Warning: This story contains reference to suicide An MP says she was left "feeling like a drug user" while trying desperately to find pain relief for chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs). Labour MP Dr Allison Gardner has been living with the "searing pain" of recurrent infections for about 10 years, after first experiencing symptoms with perimenopause. According to the Chronic Urinary Tract Campaign (CUTIC), more than 1.6 million women in the UK suffer from chronic lower urinary tract symptoms, but there is no official medical definition of the condition.
That is something Gardner is trying to change, with the support of a cross party group of MPs in Parliament. Gardner told the BBC how a lack of consensus on what constituted a chronic UTI left her feeling sidelined by doctors, who did not always understand the condition and were limited in the length of antibiotic courses they could prescribe. "You end up hunting for a decent length of antibiotic courses that will give you some relief," she said.
UTIs are caused by bacteria entering the urethra, external. As women have a shorter urethra than men, bacteria are more likely to reach the bladder or kidneys and cause an infection. Chronic UTIs are infections where symptoms do not go away, and do not clear with a short course of antibiotics.
They can also be difficult to diagnose, due to a lower level of bacteria shown in urine samples. "It's a searing pain every time you go to the loo" said Gardner, 60. "It's just like hot needles being inserted inside you and just burning, burning, burning." She told the BBC she had felt "gaslighted" by medics and had been told to "wipe yourself better" after describing intense pain.
She was even told by one consultant to give up sex because it can cause a flare up. "You've got to fight all the time just to get treated sensibly and [not told] you've got anxiety, depression or are attention seeking," Gardner said. The pain and lack of answers about her condition eventually led her to a very dark place.
"It got to the point where [I thought] 'if this is how my life is going to be, I can't carry on'," she said. She was so desperate she even considered selling her house to pay for private surgery to have her bladder removed. It was around that time three years ago that she discovered Dr Cat Anderson, a Staffordshire-based GP who works in private practice and for the NHS.
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