cystitis is the inflammation of the walls of the bladder due to the presence of an irritant while the UTI is the invasion of foreign microorganisms to the bladder or any other part of the urinary tract.
cystitis and UTI are the same conditions for most of the time. in fact, cystitis is considered a type of UTI in most of the cases.
there are some cases in which cystitis presents the same symptoms of UTI but it’s not a UTI or a type of UTI or even caused by UTI.
so the treatment will differ depending on whether if you have a UTI or whether you have cystitis caused by a UTI or whether you have another type of cystitis that is not related to the UTI.
first off, to distinguish between these different types of illnesses we must know what is the definition of each one of them.
so what is a UTI?
a UTI is a urinary tract infection, it’s the invasion of foreign harmful bacteria to one or two or more of the parts of the urinary tract. the parts of the urinary tract being the kidneys, the ureter, the bladder, and the urethra.
when the bacteria invade one or more of these parts they will become inflamed and then you can feel the symptoms of the UTI.
symptoms like burning sensation during urination, frequent urination, urgency, pressure in the bladder area smelly urine, and if the infection is in an advanced stage there will be fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, and maybe diarrhea.
so now what is a cystitis?
cystitis is the inflammation of the bladder.
it could be due to many causes with the most common one of these causes is the presence of bacteria inside the bladder (bladder infection).
other causes may include certain medications like the drugs used for chemotherapy, radiation therapy may also cause cystitis.
certain illnesses can cause cystitis like diabetes, prostate enlargement, and kidney stones.
people who use catheters (mostly elderly people) may also experience cystitis.
Another type of cystitis that is not caused by bacterial invasion to the bladder nor by the chemotherapy drugs or radiation therapy or something like that, this type of cystitis is called interstitial cystitis.
image is done by the NIH Medical Arts for the National Cancer Institute
interstitial cystitis
Interstitial cystitis is not a type of a UTI because it’s not caused by an infection, meaning that the bacteria didn’t invade the bladder and caused the inflammation of the bladder.
With interstitial cystitis, the bladder will be inflamed and the person who suffers from it will experience symptoms that are similar to that of a urinary tract infection (UTI).
The difference is that it will not be caused by bacteria but by other causes.
causes of interstitial cystitis are not fully known till this moment but according to MAYO CLINIC, it could be that the epithelium lining of the bladder has gotten weak in some people so there are some holes in it.
the urine will make contact with the bladder wall through these holes. the urine contains a substance that could be toxic or at least irritating to the bladder wall which will cause it to be inflamed.
when the bladder wall gets inflamed you will experience symptoms like frequent urination, urgency, urinating small amounts of urine for too many times, pain when you have sexual intercourse, pelvic pain, and others.
these symptoms can be very similar to the symptoms of a UTI (or cystitis that is caused by a bacterial infection in the bladder) specifically speaking these symptoms can be very similar to a bladder infection.
so many people will think that they have a UTI and when they go to the doctor and then the doctor asks them to do some laboratory analysis like urine analysis or so.
the results will come out saying that there are no bacteria in the bladder so they have no UTI then what is my condition they will say the answer it’s most likely interstitial cystitis.
or it could be cystitis that is caused by some sort of illness like diabetes or kidney stone or it could be cystitis caused by drugs or by radiation therapy.
but most likely it will be interstitial cystitis especially if you do not take chemotherapy medication and you don’t have illnesses other than cystitis.
interstitial cystitis may be caused by an autoimmune reaction but there are many speculations about this theory and it’s not 100% true until now.
this theory basically suggests that the immune system of the person who suffers from interstitial cystitis is attacking the bladder of that person.
basically the function of our immune systems is to protect us against foreign organisms invading our body without attacking our organs. but sometimes the immune system loses its ability to distinguish between foreign invading microorganisms and the body’s own organs and systems.
this is actually the case with many autoimmune diseases like Rheumatoid arthritis, Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), Psoriasis and, others.
so interstitial cystitis can be another autoimmune condition where the immune system attacks the bladder and cause it to be inflamed and cause the other symptoms.
a previous urinary tract infection could trigger that immune response but when the UTI goes away sometime the immune response won’t go which causes interstitial cystitis.
the genetic factor may also play a role in you having interstitial cystitis or not. irritable bowel syndrome can increase the chance of interstitial cystitis so try to treat that first if you have it.
interstitial cystitis is most likely to affect people who are above 30 years of age or older because the bladder muscles get weaker with time.
cystitis in all of its types affects women more than men but it could happen in men due to an enlarged prostate gland.
having the symptoms of cystitis doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a UTI but it could lead to a UTI if left untreated.
in the case of a UTI sometimes people have bacteria in their bladder but there are no symptoms of cystitis like frequent urination or urgency or so.
This condition will not be called cystitis but only a urinary tract infection although this infection could cause the symptoms of cystitis later on if it continues.
so what’s the difference between cystitis and UTI?
there are many differences between cystitis and UTI and here they are:
1) cystitis can have many types one of which can be a type of a UTI which is the cystitis caused by the bladder infection (bacteria invading the bladder), and it’s the predominant type of cystitis, the other types of cystitis are not caused by a bladder infection and therefore are not considered a type of UTI.
2) a urinary tract infection (UTI) is the invasion of foreign harmful bacteria to one or more of the parts of the urinary tract, so you could have bacteria in your urinary tract without you noticing any symptoms.
mostly it will take one or two or maybe three days till the symptoms appear so you may not feel any symptoms right away but the UTI is there since a bunch of days.
3) cystitis is the inflammation of the bladder wall due to the presence of some bacteria or other things that might irritate the bladder like chemotherapy drugs or radiation or disease or the cause could be unknown.
due to this inflammation, you will notice the typical symptoms of cystitis which are frequent urination urgency and others. so you cannot have any type of cystitis without noticing these symptoms of cystitis.
4) a urinary tract infection (uti) can happen in any part of the urinary tract such as it can happen in the kidney (kidney infection) or in the bladder (bladder infection) or in the urethra or even in the ureters or it can happen in more than one part at the same time.
while cystitis in all of its types whether it’s interstitial cystitis or Cystitis caused by a bladder infection or cystitis caused by other things can happen only in the bladder part of the urinary tract.
5) if you have a bladder infection (a UTI) then it’s eventually gonna be a cystitis because when there is bacteria in your bladder the bladder muscles eventually gonna be inflamed and then you’re gonna have cystitis.
while if you have just cystitis that is caused by things other than the bacteria, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you are going to have a UTI, it may lead to a UTI in the future if left untreated but just not necessarily.
6) if your cystitis was not caused by a bladder infection you may not notice some of the common symptoms of the UTI like the burning sensation during urination that almost everybody who has UTI suffers from.
also, you may not notice the smelly urine symptoms that are found in people who suffer from UTI and also in people who suffer from cystitis caused by a bladder infection.
also if your cystitis was not caused by a bacterial infection in the bladder you will notice some symptoms that people with UTI do not have.
these symptoms according to MAYO CLINIC are
pain in the pelvis area or between the anus and the vagina in women, pain between the anus area and the scrotum in men.
another symptom that you may not notice with the UTI is pain during sexual intercourse and pain in the time while the bladder fills and a sense of relief after urination.
while you can find the other typical symptoms like frequent urination, urgency, passing small amounts of urine in both the UTI and cystitis that is not caused by a bladder infection.
7) UTI has two types:
– lower urinary tract infection (bladder infection) and this is the type of UTI that can lead to cystitis.
– upper urinary tract infection (kidney infection) and this is the most dangerous type of UTI however it can not lead to cystitis alone.
cystitis has three types:
– cystitis that is caused by a bladder infection.
– cystitis that is caused by things other than the bladder infection like chemotherapy drugs, radiation, diabetes, kidney stones, and others.
– interstitial cystitis which is the type of cystitis that is not caused by one of these previous causes mentioned above, and the exact cause for it is not fully understood and there are many speculations about what could cause an interstitial cystitis.
8) the main treatment of the UTI are antibiotics mostly while the choice of antibiotics may vary depending on the type of bacteria that caused the UTI but the principle remains the same which is:
bacteria have invaded your urinary tract then you gonna need antibiotics to kill them.
unless if the bacteria were not that strong then the body can kill them by its own immune system without the need for antibiotics but you get the point.
while the treatment for cystitis will depend mostly on the treatment of the underlying cause.
eliminating the underlying cause will eliminate cystitis.
like if your cystitis was caused by a bladder infection then the doctor will give you antibiotics to kill the bacteria and then the cystitis will go.
and if your cystitis was caused by an illness like diabetes or kidney stones or whatever then treating that illness will make the cystitis go away.
but what about interstitial cystitis?
the cause of interstitial cystitis is not fully understood as I said earlier so there no specific treatment that can fully treat the interstitial cystitis, unfortunately, because you don’t know what has caused it in the first place.
but there are some treatments and home remedies that can ease the symptoms of the interstitial cystitis and let the patient cope with the illness.
now we have ended the section that specializes in telling the differences between the UTI and cystitis.
so now that you have known the difference between them you will ask a question
how can I treat cystitis?
like I said before treatment of cystitis will depend on the underlying cause. so if the cystitis was caused by a bladder infection then the doctor will give you antibiotics and the choice of antibiotic will depend on the type of bacteria that has caused it.
also if it is the first time that you have cystitis then the doctor will give you a short course of an antibiotic while if you had a bladder infection before then the course of antibiotic will be longer or it can be a more powerful antibiotic than the one you had previously.
it’s important to finish the whole course of antibiotics prescribed by your doctor whether it was a long course or a short course.
if you do not stick to the whole course the infection may return stronger along with cystitis. only if you notice that you have some side effects then report to the doctor.
you can cut the antibiotic course only if you find that the side effects are intolerable but report to your doctor as soon as possible.
for more information check the UTI treatments article UTI home remedies can be useful for people who have this type of cystitis because you know this type of cystitis is caused by a type of UTI (bladder infection).
you can check these home remedies in the home remedies article. treatment of the cystitis caused by things other than the bladder infection will depend on the specific thing that is causing the cystitis.
if the cystitis was caused by an illness like a kidney stone or diabetes or another illness then treating that illness will remove the cystitis.
if the cystitis was caused by an allergy then removing the cause of allergy will remove the cystitis.
if the cystitis was caused by some kind of drugs like the chemotherapy drugs cyclophosphamide and ifosfamide, then pain management therapy and drinking a lot of water can somewhat ease it out for you.
also, the doctor may prescribe to you some pain killer drugs. same case here with the cystitis that is caused by the radiation therapy.
because the cause of interstitial cystitis is not known till this day treatment of this condition will be aimed towards relief from the symptoms of interstitial cystitis.
treatments with medication may include some pain killer drugs like ibuprofen (Advil), diclofenac (Voltaren), naproxen and other pain killers.
do not take them if you have ulcer or taking anticoagulant drugs like aspirin or clopidogrel consult your doctor before using these painkillers if you have any other underlying condition.
Tricyclic antidepressants like amitriptyline or imipramine (Tofranil), these drugs will relax the bladder and make the patient forget about the pain.
Antihistamines like loratidine (claritine) can reduce the urgency and frequency of urination.
Pentosan polysulfate sodium (Elmiron) which is a drug that can be taken orally or by direct infusion to the bladder.
this drug protects the bladder wall from irritants that is found in the urine. according to the NCBI website this drug will provide a protective coating from the inside to the walls of the bladder.
so by protecting and strengthening the bladder wall there is a strong chance that interstitial cystitis will go even if it was a chronic interstitial cystitis.
this drug will take at least 4 weeks before you can notice some improvement.
Physical therapy can relieve some of the symptoms of interstitial cystitis like the pain in the pelvic area.
nerve stimulation is also one of the procedures used to treat or relieve some of the symptoms of interstitial cystitis. for more information please visit the MAYO CLINIC article.