Partner Check
Semen & pH Levels
Don’t be afraid of semen: Semen itself cannot cause a bladder infection. However, ejaculate has a very different pH level compared to your vaginal flora. Semen is alkaline (pH value approx. 9), but the environment in your vagina should have an acidic pH value of 3.8 - 4.5.
A single ejaculation can raise the pH level in your vagina for 8 hours and thus disrupt your important protective barrier.
A higher pH level means fewer lactobacilli, which means less/no hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) can be formed - the body’s own wonder weapon that acts bactericidal and virucidal.
In plain terms, that means: If you suffer from recurrent UTIs and perhaps have frequent sex, you can use a vaginal suppository after sex to quickly restore the pH balance in your vagina. Vagi C®* uses ascorbic acid, while other products (e.g. Vagisan Lactic Acid Vaginal Suppositories*, LACTOFEM® Lactic Acid Cure*, Gynofit® Lactic Acid Gel*) use lactic acid to acidify.
I quite like to use Multi-Gyn® ActiGel*. A product without ascorbic acid or lactic acid, which protects your vaginal flora naturally from bacteria and fungi and also works great as a lubricant. It's best to try out what works best for you. Alternatively, you can use the different products interchangeably.
One more tip: You can measure your vaginal flora's pH level with test strips, such as ELANEE® Vaginal pH Self-Test*, and determine whether a suppository is useful or not.
If your vaginal flora is persistently disrupted (e.g. after taking antibiotics or an antifungal treatment), it is advisable to restore it with lactic acid bacteria, such as Gynophilus® Vaginal Capsules* or orally with OMNi-BiOTiC® FLORA plus+*.
Sperm & New Partner
A new sexual partner often increases the risk of developing a "honeymoon cystitis".
No need to despair! Your immune system and your urinary tract sometimes need a while to adjust to the unfamiliar genital flora and the microbes of the new man.
Many blogs mention a possible "incompatibility" between a woman's vaginal flora and a man's genital flora. However, there is no medical evidence for this.
Sperm & Prostatitis
If your partner suffers from bacterial (chronic) prostatitis, the bacteria can be transmitted to you through unprotected sex.
However, this is a rather rare cause of bladder infections in women. Only 5-10% of acute prostatitis cases are caused by a bacterial infection (e.g. E. coli, enterococci, Klebsiella).
Insidious is the chronic form of prostatitis (when the acute inflammation has not subsided after more than 3 months), as it causes less severe symptoms (e.g. only mild pain during urination) and may remain unnoticed, but can repeatedly trigger bladder infections in you through sexual transmission.
Bladder Infection from STDs
A study from Cleveland examined how often a urinary tract infection was diagnosed, even though it was actually an STD (sexually transmitted disease). Only half of the women were tested for an STD. The study found that 23% of women were infected with an STD.
Long story short: A trivial bladder infection is diagnosed much more often, even though a sexually transmitted disease is the actual cause of the UTI symptoms.
What it has to do with your partner
The reason why bladder infections are more common after (frequent) sexual intercourse is usually the own intestinal bacteria and not your partner's sperm. These are "massaged" into the urethra during sex from the anus or the vaginal vestibule.
Since the urethra in women is known to be short, the pathogens quickly reach your bladder and cause the painful inflammation. The bacteria feel so comfortable that they hide within the bladder wall cells, thus avoiding attacks from your immune system or antibiotics.
The next time you have sex, two things can happen, which will catapult the previously hidden bacteria back into the bladder.
- The mechanical stress can cause your bladder lining to tear slightly and expose the hiding spots.
- The often unnoticed vaginal germ Gardnerella vaginalis enters your bladder, attacks the top layer of the bladder wall, and also frees the entrenched bacteria.
If new bacteria are also massaged in, this could result in more bacterial load than your immune system can handle at the moment. Voila - you have another bladder infection .
In most cases, your bladder infection is not contagious to your partner, but transmission cannot be ruled out (especially if you don't know the triggering germ). Therefore, for your own and your partner's protection: No sex during a bladder infection!
Play it safe
Only in rare cases is a bladder infection triggered by pathogens transmitted by your partner. However, this risk increases if you frequently change your sexual partner or/and have unprotected sex.
Such an infection belongs to the group of sexually transmitted diseases, also known as STDs (sexually transmitted diseases). Chlamydia or gonococci (gonorrhea) are two of the most well-known pathogens.
If you suffer from a bladder infection caused by an STD, then in addition to the typical symptoms of a bladder infection, you may experience other symptoms:
- (Severe) itching in the genital area
- Unusual vaginal discharge
- Vaginitis
- Urethral discomfort
- Fever
The following symptoms may also indicate an infection with a sexually transmitted disease:
- Recurring bladder infections
- Ineffective treatment of bladder infections despite antibiotics
- More discomfort in the urethra than in the bladder (urethritis)
Diagnostic procedures for detecting an STD include examination (laboratory, microscopy) of the
- Swab from the vagina (vaginal swab)
- Swab from the cervix (PAP smear, cervical swab)
- Swab from the urethra (urethral swab)
- Seminal fluid
Your gynecologist or urologist can take the swab material and send it for laboratory analysis (and sometimes also examine it microscopically).
Ping-Pong Effect
In the case of an STD, it is very important that both partners undergo treatment. In men, symptoms may sometimes disappear without treatment. However, they remain contagious.
Even if your sexual partner has no symptoms or has never had any, they must undergo treatment along with you. Without treatment, they will continue to infect you repeatedly (Ping-Pong Effect).
And essential: No sex during treatment!
Urethritis
Urethritis is a typical symptom of the following STD pathogens: Gonococci (gonorrhea), Mycoplasma/Ureaplasma, Chlamydia, Trichomonas, Gardnerella vaginalis, yeast fungi (e.g. Candida albicans), HSV-2 (genital herpes), colonizing bacteria (e.g. Enterococci, Proteus mirabilis, Streptococci, Staphylococci). A complete overview of all symptoms can be found here.
As mentioned earlier, it is important in this case that your doctor takes all necessary swabs (vagina, cervix, urethra) to rule out an infection.
Chlamydia
A chlamydia infection is the most common of all sexually transmitted diseases, caused by Chlamydia trachomatis (microbes). In Germany alone, an estimated 1.1 million people are infected with chlamydia, meaning one in every 30 adults and one in every 16 adolescents.
The symptoms in both women and men are discharge and painful urination, with abdominal inflammation occurring in later stages.
The diagnosis is made through a swab from the urethra and, for women, additionally from the cervix.
If you want to detect chlamydia with a urine sample, it is recommended not to use midstream urine, but rather the first fraction of urine. The first portion contains epithelial cells from the urinary tract that harbor the chlamydia, which are particularly abundant.
Gonorrhea (Gonorrhoea)
Gonorrhea, also known as gonorrhoea, is another commonly occurring STD worldwide. It is caused by an infection with the bacterium Neisseria gonorrhoeae (gonococci).
The disease primarily manifests as an inflammation of the urethra (urethritis).
For a reliable diagnosis, the doctor takes a swab from the urethra or from the cervix. A bacterial culture is then grown, and special testing methods are used to detect the bacteria (Nucleic Acid Amplification Test = NAAT).
Trichomonas Infection
Trichomoniasis is also very common worldwide. It is transmitted through parasites. The pathogen is called Trichomonas vaginalis and is a type of flagellate.
A trichomonas infection in women can cause inflammations in the area of the vagina, bladder, and urethra.
The diagnosis of a trichomonas infection is made through swabs from the urethra or vagina. The flagellates can be recognized under the microscope by their pear-shaped form, long whip-like flagella, and their wobbling movement.
Mycoplasma/Ureaplasma Infection
An infection with ureaplasma or mycoplasma (bacteria) in women is often asymptomatic and often goes unnoticed and untreated for a long time.
If symptoms do occur, they are usually redness and inflammation in the genital area, painful urination, and abdominal pain similar to a bladder infection with constant urgency, as well as unusual discharge. They can cause a "non-chlamydia non-gonococcal urethritis" (urethritis).
The pathogens can be detected by culturing swab material (swabs from the vagina, cervix, or urethra) on nutrient media.
Many personal reports from women who were treated unsuccessfully for a long time for cystitis eventually revealed that chlamydia and/or mycoplasma/ureaplasma were the culprits behind the ongoing urinary tract problems.
"It is indeed true that conversations about sexually transmitted diseases are not exactly popular. Even your doctor may not necessarily want to immediately raise the suspicion of an STD when you come to the practice with cystitis symptoms. Therefore, it is even more important that you bring it up as soon as you have the slightest suspicion of an STD."
