Interstitial Cystitis: Symptoms, Diagnosis, and Treatment

Diagnoses of medical conditions such as Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome seem to be on the rise here in the United States. The symptoms for these diseases are varied and many and most symptoms can be attributed to multiple disorders. Some medical professionals seem to use Fibromyalgia or one of the other above listed conditions as a "catch all" diagnosis to explain away symptoms that seem to have no other underlying cause.

Unfortunately, many individuals who have been diagnosed with one of these conditions could actually be suffering from interstitial cystitis, or they may even have interstitial cystitis in conjunction with a previously diagnosed disorder. It does appear that there could be a definitive link between Fibromyalgia and interstitial cystitis, though not all patients who suffer from one condition will inevitably suffer from the other as well.

According to the website www.ichelp.org, interstitial cystitis is "a chronic inflammatory condition of the bladder wall which frequently goes undiagnosed." Interstitial cystitis affects more than 700,000 Americans, 90% of which are women over the age of 40, though it has been diagnosed in people of all ages, genders, and nationalities.

The most commonly reported symptoms of interstitial cystitis, or IC, are lower abdominal pain and pressure, frequent urination and urination urgency, pain with intercourse, and irregular vaginal bleeding in women. There are many lesser-known symptoms that have been linked to Interstitial Cystitis. These other symptoms include migraine headaches, severe fatigue, and muscle and joint pain, and nausea.