About Interstitial Cystitis

This site contains information from government publications about interstitial cystitis that have been reformatted and reorganized. There are numerous links to the original documents.

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The Interstitial Cystitis Association

The Interstitial Cystitis Association is a vital and dynamic national organization offering information and support to interstitial cystitis patients and their families, educating the medical community about interstitial cystitis, and promoting research to find effective treatments and, ultimately, a cure for interstitial cystitis.

Click here to visit the Interstitial Cystitis Association website.

source: http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/interstitialcystitis/index.htm

What is interstitial cystitis?

Interstitial cystitis (IC), one of the chronic pelvic pain disorders, is a condition resulting in recurring discomfort or pain in the bladder and the surrounding pelvic region. The symptoms of IC vary from case to case and even in the same individual. People may experience mild discomfort, pressure, tenderness, or intense pain in the bladder and pelvic area. Symptoms may include an urgent need to urinate (urgency), frequent need to urinate (frequency), or a combination of these symptoms. Pain may change in intensity as the bladder fills with urine or as it empties. Women's symptoms often get worse during menstruation.

In IC, the bladder wall may be irritated and become scarred or stiff. Glomerulations (pinpoint bleeding caused by recurrent irritation) may appear on the bladder wall. Some people with IC find that their bladders cannot hold much urine, which increases the frequency of urination. Frequency, however, is not always specifically related to bladder size; many people with severe frequency have normal bladder capacity. People with severe cases of IC may urinate as many as 60 times a day.

Also, people with IC often experience pain during sexual intercourse. IC is far more common in women than in men. Of the more than 700,000 Americans estimated to have IC, 90 percent are women.

source: http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/interstitialcystitis/index.htm

What causes interstitial cystitis?

Interstitial cystitis (IC), one of the chronic pelvic pain disorders, is a condition resulting in recurring discomfort or pain in the bladder and the surrounding pelvic region. The symptoms of IC vary from case to case and even in the same individual. People may experience mild discomfort, pressure, tenderness, or intense pain in the bladder and pelvic area. Symptoms may include an urgent need to urinate (urgency), frequent need to urinate (frequency), or a combination of these symptoms. Pain may change in intensity as the bladder fills with urine or as it empties. Women's symptoms often get worse during menstruation.

In IC, the bladder wall may be irritated and become scarred or stiff. Glomerulations (pinpoint bleeding caused by recurrent irritation) may appear on the bladder wall. Some people with IC find that their bladders cannot hold much urine, which increases the frequency of urination. Frequency, however, is not always specifically related to bladder size; many people with severe frequency have normal bladder capacity. People with severe cases of IC may urinate as many as 60 times a day.

Also, people with IC often experience pain during sexual intercourse. IC is far more common in women than in men. Of the more than 700,000 Americans estimated to have IC, 90 percent are women.

source: http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/interstitialcystitis/index.htm

Are there different types of interstitial cystitis?

Because IC varies so much in symptoms and severity, most researchers believe that it is not one, but several, diseases. In the past, cases were mainly categorized as ulcerative IC or nonulcerative IC, based on whether ulcers had formed on the bladder wall. But many researchers and clinicians have questioned the usefulness of this classification, since the vast majority of cases do not involve ulcers, and their presence or absence does not influence treatment options as much as other factors do.

Factors that influence treatment options include whether bladder capacity under anesthesia is great or small, and whether mast cells are present in the tissue of the bladder wall, which may be a sign of an allergic or autoimmune reaction. In some cases, the success or failure of a treatment helps characterize the type of IC. For example, some cases respond to changes in diet while others do not.

source: http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/interstitialcystitis/index.htm