Interstitial Cystitis of the Bladder

Q:  I am a female in my 70's and have had a cystoscopy under sedation and was diagnosed as having an inflammation of the bladder.

I was told to avoid coffee, tea, chocolate and diet sodas. I'm taking Prosed DS twice a day but it doesn't seem to be helping that much. Are there other foods I should avoid or is there anything else I could do to give me relief from the almost continuous burning feeling?

A:  You might have interstitial cystitis, a chronic problem of the bladder mainly experienced by women. Besides pain and burning, patients often feel an urgency to void and urinate very frequently in small amounts, have pelvic pressure with sitting, and experience pain with sex, with the pain persisting for days afterwards. Some women have ulcers or bleeding of the bladder.

The good news is that you are not alone. Over 500,000 women may suffer from IC and the Interstitial Cystitis Association is an excellent organization which has up-to-date information on research and treatment of this baffling disorder.

Avoiding certain foods can result in a dramatic reduction in symptoms in some but not all women. Beverly Laumann has written a book on diets for IC, called A Taste of the Good Life: A Cookbook for an Interstitial Cystitis Diet. She also writes a monthly newsletter available at IC-network.com.

In addition to diet, there are other medications besides Prosed DS that you can take by mouth or that might be placed in the bladder to relieve the symptoms and inflammation. A good urologist can help you find some relief.

One more option is bladder training. You can learn exercises that will help increase the capacity of your bladder.

The course of the disease is variable, and some women can go into remission for months or even years for no clear reason. I hope that you will be one of the lucky ones.

"Dear Doctor" is a compilation of patient questions answered by doctors from the Medical College of Wisconsin.