“You end up hunting for a decent length of antibiotic courses that will give you some relief,” she said.
UTIs are caused by bacteria entering the urethra, external. As women have a shorter urethra than men, bacteria are more likely to reach the bladder or kidneys and cause an infection.
Chronic UTIs are infections where symptoms do not go away, and do not clear with a short course of antibiotics. They can also be difficult to diagnose, due to a lower level of bacteria shown in urine samples.
“It’s a searing pain every time you go to the loo” said Gardner, 60. “It’s just like hot needles being inserted inside you and just burning, burning, burning.”
She told the BBC she had felt “gaslighted” by medics and had been told to “wipe yourself better” after describing intense pain.
She was even told by one consultant to give up sex because it can cause a flare up.
“You’ve got to fight all the time just to get treated sensibly and [not told] you’ve got anxiety, depression or are attention seeking,” Gardner said.
The pain and lack of answers about her condition eventually led her to a very dark place.
“It got to the point where [I thought] ‘if this is how my life is going to be, I can’t carry on’,” she said.
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