I've suffered with chronic UTIs for years and I'm in excruciating agony every month. This is why so many more women are now affected, infuriating reason treatment is so difficult - and factors that put you more at risk ⊖

On her 49th birthday, Lisa Sawers woke up to a burning, stinging sensation - 'like being stung by a swarm of wasps', she says. It radiated from her bladder, throughout her pelvis and down her legs.