Cystitis is the name given to the condition that includes urinary tract infection and infection of the bladder. Interstitial cystitis (IC) is a form of chronic cystitis where the wall of the bladder becomes inflamed. Doctors often misdiagnose IC as recurring bouts of urinary infections and women are prescribed antibiotics with no effect time and time again. With IC Awareness month upon us, current treatments and diagnosis are once again under scrutiny.
This year, the pelvic floor muscle is inspiring much discussion. According to one consultant urogynecologist at Imperial College London, it is the tightening of the pelvic floor muscles that leads to pain when urinating and pain during sexual intercourse. When the muscle tightens, it goes into spasm. This also means that the bladder often does not empty properly allowing it to become infected more easily. Pelvic floor exercises have notoriously been recommended by physiotherapists and doctors especially when women complain that they are leaking urine. This is thought now to be detrimental to recovery and may even be the cause of interstitial cystitis according to a physiotherapist at the White Hart Clinic.
The future in IC treatment will hopefully involve a multi-disciplinary approach that the White Hart Clinic advocate and will include an ultrasound in order to see the bladder and pelvic floor muscle in action as one stands up straight, lies down and exercises. Treatments will be a combination of muscle relaxants, anti-inflammatory treatment and antibiotics. Physiotherapy will be employed in order to relax the pelvic floor muscles. This form of treatment is popular in the United States and is very new here but has been proven to work in previous studies.
Now that medicine and physiotherapy are finally being combined, we might finally see a breakthrough for Interstitial Cystitis treatment.