Interstitial Cystitis (IC) or Bladder Pain Syndrome (BPS) or IC/BPS is an issue of long-term bladder pain. It may feel like a bladder or urinary tract infection, but it's not. It is a feeling of discomfort and pressure in the bladder area that lasts for six weeks or more with no infection or other clear cause.
The Difference Between a UTI and IC
In women who have interstitial cystitis, urine culture results will be negative, meaning that no bacteria are found in the urine as with a urinary tract infection. With IC, women may also experience pain during sexual intercourse, another symptom not commonly associated with a UTI.
People with interstitial cystitis (IC) have repeat discomfort, pressure, tenderness or pain in the bladder, lower abdomen, and pelvic area. Symptoms vary from person to person, may be mild or severe, and can even change in each person as time goes on.
UTI or Something Else? Although burning during urination is a telltale sign of a UTI, it can also be a symptom of a number of other problems such as a vaginal yeast infection or certain sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). These include chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis.
Ovarian cysts
Because the ovaries are located near the pelvis, they can cause symptoms that feel similar to a UTI, but can also cause severe abdominal pain if they rupture. If you do experience symptoms, they may include: Pressure or bloating in the lower abdomen.
Genetic and immune disorders, recurrent bacterial infections, and pelvic floor dysfunction are possible factors that can lead to this condition. Excessive frequency of urination, urinary urgency, and urethra, bladder or pelvic pain are common symptoms.
Doctors may use cystoscopy to look inside the urethra and bladder. Doctors use a cystoscope, a tubelike instrument, to look for bladder ulcers, cancer, swelling, redness, and signs of infection. A doctor may perform a cystoscopy to diagnose interstitial cystitis (IC).
There is no best way to diagnose IC. A variety of tests may be needed. These include urine tests, imaging tests, and biopsy.
Common treatments for interstitial cystitis
Amitriptyline is the medication most commonly prescribed for interstitial cystitis. Elmiron is the only oral drug approved by the FDA specifically for interstitial cystitis. It improves the bladder lining, making it less leaky and therefore less inflamed and painful.
Several other infectious and non-infectious disease processes can cause symptoms that mimic a UTI. These include conditions such as vaginitis, overactive bladder, and kidney stones; some sexually transmitted infections (STIs); and diseases such as bladder cancer.
UTIs are common infections that happen when bacteria, often from the skin or rectum, enter the urethra, and infect the urinary tract. The infections can affect several parts of the urinary tract, but the most common type is a bladder infection (cystitis). Kidney infection (pyelonephritis) is another type of UTI.
Bladder cancer is perhaps the most obvious cancer to find in urine, but evidence suggests that remnants of other cancers – like kidney, prostate and cervical cancer – can also get into pee.
The most common way is to look at the cells under a microscope, called urinary cytology. There are other urine tests using molecular analysis that can be done to help find cancer, usually at the same time as urinary cytology. Cystoscopy. Cystoscopy is the key diagnostic procedure for bladder cancer.
A persistent, urgent need to urinate. Frequent urination, often of small amounts, throughout the day and night (up to 60 times a day) Pain or discomfort while the bladder fills and relief after urinating. Pain during sex.
A cyst may cause a sense of fullness with or without swelling in the lower abdomen. There can be a steady, dull pelvic pain or pain with intercourse. Sometimes a cyst will rupture, causing a sudden, sharp pain. A brownish vaginal discharge may occur.
A doctor may feel a cyst during a pelvic exam. Ultrasound. An ultrasound can pinpoint the location, size, and makeup of ovarian cysts. Abdominal ultrasound and vaginal ultrasound can evaluate ovarian cysts.
It causes recurring bouts of pain and pressure in the urinary bladder and the pelvic area. This is often accompanied by an urgent and frequent need to urinate. Sufferers may have to rush to the 'loo' as much as 40, 50, or 60 times a day.
Coffee, soda, alcohol, tomatoes, hot and spicy foods, chocolate, caffeinated beverages, citrus juices and drinks, MSG, and high-acid foods can trigger IC symptoms or make them worse.