Interstitial Cystitis Treatment

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Your life seems to have become partially paralyzed by the pain and discomforts caused by that nagging pain in your bladder and frequent trips to the loo! Unfortunately you are a victim of the commonly occurring bladder ailment called Interstitial Cystitis (IC).

This is a chronic bladder condition that affects 90% of American women and a mere 10% of American men. If you have this disease don’t get panic stricken, as there are numerous positive interstitial cystitis treatment programs and procedures that will alleviate your bladder woes permanently!

The real cause of Interstitial Cystitis still remains elusive. Researchers are still trying to find out as to what exactly causes this bladder disease. Studies reveal that the internal protective bladder lining gets inflamed in this condition. As a result there occurs a mild discomfort, pressure, tenderness, or intense pain in the bladder and surrounding pelvic area.

If you are suffering from Interstitial Cystitis you will feel the urgent need to urinate quite frequently. This is because the bladder loses its capacity to hold urine as much for a longer time as it did before. Pressure will increase as the bladder fills and you will feel better as the bladder empties after urination. In severe cases of the disease the patient might need to urinate as many as 60 times in a day! Men having this disease can have pain in testicles, scrotal or perinea areas while women experience pain in vagina. Interstitial Cystitis also causes pain during sexual intercourse.

Treating interstitial cystitis:

Interstitial cystitis cannot be cured fully; however, there are several effective multiple and complementary interstitial cystitis treatment procedures to improve your condition considerably. You must remember symptoms of painful bladder syndrome or interstitial cystitis varies from person to person thus interstitial cystitis treatment procedures are also variable being customized according to the specific symptoms of each patient.

• In most women the symptoms of interstitial cystitis aggravates during the pre-menstrual period/post-menopausal period. This is due to the strong allergic reaction caused due to changes in progesterone l
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evels that in turn affects the bladder wall. So interstitial cystitis treatment procedure might include administering intra-dermal doses of neutralizing progesterone injections that offers relief in 30-60 seconds.

• Your doctor can suggest you to undergo bladder distention. In this process the bladder is overfilled with water that stretches the bladder walls and increases its urine retention capacity. This treatment provides relief on a short-term basis.

• A little modification of your regular diet can offer much relief. You can get hold of the food list provided by the Interstitial Cystitis Association (ICA) and check out which foodstuffs have to be totally avoided. In general doctors advise IC patients to stay away from highly acidic foods, spicy foods, beverages like tea, coffee, alcohol, foods with artificial sweeteners, certain preservatives/additives, etc. have a tendency of causing bladder irritations.

• To deal with severe pain doctors utilize transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). Mild electrical impulses are administered for minutes/hours a day in this interstitial cystitis treatment procedure. This TENS device is fitted near the lower back or abdomen in the body from outside. These mini-electric jolts alters nerve transmissions to the bladder, increases blood flow, strengthens associated pelvic muscles and triggers the release of pain-blocking hormones.

• Several oral drugs are also administered for interstitial cystitis treatment. The most effective ones include pentosan polysulfate sodium (Elmiron), aspirin, ibuprofen, stronger painkillers, anti-depressants like amitriptyline, anti-histamines such as Atarax and Vistaril, etc.

• Bladder instillation or a ‘bladder wash’ is another interstitial cystitis treatment in which case a thin tube is used to fill your bladder with a drug solution such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). This drug solution is retained in the bladder for varying periods of time before being emptied.

• There are several specific types of physical exercises that are often utilized while treating some IC patients that help to relax the pelvic muscles and provide relief from pain.

• IC patients must quit smoking so as to lessen bladder irritation caused by tobacco.

• Surgery is the last option of interstitial cystitis treatment when all other treatment programs fail to give any positive results. Doctors try to avoid bladder surgeries unless there is no other way left. More often bladder surgeries to treat IC may just be ineffective or even worsen the condition.

By: June Mala -

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