a few hours. Good luck, cystitis is awful.

Drink an absolute f* tonne of water. I mean so much water that you can barely squeeze it into your stomach. You should have to pee every 30-45mins.

I find that this knocks it on the head within 48 hours

Water, more water.
Cystitis sachets.
Water

My bladder is damaged from a prolonged infection. So I get the symptoms without the antibiotics. It's slowly healing itself though, but it's been a long process.

Lemon, chilli, red wine are all triggers for me.
Peeing straight after sex also helps
And I have to bath without any product as that is also a trigger for me.

These Are all preventives. I also take cranberry tablets.
I get cystitis twice a year instead of monthly 🙈

Get antibiotics- the ones that make your wee neon- they were the only ones that help. Starts with an N

Go to the doctor and get antibiotics. Nothing else ever worked for me. Long term, upping my daily water intake considerably has meant I haven't had cystitis for over 10 years.

Lots of good suggestions but to prevent it happening again make sure you drink enough throughout the day and always wee after sex! Just thought I’d chip that in because I used to get it often but now I can’t remember the last time I had it.

Vitamin c tablets worked for me within a day! I'd had a bad bout that lasted about 10 days, tried all the usual remedies - sachets, cranberry juice, lots of water with no caffeine, sugary drinks etc but to no avail and in the end had to get a 3 day course of antibiotics (boots pharmacy not doctor which was surprisingly hassle free) which cleared it up.

However a week later I felt another bout coming on (for me it appears to be sex related ), googled natural remedies in a panic and vitamin c was high up there so got some 1000mg time-release tablets from H&B and took one every 4 hours, symptoms were gone by the night! Totally recommend... We should all be having lots of vitamin c anyway but I'd not had any for over a year - it's now back in my daily diet!

D mannose tablets-amazing things. Stops bacteria from sticking the bladder wall...

D mannose really helps, personally I find the powder more effective than the tablets.

Avoid cranberry juice completely, is the advice I received,

Lemon barley water is good to drink when you have UTI , as strong as you can.

If you suffer frequent UTI’s perhaps the cause needs investigation, see your GP for possible referral to Urology.