How to Manage Interstitial Cystitis

In this health video learn about patients who have Interstitial Cystitis and are managing to live comfortably with it. Leading doctors tell us how we may have the hope of a pain-free future.

Melody Thomas Scott: In my case, my symptoms came on very suddenly, very strongly. Female Speaker: Actress Melody Thomas Scott didn't know the cause of her sudden symptoms, but she had an idea. Melody Thomas Scott: I was in a car, perfectly fine one minute and the next minute I was doubled over in pain. Thought I had the worst bladder infection of my life and it just happened boom, very suddenly. Female Speaker: But it wasn't a bladder infection that had the star of the popular daytime soap opera "The Young and the Restless" doubled over in pain. It was a mysterious condition called Interstitial Cystitis. A condition of the bladder, Interstitial Cystitis or IC can affect anyone at any age without warning. And due to its association with the bladder, many confuse the disease with a bladder infection and often times go untreated. Dr. Floyd Seskin: A lot of people think that IC is the result of an infection, or at least the symptoms are the result of an infection. And we test their urine. These patients have sterile urine. Female Speaker: Symptoms can range from very mild to very severe. They include frequency of urination, the urgency to urinate increases and as the disease progresses, severe cramping begins to develop before menses and pelvic pain during and after intercourse. Signals can begin in patients as young as twenty years of age and can slowly become worse. By eliminating bacterial infections as the cause, many urologists are now taking a closer look at urine's corrosive effect on the lining of the bladder. Dr. Floyd Seskin: When this layer breaks down, those impurities tend to attack, and irritate the underlying structures. This results in stimulation of nerves, irritation of the bladder, which causes frequency, urgency and very often even pain of the bladder. Female Speaker: IC researchers have made enormous strides over the past decade in developing different treatments. Doctors may prescribe oral medications as well as a periodic intra-vessel treatment, a medical cocktail therapy with a pain-relieving anesthetic injected directly into the bladder by way of a thin catheter. For more severe cases, doctors may recommend a surgical procedure. Melody Thomas Scott received treatment and is now dedicated to educating others about Interstitial Cystitis. Melody Thomas Scott: Knock on wood; I have been symptom free for a few years now. I don't want anybody else to have to suffer the way I did. It was absolute agony. So the more people that we can get out there to talk about it and spread the word, the better.