Urinary infections can be treated with simple pills that doctors won’t prescribe.

Thousands of people suffering from painful and recurrent bladder infections miss out on a simple antiseptic treatment that destroys bacteria in their urine.

The tablet – methenamine hippurate – bypasses the increasingly common problems with conventional antibiotic treatments that can damage the liver and kidneys and even render them useless against antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Also known by the brand name Hiprex, research shows it can be just as effective as antibiotics at fighting stubborn infections. But experts warn that few patients benefit from it because of outdated prescribing guidelines, and many doctors may not even know it exists as an alternative.

Each year, more than a million Britons, 80% of whom are women, get a bladder or urinary tract infection (UTI). Symptoms include burning when urinating, frequent urination, and a feeling of going to the toilet even when the bladder is empty.

Older people are more at risk because with age, the bladder does not function well and may not empty completely when they go to the toilet, which leaves bacteria in their urinary tract.

Postmenopausal women are also more susceptible because the female sex hormone estrogen helps protect lower urinary tract tissues, and as levels drop, they become more vulnerable to infection.

One in ten women over the age of 65 and about three out of ten women over the age of 85 have had a urinary tract infection in the past year. They can cause a dementia-like condition called delirium in elderly patients, and there is also a risk of sepsis, which causes about 10,000 deaths per year.

Often, a short course of antibiotics clears the infection within days, but up to 1.6 million people in the UK suffer from chronic urinary tract infections, which are classified as three or more infections per year.

First-line treatment for these patients is to continue taking low-dose antibiotics permanently, but about one-fifth experience side effects that can damage the liver and kidneys. Antibiotics become less effective as bacteria become resistant to drugs.

“Hiprex changed my life,” says Helen Rawnsley (above), 27, from Birmingham. The drug was prescribed to him by a dedicated urologist in October 2020 when antibiotics stopped working after suffering three months from recurrent urinary tract infections.

Hiprex offers an alternative option for these patients. The drug is broken down by the body and releases ammonia and formaldehyde, which inhibit bacterial growth, and experts believe that pathogens that cause urinary tract infections cannot develop resistance to them.

Reports of women suffering from chronic urinary tract infections show that the drug is quite effective.

“Hiprex changed my life,” said Helen Rawnsley, 27, from Birmingham. The drug was prescribed to him by a dedicated urologist in October 2020 when antibiotics stopped working after suffering three months from recurrent urinary tract infections.

“It was hell,” he says. “I remember being torn apart and thinking, ‘I can’t live like this. His last severe symptoms were in June 2021. Since then he has taken two Hiprex tablets every day.

However, not all women have access to medicine as quickly as he does. This article has heard stories of countless women who were unable to obtain a prescription for Hiprex or get their pharmacist to sign a prescription, even if it was given by a urologist giving advice.

Dr. Cat Anderson, a women’s health specialist who runs a London clinic specializing in recurrent urinary tract infections, echoed the claim of some experts contacted by The Mail on Sunday that it is common for family doctors to have never heard of methanamine.

He adds: “Many doctors, GPs, and pharmacists are uncomfortable prescribing methenamine hippurate due to a lack of knowledge of how it works.

“Since the 1950s, antibiotics have been seen as a kind of miracle cure and other treatments have been eclipsed. But we now know that antibiotics alone are not enough to treat many chronic urinary tract infections.

Guidelines by the British drug control agency, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), state that methenamine hippurate is “less effective” than antibiotics for treating recurrent urinary tract infections. However, this is based on an old 2016 study.

While a 2019 review suggested it was particularly effective in middle-aged and older women, another study published earlier this year concluded that women taking methenamine hippurum had, on average, one additional urinary tract infection per year. those on antibiotic therapy.

Consulting urologist Professor Chris Harding, who led the study at Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust, said he was optimistic the findings could encourage a change in prescribing guidelines.

Lisa Walton, a 50-year-old mother of two from Fleet, Hampshire, has spent thousands of dollars privately on methanamine over the past five years as her NHS primary care doctor refused to prescribe.

Before that, Lisa tried multiple antibiotics, saw several doctors, and even had surgery to enlarge her urethra (the narrow tube through which urine exits the body) to keep bacteria from getting trapped.

He says methanemia is absolutely crucial to his recovery, adding, “I’m grateful that I can afford it, but it’s absolutely vital that more people have access to it.”

Some family doctors have refused to prescribe methenamine for long-term use because of the potential health risks of releasing formaldehyde, a known carcinogen that can cause cancer.

However, Prof. While Harding believes formaldehyde levels are too low to pose a risk, Dr. Anderson stated that the benefits of taking methenamine far outweigh this risk, “Patients with chronic urinary tract infections suffer from hell. Many would see improvements if they could get their hands on this drug.”