Cystitis in children is a fairly common problem. During this disease, an inflammatory process begins, the localization of which occurs in the mucous and submucous layer of the child’s bladder. Cystitis can occur as a result of any infection in the urinary tract. Unfortunately, our doctors still cannot quickly and accurately make such a diagnosis. Therefore, in most children, cystitis remains untreated, which leads to the occurrence of pyelonephritis, but it is much more difficult to cure.
Causes of occurrence
Most often, when diagnosing among children, and in adults too, a manifestation of infectious cystitis is detected, the cause of which is one of the following infections:
- various bacteria (E. coli, chlamydia, ureaplasma, streptococcus and many others);
- herpes viruses, adenoviruses, parainfluenza virus;
- various types of fungi.
There are several ways of their penetration into the human body:
- The ascending path is when an infection enters the body through sexual contact.
- The descending path, if the person had infected kidneys, then cystitis cannot be avoided.
- Hematogenous and lymphogenous pathways - through the blood.
- Contact path when there is any infection in nearby organs.
In general, the mucous membrane of the bladder has pretty good protection, and even if any bacteria or germs get there, the occurrence of cystitis can be avoided. However, other (contributing) factors can influence the development of this disease.
- Urine flow is impaired. This may be due to various congenital pathologies or lifestyle of a person, when he simply does not defecate in a timely manner. Functional disorders in the body are not excluded.
- The protective properties of mucosal cells may be impaired. This is influenced by a number of factors: the presence of salts in the urine, prolonged use of potent antibiotics, hypovitaminosis.
- Even with a decrease in the protective forces of the whole organism, such a disease can occur. This occurs during hypothermia, in people who are often sick or nervous a lot, during severe overwork.
- In the pelvic organs, blood circulation can be impaired, as a result of which oxygen and other nutrients poorly enter the urinary mucosa. This is possible in cases where a person suffers from frequent constipation, leads a sedentary lifestyle.
Acute - Chronic
Quite often, the acute form of cystitis becomes chronic, which is affected by several factors:
- first of all, such a transition occurs due to the fact that the patient did not go to the doctor on time or the doctor established the diagnosis for too long, which is quite possible, and the treatment did not start in a timely manner;
- possibly in people who have congenital or acquired diseases of the genitourinary system.
Symptoms of cystitis in children
To begin with, I would like to consider the form with which everything begins - acute. First of all, you should pay attention to the urination of the child. In general, with cystitis, the symptoms in children (girls and boys) are almost the same, although some doctors try to argue with this.
So, the child begins to go to the toilet more often and at the same time experiences severe pain. Moreover, it can be painful not only during, but also before, as well as after urination. In practice, there were cases when the pain did not go away at all, and during the bowel movement it simply intensified. It is also possible that the baby can spend a long time in the toilet due to the fact that it hurts to empty the bladder to the end or you have to strain hard at the same time. Parents of boys need to be more careful, because the male half may cause blood in the urine.
Cystitis in a 5-year-old child has practically the same symptoms as an adult. If your baby has a mild form of cystitis, then he may go to the toilet a little more often than usual, and you will not immediately notice it, but with severe forms, the desire to defecate occurs every ten or fifteen minutes. It is possible that the urge to urinate is false, but it is also possible that the child does not have time to get to the toilet and incontinence occurs. Someone believes that cystitis in a one-year-old child has exactly the same symptoms, but even teenagers are sometimes not able to restrain themselves. Not all children urinate more often, it also happens that the child goes to the toilet much less often. And this is also a clear sign of cystitis.
Other symptoms
During this disease, the patient’s urine contains many white blood cells and bacteria, which makes it cloudy. In some cases, it even acquires a brownish-red hue. Perhaps even the presence of pieces of mucus.
Cystitis does not manifest itself as an increase in temperature, general weakness, or any other symptoms. Most often, it is limited to changing the frequency of urination and sharp and cutting pains in the lower abdomen.
Features in Toddlers
With cystitis in a one-year-old child, the symptoms and treatment are somewhat different. The diagnosis is complicated, as the baby cannot say that it hurts. But at this age, the temperature may rise in children, appetite is disturbed, lethargy and drowsiness appear, even vomiting is possible. Many doctors are in a hurry with a diagnosis and say that it is pyelonephritis. But if you conduct a complete diagnosis, you can get to the real reason.
Chronic cystitis
Chronic cystitis in a child has symptoms and treatment is slightly different. And indeed it can occur in two forms.
- Recurrent form. When an exacerbation of the disease occurs with some periodicity. This usually occurs in the spring and autumn. Here, symptoms of acute cystitis are almost completely repeated.
- Latent form. Virtually no symptoms. With the latent form of chronic cystitis in a child, the symptoms and treatment are difficult to compare. Although, to be more closely, they are not so disguised. The fact is that sometimes in children urinary incontinence occurs. But not all parents pay attention to this. Someone blames it on fatigue, and someone on age specifics, especially if chronic cystitis in children is 6 years old, the symptoms of which may well coincide with the unformed mind.
Diagnostics
If you have a good doctor, he will be able to suspect cystitis already at your first complaint about frequent urination, but no one will prescribe treatment only on the basis of your words. Therefore, you need to conduct a number of analyzes to be sure of the correctness of their assumptions.
- General urine analysis. In general, it is prescribed for almost any disease. In it you can see white blood cells, the number of which with such a disease greatly increases; red blood cells may appear in the urine, which in different forms are available in different numbers; in laboratory studies, traces of the presence of protein are clearly visible; in addition to all this, in the urine there are salts, pieces of mucus, epithelium and various bacteria. During the appointment of the test, the doctor should instruct you on how to properly collect urine. Since even this can greatly affect the diagnosis. Before collecting, you need to wash thoroughly, the child should urinate a little in the pot, then in the jar and the rest again in the pot. You need to collect any tests in the morning after sleep.
- The child must have a complete blood count.
- A two-vessel urine sample. Two containers are taken. In the first capacity, the child passes no more than five milliliters of urine and about thirty into the second. The collection technology is slightly different from the general analysis, because here in the pot the baby only needs to complete urination.
- Sowing for sterility, sensitivity to antibiotics. Such urine can only be collected in a sterile jar, which can be purchased at a pharmacy. The technology exactly matches the collection for general analysis. The laboratory grows colonies of microorganisms, and then checks their sensitivity to various antibiotics. This method of research is more suitable for determining chronic cystitis and greatly helps doctors in the appointment of treatment.
- It is advisable to undergo an ultrasound, which is performed before and after urination.
- Endoscopy Most often carried out in cases where it is necessary to clarify the presence of a chronic form. With cystitis, the girl’s one-year-old child has poor symptoms and there is a need for such a study, but at this age the procedure is possible only under general anesthesia. It is forbidden to conduct endoscopy when the disease worsens.
- There are other research methods, however, they are resorted to quite rarely. But if there is an urgent need for this and all previous tests are not enough to determine the diagnosis, then additional tests are prescribed.
Cystitis or pyelonephritis?
Quite often, these two diseases are confused, although the symptoms are quite different. For pyelonephritis, a violation of urination is not the main symptom. There is a sharp increase in body temperature, a complete loss of appetite, even if the patient eats something, he will immediately have a gag reflex. The skin becomes pale, there is a complete lack of strength. All this is accompanied by constant pain in the abdomen and lower back. Pyelonephritis can also be easily determined by the results of a general blood test.
During the diagnosis, the doctor should be very careful. Since the treatment of pyelonephritis is much more complicated and requires the appointment of completely different drugs. Therefore, do not refuse additional analyzes and ultrasound.
SARS or cystitis
Probably every mother knows that with colds or flu you need to drink a lot, and tries to give the child as much fluid as possible. And there is nothing surprising in the fact that the child begins to go to the toilet more often. And some mothers begin to panic that the baby has urinary problems. However, it is much easier to diagnose ARVI, you can conduct an examination in the mouth in children, the symptoms of cystitis do not appear there. As for the urinary disease, it is still accompanied by severe pain in the abdomen, with colds such symptoms were not recorded. And also does not occur during flu enuresis.
As you can see, distinguishing cystitis from other diseases is quite simple, even if they are also related to the urethra, like pyelonephritis. The main thing is to conduct the correct diagnosis and pass all the necessary tests. Cystitis in a child at 4 years of age has the same symptoms as in an adult. Only its nature can differ. Adults are more likely to have genital infections, but in a child, the disease can arise from hypothermia.
Treatment
Usually in the treatment of acute cystitis, children are not hospitalized. They simply periodically visit a nephrologist or pediatrician and pass all the necessary tests. But cystitis in a one-year-old child has mixed symptoms, and therefore there is a need to be constantly monitored by doctors.
First of all, with acute cystitis, the child needs constant drinking. If the baby is not yet one year old, then he should drink at least half a liter of water per day, a little more than a liter for those who are already a year old and more than two liters - for schoolchildren.
No need to drink the child only with water. Quite the contrary. Give various stewed fruit drinks, fruit drinks, tea with lemon and currants, especially helps to wash out salts and other bacteria from the body of wild rose, freshly squeezed juices. The baby should drink not only during the day, but also at night.
The child goes on a diet. There are a number of products that can irritate the bladder mucosa, increase blood flow and greatly aggravate the symptoms of cystitis in children.
You can’t eat anything spicy, smoked, exclude too salty dishes, mayonnaise and chocolate.
As for drug treatment, most often it is possible to do just uroseptics, but some doctors recommend the use of antibiotics, although there is no urgent need for this. The course of treatment can last from three to seven days, depending on the severity of the disease and its neglect. You can not prescribe treatment yourself. This can only be done by the attending physician and only on the basis of the results of all necessary tests.
How to cure chronic cystitis
Chronic cystitis is a more serious disease, and doctors recommend not abandoning inpatient treatment. There they have the opportunity to constantly monitor the course of the disease and prescribe the most appropriate treatment.
The treatment process itself is not particularly different: medicines, diet and heavy drinking. However, it is important to understand where chronic cystitis came from and after determining the cause, you must immediately take to eliminate it. However, they rely more on antibiotics, and three drugs are sometimes changed for one course of treatment. And after such enhanced treatment, an uroseptic can be prescribed. The dosage will be minimal and the course of treatment long. Here it is more useful for the prevention of repetition.
As you know, prolonged use of antibiotics causes dysbiosis in children. In this regard, the doctor must prescribe pre- or probiotics.
Prevention
About cystitis in children, symptoms and treatment, Komarovsky says disease can be avoided. And no special preventive measures are needed. It is enough to avoid freezing, monitor hygiene in the genital area, and change underwear in a timely manner. You can not ignore diseases of the genital organs and timely contact specialists. Do not forget that you constantly need to drink a lot of fluids, especially for those who have a high concentration of salts in their urine. This applies to both adults and children.
Conclusion
As you can see, cystitis is a fairly common disease, and is especially common in girls. This is due to several factors. Firstly, they have a much shorter urethra than boys, and secondly, the reservoirs of infection (anus and vagina) are located close. They have more common infections in the genital tract, which, as we have said, reduces the protective functions of the mucous membrane. However, if preventive measures are taken, and with any changes in the child’s body, turn to the right specialist, then serious problems and consequences can be easily avoided.