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| sugar six times a day (and altering the surface of the bladder mucosa), be under constant adrenalin stress, thus slowing kidney function and urine transport, or wearing tight pants with synthetic-fabric underwear (and holding secretions, sweat and heat tightly to one body area). These are ongoing habits that perpetuate 24-hour-a-day stress on the urethra and bladder. You cannot expect to drink herbal tea for three days twice a year and undo all the imbalances that your lifestyle itself has wrought. |
| If you wish to use herbs (less toxic and invasive measures that are under your own control), then you must take some preventive and tonic steps as well. Herbal approaches are not strong enough to suppress pathologies or supplant poor defenses; their relative "weakness" is their grace. If you find that sugar is an underpinning to your cystitis, and you can't cut down consumption, then you can expect no more than palliative relief from taking herbs. |
| Mechanical Causes of Cystitis |
| Tampons: External napkins may be preferable. |
| Vaginal sponges: A nice idea, but they can often end up harboring the very bacteria that sustain an infection (and beware of sneezing!) |
| Clothing: Synthetic fabrics, especially polyester, will usually aggravate. Stick with cotton. |
| Contraceptives: Spermicidal gels, generic condoms, those bizarre, fluorescent, "articulated" penile covers favored by neoadolescent males and the various contraceptive vaginal jams and jellies can all variously aggravate concurrent cystitis/vaginitis. Make sure that a diaphragm fits properly; it can cause abrasions on insertion or extraction if it fits poorly. For women still using IUDs, beware. They can be a major factor in contributing to cystitis. For males, friction from a poorly fitted diaphragm and some of the older |
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