You have to go, and you have to go now. Come to think of it, it seems like you’ve had to go every 15 minutes since you woke up this morning. And each time, it’s been the same story. Not much comes out, but it burns like crazy. What in the world is going on?

If you have pain or burning on urination, the frequent urge to urinate, and/blood in your urine, chances are you have a bladder infection (Also called cystitis, urinary tract infection, or UTI). These symptoms may also be accompanied by lower and abdominal pain, fever and chills, and all-over ill feeling.

Bladder infections are caused by a bacterial invasion of the bladder and urinary tract. “The urine in the bladder is normally sterile,” explains Amanda Clark, M.D., assistant professor of Sciences University in Portland. “However, if it becomes contaminated with bacteria, a bladder infection can develop.”

If you’re a woman who suffers from bladder infections, you’re not alone. “Women tend to suffer more bladder infections than men because the female urethra, the tube leading from the bladder to the outside of the body, is only one-and-a-half inches long – a short distance for bacteria to travel,” says Sadja Greenwood, M.D., a women’s health specialist and assistant clinical professor in the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California at San Francisco. (A man’s urethra is about eight inches long.) Frequently, the urinary tract becomes contaminated with Escherichia coli, bacteria that are normally present in the bowel and anal area. In about 10 to 15 percent of cases, bladder infections are caused by another organism, such as Chlamydia trachomatis.

Women also suffer more bladder infections because sexual intercourse can irritate the urethra and contribute to the transport of bacteria from the anal area and vagina into the bladder. “We don’t really know exactly why intercourse increases the risk of bladder infections,” says Clark. “We think it might be the bladder tissues that are a little more receptive to having an infection or it may cause more bacteria to move up the urethra.”

Women who use diaphragm for birth control have a greater risk of bladder infections, too, says Clark. The diaphragm presses against the neck of the bladder, which inhibits a normal urination, she says. As urine flow decreases, pressure within the bladder increases, and the bladder is unable to completely empty itself. The pooled urine then acts as a growth medium for bacteria.

Pregnant women are also more likely to suffer from bladder infections. The changing hormones of pregnancy and the pressure exerted by the enlarged uterus on the bladder and the ureters (the two tubes that carry urine from the kidneys to the bladder) put pregnant women on greater risk.

Men can also suffer from this malady. In men, bladder infections are almost always secondary to an infection of the prostate gland (prostatitis), according to Theodore Lehman, M.D., a urologist in private practice and director of The Oregon Impotence Center in Portland. “Primary infection of the bladder in men just doesn’t happen, because the bladder is well protected,” explains Lehman. “But the prostate sits right in front of the bladder, and bacteria can get into it – through sexual intercourse, trauma like bouncing in a bicycle seat, or some kind of blockage – and it stirs up an infection in the prostate. Then the prostate infection can ‘move upstream,’ if you will, and infect the bladder.”

In men, prostate infection usually feels like “you’re sitting on a brick,” says Lehman. When the infection extends to the bladder, the symptoms of irritation, urinary frequency, and pain and burning on urination join the achy-bottom feeling.

These were taken from The Home Remedies Handbook.