Woman inundated with support after posting about doctor's dismissive treatment of urinary tract infection

Surprise, surprise, chugging cranberry juice isn’t always the answer

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The most common bacterial infection in women, between 50 and 60 per cent of us will experience a urinary tract infection (UTI) in our lifetime.

But for many women these types of infections are a chronic problem, meaning they can suffer from symptoms more than three times a year, and in some cases on a monthly basis.

Considering how frequent they can be, you would think that doctors would be well-versed in dealing with patients grappling with a UTI.

However it seems that as well as having to deal with a constant urge to pee and painful burning sensations, a growing number of women find that doctors are brushing off their concerns with advice they’ve heard a million times before.

Highlighting the problem, one woman posted a frank and albeit flippant tweet about the frustrating “treatment” women receive when visiting their GP for a UTI.

“We need a Disney princess with chronic UTIs who goes to the doctor and the doctor tells her to always pee after sex and the princess says she’s already doing that and the doctor says well that’s all the advice I have,” it read.

Striking a chord, the tweet quickly went viral receiving more than 27,000 likes, 5,000 retweets and a flood of replies from women sharing the useless tips they’d been given by their own doctors.

“My doctor gave me the same advice before I had even ever seen a penis,” one person wrote.

Another added, “Literally just went to Urgent Care today and had this convo. I haven’t even had sex in over a year!”

Others also complained of how doctors had dismissed their infection while highlighting just how dangerous that can be.

“Once got a UTI that spread to my kidneys and could have killed me. I had a fever of 108 and couldn’t even keep any food down. The doctor blew it off as ‘the flu’…UTIs are dangerous and need to be taken seriously,” one person tweeted.

Someone else added: “My mum was treated for ‘UTIs’ on and off for years. Turns out she had Ovarian Cancer, Stage 3. Truth. I will never ever forgive her incompetent doctors.”

Speaking to Self, Christina, who wrote the original tweet, admitted she did so to make people laugh but is happy that it has started an important conversation surrounding chronic UTIs.

“I would like medical professionals and people without vaginas in general to realise that women's pain is real and not something casual that should just be brushed off with boilerplate advice like, ‘Pee after sex,’” she said.

“I've had friends who were literally scared to have sex because they knew they would get a UTI, which is really sad to me.”

So, what is a UTI and how do you know if you have one?

An infection that arises when bacteria enter your urethra and start multiplying, it can spread to other parts of your urinary tract and cause painful symptoms.

According to the NHS these include needing to pee more often than usual, a burning sensation when peeing, cloudy urine, pain in your lower tummy and feeling tired or unwell.

If a UTI goes untreated it can lead to a kidney infection so if you have pain in your sides, a high temperature, diarrhoea or have been sick, you should ask your GP for an urgent appointment.