Do Chinese Herbs Work for Cystitis

Traditional Chinese Medicine, considered the most ancient existing medical system, is a 4,000 year-old Chinese method of healing that includes diet, natural therapies, herbs and acupuncture dependent on body. Traditional Chinese Medicine places equal emphasis on body, mind, and spirit, and strives to restore the innate harmony of the individual.

Cystitis is an infection of the bladder, but the term is often used indiscriminately and covers a range of infections and irritations in the lower urinary system.

Symptoms of cystitis include:

Burning sensations or pain during urination.

Frequent urination.

Cloudy and foul-smelling urine.

Pain directly above the pubic bone.

Blood in the urine, a common feature and need not cause undue alarm.

Children under five years of age often have less concrete symptoms, such as weakness, irritability, reduced appetite and vomiting.

Older women may also have no symptoms other than weakness, falls, confusion or fever.

Causes:

Infection from intestinal bacteria is by far the most frequent cause of cystitis, especially among women, who have a very short urethra (the tube through which the urine passes from the bladder to the outside). Normally, urine is sterile (there are no micro-organisms such as bacteria present). Between 20 to 40 per cent of women will get cystitis in their lifetime.

Treatment:

The best first aid treatment is to drink, drink and drink.

To some extent alkalizing the urine helps to eradicate the germs and also soothe the bladder. You can try using bicarbonate of soda, 5ml (1 tea spoon) in half a glass of water, two or three times a day.

For similar reasons the folklore remedy is barley water or, these days, cranberry juice.

If the symptoms are any more than transient, you should contact your doctor, when next able to, regarding the possibility of antibiotics.

Prevention:

As prevention, Dr. Zhang recommends drinking cranberry juice every day. “There is no doubt that this simple and natural treatment brings relief to many women with cystitis. It is thought that the cranberry juice works by preventing common bacteria from ‘sticking’ to the walls of the bladder and so preventing infection taking hold.” Dr. Zhang recommends the Chinese Herbal formulation Cooling Palace which is an especially effective collection of herbs that have been used for centuries to relieve the symptoms of cystitis.

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