Strange New Source of Bladder Pain Discovered

Dark Knight

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A painful bladder condition known as interstitial cystitis is not at all what it seemed, scientists have discovered.


The pain seems to originate not in the bladder but in the colon, and the body miscommunicates the source of the pain to the brain. The finding could open up new treatments to the roughly 1.3 million U.S. residents, mostly women, who suffer from the condition.


Among other causes, spicy food, citrus and caffeine are causes of interstitial cystitis. The pain can be debilitating. Patients typically also feel an urgent need to urinate up to 50 times a day.


"This disease has a devastating effect on people's lives," said David Klumpp, principal investigator and assistant professor of urology at the Feinberg School at Northwestern University. "It affects people's relationships with family and friends." Klumpp said some women who suffer from this become so depressed, they attempt suicide.


Researchers had long believed the spike in the patients' symptoms was triggered when foods they had digested produced chemicals in the urine that irritated the bladder.


But the body can be strange, the new study shows.


Here's what Klumpp and his colleagues found:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience...d&printer=1;_ylt=Ap2lyeAjCAMJzPlT1rUaZnmzvtEF
 
I have interstitial cystitis...appreciate this article and will forward to my doc. =)
 
I wonder why this causes blood in the urine though?

I guess I need to read the whole article, but that is really interesting.
 
Wow, that is interesting. I remember when a bacteria was shown to cause ulcers and it completely changed the way ulcers are treated.
 
Did anyone keep a copy of this article? I'd love to see it, and the link is no good now. Of course.

See what I mean ... day late, dollar short?
 
I'll believe that it is ALL caused by colonic irritation and spasms when the hematuria is explained. Colon irritants and pain don't cause a urinary tract to bleed.
 
I worked for an urologist for years and we had many patients with this condition. The patients would come in and lavage the bladder for temporary relief and alot of antibiotics during flare ups. Smoking also is all a huge factor with this problem whatever is put into the body...............the effects run through the body and filters through the kidneys, ureter and settle into the bladder until released. A normal bladder holds 15 ounces and anytime there is any irritants that are in the bladder cause spasms, urgency causes discomfort it is so important to drink plenty of fluids all the time. This will cause the bladder to be flushed and a lot of people who have bladder problems think if I do not drink I will not need to urinate. That is the worst thing to do............the systems needs to be flushed so the urine does not become stagnant which leads to infection. Bladders become weak over the years and it is also very important to due exercises to keep the core muscles strength......think of the bladder like the heart many people suffer from congestive heart failure from disease and the heart doe not pump like it should. The bladder is also a mucsle structure and gets alot of use and people take it for granted it is always going to work.
 
I kept having re-occuring bladder infections which were supported by a urine test. It seemed as if I just got off meds, then the infection would return. The fourth doctor (yes, 4) finally solved the problem of the bladder pain and infections.

When I visited the last doctor, although I had bladder pain, I didn't have a bladder infection at all! The bacteria had gone from the bladder into the vaginal canal, and, essentially, was giving me the same symptoms, and when I went off the meds, it was re-infecting my bladder. One weekly dose of the right meds, and I was fine.
 

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