There is no complete cure for IC. The NIDDK says Symptoms may disappear without explanation or respond to a change in diet or treatment. Symptoms may even disappear without explanation and may return equally without explanation days, weeks, months or even years later.
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The NIDDK says treatment options include:
- Over-the-counter medications: Aspirin and ibuprofen that may help relieve pain.
- Oral drugs: Elmiron (pentosan plysulfate sodium) has been shown to improve symptoms in 38% of patients treated with it. It may take at least six months of therapy to determine if Elmiron will be helpful.
- Other oral medications, such as antidepressants and antihistamines, which are helpful to some patients.
- Bladder distention: This is similar to a cystoscopy, which helps in some patients, perhaps because it increases the capacity of the bladder and may interrupt pain signals.
- Bladder instillation: Also called a bladder wash or bath, in which a catheter is inserted into the bladder and the bladder is filled with a wash or solution, most frequently DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide), and left there for 15 minutes before it is expelled.
- Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS): Mild electric pulses enter the body for a predetermined period of time at regular intervals, either through wires placed in the lower back, just above the pubic area, or in the vagina or rectum. It may increase blood flow to the bladder, strengthen pelvic muscles that help control the bladder or trigger the release of natural chemicals that block pain.
- Diet: Acidic foods may irritate the condition, and many patients find that eliminating them is helpful. Others have found that artificial sweeteners are irritants.
- Exercise: Gentle stretching exercise, such as yoga, may help.
- Surgery: This is a last resort that may not relieve symptoms. It involves cauterizing ulcers in the bladder (if they are present) or enlarging the bladder using a section of the bowel or, rarely, even removing the bladder entirely.
In the mid- 1980s, at a conference in the UK, I met Angela Kilmartin, an English woman who published a book in the States entitled Cystitis - The Complete Self-Help Guide. She warns against using antibiotics as a cure all for bladder problems:
Antibiotics are the commonest medical way of dealing with bladder troubles ... The action of antibiotics is to remove bacteria - all bacteria, not just the bad, but also the good ... On a prolonged course of antibiotics lasting several weeks (which the medical profession is still fond of prescribing in cases of recurrent cystitis) ... the patient feels washed out and lethargic and finds it immensely difficult to get out of bed.
In her continuing discussion, Kilmartin points out that antibiotics may be needed for women with severe urinary tract infections. In the early 1990s, I read Dr. Larrian Gillespie's book, You Don't Have to Live With Cystitis.
In her comprehensive discussion of cystitis in women, Dr. Gillespie emphasized the importance of urine cultures prior to the use of antibiotics. She also sharply criticized the practice of prescribing antibiotics over the phone because they can cause other problems.
In November 1992, at a candida seminar sponsored by an Indiana group, I met Terry Oldham, who told me about her favorable response to a comprehensive treatment program that featured Diflucan and a sugar-free diet. Because Terry's interstitial cystitis had improved dramatically on Diflucan and diet, I asked her to write me. Here are excerpts from her six-page letter.
Terry Oldham's Story
l had lived with interstitial cystitis for 12 years, and it is much more serious and involved than a bacterial infection of the bladder. I developed tiny hemorrhages in the lining of my bladder that allowed urine to leak through the wall of my bladder; this, in turn, caused constant severe burning and pain.
I was diagnosed with IC in 1981. My symptoms at that time were urinary frequency, burning, pelvic pain, bladder spasms, fatigue and mild to moderate digestive problems.
During the next four years, Terry's symptoms continued and gradually worsened. And by 1989, because of severe bladder pain, frequency, pelvic pain, bladder spasms, fatigue, muscle and joint pains and chemical sensitivities, she had to give up her position as staff nurse at the Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.
My pain and fatigue were so severe l could barely stand up for more than an hour at a time. I had to urinate every 20 minutes on a bad day, and at least once an hour on a so-called "good" day ...
For the next two years, Terry tried every treatment available for IC, and none of them relieved her pain.
Then, in June 1991, after she learned about Diflucan, she sought the help of her personal physician, Stephen Heeger, D.O. He prescribed Diflucan, which she took in gradually increasing doses until she was able to tolerate 100 mg. a day. By November 1991, just five months later, her bladder pain and frequency were 50% improved.
Her problems were further relived by a dietician who had worked with other IC patients who had multiple food sensitivities and related problems.
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To relieve her remaining symptoms, Terry's physician gave her intramuscular injections of vitamin B12, supplemental vitamins and minerals, flaxseed oil, probiotics and CoQ10. She also continued to take Diflucan intermittently, and she said:
The fatigue I was having has lessened quite a bit since adding these new things to my program. My bladder pain and frequency are still 90% improved most of the time, and I feel I have a quality of life that would not have been possible ill had not followed a comprehensive treatment program. To find out more, you can check out How Do You Treat A Yeast Infection.