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Patients Encyclopedia of Urinary Tract Infection, Sexual Cystitis and Interstitial Cystitis: The international bible on self-help
This book contains three sections, all packed with vital prevention and self-help information based on medical facts and simple daily tips. UTIs are dreadfully common, miserable, frightening, depressing, socially devastating recurrent female illnesses. Both bacterial and nonbacterial causes abound. The author discusses bacterial urinary infections, inflammations, IC, cystitis, hygiene, diet, menopause, children, teens, sex, lifestyle, frequency, pain incontinence, and a lot more.
- GenresScience
279 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 23, 2020
ETA:
I am lowering my rating for this book from 3 stars to 2, as it does not even touch upon the possibility of embedded infection or chronic UTI, which I have now been diagnosed with 6 months later. Although Kilmartin is highly skeptical of the reliability of dipstick and culture tests in her book, and believes that Interstitial Cystitis is not a real condition, she doesn't touch upon the topic of embedded infection or chronic UTI at all (despite alluding to Professor Malone-Lee's clinic and work in the IC section). Ergo, although I found this book quite useful in terms of managing my condition, I was never going to find any 'cure' here.
If you've been diagnosed with IC and/or have received repeated negative cultures back from the lab, please look into getting tested for chronic UTI by a chronic UTI specialist first (details of which you will NOT find in this book). There's lots of information out there about it on the internet, and any reputable bladder health charity (e.g. Bladder Health UK) can put you in touch.
Note: I praise my urogynecologist in the below review. 4 1/2 months later, I rescind all my praise; she confused me, gaslit me and contradicted herself every single time I saw her, made me cry on numerous occasions, and then told me I was making myself unwell and that my pain was all in my head/caused by hormones. Although she did prescribe me with the medicine I needed at the time I wrote the review (i.e. ANTIBIOTICS), she prescribed it for the wrong reasons (to "treat inflammation, not infection") and then took me off them. What I needed was to stay on them!
Original review:
Probs a TMI review. I don't even care at this point. I've been so unwell for so long that any embarrassment about my illness has long-since evaporated and I want to talk about it all the time. This is a hugely common, female-specific health issue that is misunderstood, overlooked and not talked about. It should be talked about, because suffering through this has been the loneliest experience I've ever had, and I don't EVER want another woman to suffer as I have—alone and lost and suicidal. Angela Kilmartin had the same ethos back in the 70s, and it's why she wrote this book.
I confess to not reading this book from back to front (it's an encyclopedia, after all; I'm not pregnant, do not have a child and am not menopausal, so why would I bother reading those parts?), but I did read the parts that applied to me in full, and dabbled elsewhere for more info. It's split into 3 parts: urinary tract infections, sexual cystitis and the chronic condition, interstitial cystitis—known more commonly as IC.
I'm currently in recovery for an absolutely horrendous case of cystitis that cut short my holiday in Italy, led to a month off work and essentially brought my life to a screeching halt. I'm still suffering with inflammation 1 month and 19 days after my symptoms first appeared, and have to watch what I eat whilst I heal up, lest I spend the next day hunched over a hot water bottle and sobbing into my decaf. At its peak, I truly believed I'd wrecked my body completely, that I'd developed IC (as informed by Dr. Google, repeatedly) that nothing would ever work again and that I'd never get well... My mind went to some dark, dark places, much to the despair of my poor, poor partner, who quite frankly has been amazing throughout this entire ordeal. How else was I meant to feel when I was in constant pain 24/7 and no one could give me a definitive answer as to why? No one I knew had suffered as badly as this for as long as I had. All my tests came back negative, so I had to battle with numerous GPs to agree to prescribe me antibiotics. They tried to write me off with overactive bladder and told me to put it out of my mind. Honestly? Nothing has opened my eyes up more to the lack of knowledge and support in female-specific health-issues than this entire experience with my poor, poor bladder.
In her book, Angela Kilmartin lists all possible causes of cystitis under the sun, how to prevent yourself from getting it, and how to treat it yourself if and when it strikes. She basically did what I needed her to do: filled in the gaps of my knowledge obtained through friends who are nurses (well-meaning, but sometimes misinformed), numerous visits to the GP (also well-meaning, but scarily more misinformed than the nurses), my urogynecologist (an absolute ANGEL who finally prescribed me the medication I needed) and Dr. Google (THE WORST, oh my God, 0/10, would not recommend). This book explains some very key things I wish I'd known 2 months ago:
1) Why cystitis so unbelievably painful, and why it takes so long to heal up when you've had a really bad infection (long story short, your bladder is a giant bag of nerves that's in constant use, so filling it is a bit like rubbing salt-water on a healing burn wound).
2) Reassurance that I will get well, and how to be patient/help yourself in recovery and not aggravate the bladder further.
3) Why my tests always came back negative, and how to prevent them from coming back negative in the future.
4) Best practise to stop infections recurring (I'm extremely fortunate that I've never suffered with cystitis before this year and I absolutely do NOT ever want it to recur again, so I'll definitely be using some of these; I can't believe some woman put up with this and accept it as normal, my God).
5) Why a negative test result does not necessarily mean a lack of infection.
6) How to deal with an attack to give yourself the most relief.
7) Most importantly (backed up by some very reassuring information from my urogynecologist), I don't have interstitial cystitis, Dr. Google, FFS!!!
Although informative, Kilmartin is very shouty and self-congratulatory in her delivery, which... fair play, the woman revolutionised UTI prevention back in the 70s, so she's absolutely earned the right to shout and brag. That being said, it can come across as very off-putting. I felt like I was being lectured the vast majority of the time, and that can undermine reader confidence in what she's saying; a real shame, because what she's saying is worth knowing!
I also found her advice regarding sex particularly patronising, outdated, kink-shaming and incredibly heteronormative. I know that Kilmartin is giving best practise advice, but I've seen her leave angry responses on Amazon reviews insisting women MUST follow her advice to the absolute letter, or woe betide them, they will definitely get a UTI. I've been wearing jeans my entire life, for example (an absolutely 'no, NEVER, EVER' in Kilmartin's book), and it's only just this year I've experienced real trouble with cystitis; there's no way jeans were the cause. Therefore, despite what Kilmartin says, you absolutely can pick and choose from this book what best applies to you—you know your body better than she does (though I'm sure she'd say otherwise!).
I absolutely recommend this book to everyone who suffers with either recurrent UTIs, or—like me—if you're suffering from a particularly bad bout, are looking for answers the doctors can't give and/or you feel like your pain will never end. Angela Kilmartin is here to tell you how to ease your suffering, and reassure you that it can, and will end.
Just... be prepared to get shouted at.
I am lowering my rating for this book from 3 stars to 2, as it does not even touch upon the possibility of embedded infection or chronic UTI, which I have now been diagnosed with 6 months later. Although Kilmartin is highly skeptical of the reliability of dipstick and culture tests in her book, and believes that Interstitial Cystitis is not a real condition, she doesn't touch upon the topic of embedded infection or chronic UTI at all (despite alluding to Professor Malone-Lee's clinic and work in the IC section). Ergo, although I found this book quite useful in terms of managing my condition, I was never going to find any 'cure' here.
If you've been diagnosed with IC and/or have received repeated negative cultures back from the lab, please look into getting tested for chronic UTI by a chronic UTI specialist first (details of which you will NOT find in this book). There's lots of information out there about it on the internet, and any reputable bladder health charity (e.g. Bladder Health UK) can put you in touch.
Note: I praise my urogynecologist in the below review. 4 1/2 months later, I rescind all my praise; she confused me, gaslit me and contradicted herself every single time I saw her, made me cry on numerous occasions, and then told me I was making myself unwell and that my pain was all in my head/caused by hormones. Although she did prescribe me with the medicine I needed at the time I wrote the review (i.e. ANTIBIOTICS), she prescribed it for the wrong reasons (to "treat inflammation, not infection") and then took me off them. What I needed was to stay on them!
Original review:
Probs a TMI review. I don't even care at this point. I've been so unwell for so long that any embarrassment about my illness has long-since evaporated and I want to talk about it all the time. This is a hugely common, female-specific health issue that is misunderstood, overlooked and not talked about. It should be talked about, because suffering through this has been the loneliest experience I've ever had, and I don't EVER want another woman to suffer as I have—alone and lost and suicidal. Angela Kilmartin had the same ethos back in the 70s, and it's why she wrote this book.
I confess to not reading this book from back to front (it's an encyclopedia, after all; I'm not pregnant, do not have a child and am not menopausal, so why would I bother reading those parts?), but I did read the parts that applied to me in full, and dabbled elsewhere for more info. It's split into 3 parts: urinary tract infections, sexual cystitis and the chronic condition, interstitial cystitis—known more commonly as IC.
I'm currently in recovery for an absolutely horrendous case of cystitis that cut short my holiday in Italy, led to a month off work and essentially brought my life to a screeching halt. I'm still suffering with inflammation 1 month and 19 days after my symptoms first appeared, and have to watch what I eat whilst I heal up, lest I spend the next day hunched over a hot water bottle and sobbing into my decaf. At its peak, I truly believed I'd wrecked my body completely, that I'd developed IC (as informed by Dr. Google, repeatedly) that nothing would ever work again and that I'd never get well... My mind went to some dark, dark places, much to the despair of my poor, poor partner, who quite frankly has been amazing throughout this entire ordeal. How else was I meant to feel when I was in constant pain 24/7 and no one could give me a definitive answer as to why? No one I knew had suffered as badly as this for as long as I had. All my tests came back negative, so I had to battle with numerous GPs to agree to prescribe me antibiotics. They tried to write me off with overactive bladder and told me to put it out of my mind. Honestly? Nothing has opened my eyes up more to the lack of knowledge and support in female-specific health-issues than this entire experience with my poor, poor bladder.
In her book, Angela Kilmartin lists all possible causes of cystitis under the sun, how to prevent yourself from getting it, and how to treat it yourself if and when it strikes. She basically did what I needed her to do: filled in the gaps of my knowledge obtained through friends who are nurses (well-meaning, but sometimes misinformed), numerous visits to the GP (also well-meaning, but scarily more misinformed than the nurses), my urogynecologist (an absolute ANGEL who finally prescribed me the medication I needed) and Dr. Google (THE WORST, oh my God, 0/10, would not recommend). This book explains some very key things I wish I'd known 2 months ago:
1) Why cystitis so unbelievably painful, and why it takes so long to heal up when you've had a really bad infection (long story short, your bladder is a giant bag of nerves that's in constant use, so filling it is a bit like rubbing salt-water on a healing burn wound).
2) Reassurance that I will get well, and how to be patient/help yourself in recovery and not aggravate the bladder further.
3) Why my tests always came back negative, and how to prevent them from coming back negative in the future.
4) Best practise to stop infections recurring (I'm extremely fortunate that I've never suffered with cystitis before this year and I absolutely do NOT ever want it to recur again, so I'll definitely be using some of these; I can't believe some woman put up with this and accept it as normal, my God).
5) Why a negative test result does not necessarily mean a lack of infection.
6) How to deal with an attack to give yourself the most relief.
7) Most importantly (backed up by some very reassuring information from my urogynecologist), I don't have interstitial cystitis, Dr. Google, FFS!!!
Although informative, Kilmartin is very shouty and self-congratulatory in her delivery, which... fair play, the woman revolutionised UTI prevention back in the 70s, so she's absolutely earned the right to shout and brag. That being said, it can come across as very off-putting. I felt like I was being lectured the vast majority of the time, and that can undermine reader confidence in what she's saying; a real shame, because what she's saying is worth knowing!
I also found her advice regarding sex particularly patronising, outdated, kink-shaming and incredibly heteronormative. I know that Kilmartin is giving best practise advice, but I've seen her leave angry responses on Amazon reviews insisting women MUST follow her advice to the absolute letter, or woe betide them, they will definitely get a UTI. I've been wearing jeans my entire life, for example (an absolutely 'no, NEVER, EVER' in Kilmartin's book), and it's only just this year I've experienced real trouble with cystitis; there's no way jeans were the cause. Therefore, despite what Kilmartin says, you absolutely can pick and choose from this book what best applies to you—you know your body better than she does (though I'm sure she'd say otherwise!).
I absolutely recommend this book to everyone who suffers with either recurrent UTIs, or—like me—if you're suffering from a particularly bad bout, are looking for answers the doctors can't give and/or you feel like your pain will never end. Angela Kilmartin is here to tell you how to ease your suffering, and reassure you that it can, and will end.
Just... be prepared to get shouted at.
Displaying 1 of 1 review