|
|
Definition reprinted from Yahoo! Health: (http://health.yahoo.com/ency/healthwise/nord103)
Interstitial cystitis is a chronic, painful inflammatory condition of the bladder wall characterized by pressure and pain above the pubic area along with increased frequency and urgency of urination. This occurs because of chronic inflammation of the lining of the bladder and swelling of the interior walls of the bladder. Affected individuals urinate frequently with pain even though there is no diagnosed bladder infection. In a small percentage of cases, people with interstitial cystitis also have scarring and ulcerations on the membranes that line the bladder. Interstitial cystitis typically affects young and middle-aged women, although men can also have this disorder. The exact cause of interstitial cystitis is not known.
What can it really be like based on the personal knowledge and research of one sufferer?
Levels of suffering, symptoms and treat-ability vary from individual to individual. Severe IC is extremely debilitating, destroys quality of life and can lead to drastic and frequently unfulfilling solutions including surgeries and pain pump implantation. IC is a real disease and due to its serious consequences can lead to complete disability for some while others can lead relatively-normal to normal lives. In some cases the urgency / frequency experienced can lead to as many as 80 bathroom trips a day making normal functioning all but impossible. Many IC sufferers struggle with nocturia, or the need to urinate several times throughout the night.
IC is still very difficult to diagnose with the average diagnosis taking up to 2.5 years and usually visits to more than one specialist in the process.
Most IC suffers also suffer from what I will refer to as mystery pains, related ailments and other illnesses. It is very common for someone afflicted with IC to also have fybro, IBS and a host of other diseases. Plus, food, chemical and topical skin product sensitivities are a hallmark of the disease for many suffers while others are not impacted at all by them for better or for worse.
Victims of IC are silent suffers of an orphan disease, one that does not afflict a large enough segment of the population to have gained enough significant attention. Great strides are being made by a few industry leaders in the fields of urology and gynecology, who we commend, but still there is much that remains unknown about the actual causes of the disease or why some will respond to a certain medication, installation, treatment or remedy while it can cause a terrible 'flare' in someone else.
Those with IC become creative experts at reading package labels, planning and packing supplies for trips as short as the corner market, learning to smile through the pain, trying (succeeding and sometimes failing) at harnessing the power of spirituality, staying abreast of new treatments for new hope, and exploring alternatives such as allergy treatment, antibiotic treatment, electrical stimulation, and natural healing. I, for one, believe the path matters not if the result brings even a little peace.
If you are an IC sufferer, be good to yourself today; know that you are not alone, and that you are loved and cherished. If you know or love someone with IC, be patient and kind; you may never physically see their suffering, but it is there.
Learn more about IC |
|
|
|
