How I beat ten years of severe cystitis

I suffered from chronic cystitis for over ten years. I first started to get it severely from the age of nineteen. Almost every week I would have an attack, which would last for 4 hours, and then the rest of the day or night to recover. Sometimes an attack would last for three days.

My symptoms were shaking, sweating. The extreme discomfort in my bladder took over my whole body. It felt like I was passing shards of glass when I went for a wee. Sometimes there was blood.

Sex made my cystitis worse, as did late nights and drinking. But it would happen even without these. I didn’t know what to do for years. I didn’t eat well, didn’t drink much water, partied a lot. I was sad in my personal life, also an angry, hot headed person.

Years later I still had it. I was at my wits end. I was getting cystitis nearly every day, and it was making me severely depressed. I became housebound for weeks on end. Doctors would take urine samples and prescribed yet more antibiotics. I drank cranberry juice, and took sachets for cystitis relief. Sometimes it would go for a few days, but would always return as bad as ever.

I decided to lead a healthier lifestyle to see if this would help. I drank pots and pots of green tea, ate raw vegetables, soups. I went swimming three times a week. My cystitis remained, and if anything it got worse. I also started getting acne, patches of boil-like spots centred on my cheeks and neck around my glands.

I did research on the internet about cystitis, and discovered there are two types. Possibly I had lack of L-Arginine, an amino acid deficiency. I started taking a daily supplement, which definitely helped. My cystitis subsided a bit and wasn’t such a constant problem. I also realised that I never had smelly urine, or discharge connected with bladder infections, which can be a cause of so called “honeymoon cystitis”.

I went away for two weeks for work. I was extremely busy, and my daily routine went out the window. Strangely I was feeling much better, my cystitis completely went. On my return home, within a few days my cystitis and acne were back.

I distinctly remember when the penny dropped. I woke up in the middle of night, with the certainty that it was tea. Plain old tea. I was allergic to it, and it was causing my cystitis and acne, (and possibly) the amino acid deficiency I had. Everything made sense, and I woke my partner up to tell him. I had always drunk up to 6 large mugs of black tea, or green tea, each day. I did more research and although I am convinced that I have a food intolerance, I also discovered that the tannin in tea can coat the lining of your gut and interfere with absorption of vitamins and minerals.

I no longer drink tea, other than the occasional cup. Two years later, I am almost completely free of cystitis, and my skin is perfect. I stopped taking the L-Arginine supplement, and I might get the odd, rare attack, but no more than many other women. I am a different person, happier, outgoing and more relaxed than I ever was.