IC Disease

The above video is a brief explanation of how cranberry juice supposedly helps those suffering from urinary tract infections.  I personally have never been able to drink cranberry juice - it has the same affect on me as orange juice and it tears my bladder up.  Even back before I was diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis I was never able to drink cranberry juice.  I have heard other people swear by how well it helps, so you have to decide for yourself whether or not to give it a try.

The best thing I have personally found to help relieve the burning and pain from a UTI is to drink plenty of water along with seeing your doctor for medications to fight the infection. 

What do you think?  Are you able to drink cranberry juice when you have a UTI or with your IC Disease?  Let me know in the comments!

Research was conducted (you can view the entire report HERE) to determine whether cranberry or trimethoprim should be used for the prevention of recurrent urinary tract infections. The research consisted of a randomized controlled trial in older women.

During the trial, almost 140 women with two or more antibiotic-treated UTIs in the previous year were randomized to receive either 500 mg of cranberry extract or 100 mg of trimethoprim for 6 months.  Here were the results:

• 28% had an antibiotic-treated UTI (25 in the cranberry group and 14 in the trimethoprim group)
• “Trimethoprim had a very limited advantage over cranberry extract in the prevention of recurrent UTIs in older women and had more adverse effects.”

The research findings suggest that older women with recurrent urinary tract infections will be able to discuss with their doctors a cheaper, natural product like cranberry extract for UTI treatment over a medication like trimethoprim, which the body can become resistant to.

I just read an article tonight that talks about how many people ignore symptoms of bladder trouble and that most people are not paying enough attention to what their bladder is telling them.  November is Bladder Health Month and urologists across the country want to make the public aware of many of the bladder problems people face:

Incontinence - More than 15 million people in the United States suffer from stress incontinence or urge incontinence.

Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs) - Approximately 40% of women and 12% of men will suffer from at least one urinary tract infection sometime during their lives. 

Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS) - People who have an enlarged prostate can suffer from LUTS which causes frequent urination, the need to push or strain to initiate urination, nocturia and urgency.

Bladder Cancer - Approximately 53,000 Americans are diagnosed yearly with bladder cancer.  One symptom is blood in the urine along with frequent urination and pain with urination are also common symptoms of bladder cancer.

Bedwetting - Bedwetting may be caused by many several factors from age to neurological problems. 

Interstitial Cystitis - I was happy to read that IC Disease was included in this article.  To read more of the article, click HERE.

Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) have similar symptoms to IC Disease.  What is weird in my case is that every year from the time I was a teenager up through my diagnosis of IC Disease, I would have a UTI or bladder infection once or twice a year.  I have actually had so many UTIs that my body tests resistant to all antibiotics that are used to treat UTIs. Once I was diagnosed and treated for IC, I have never had another UTI since.  There have been times where I thought a UTI was starting but it was my IC symptoms.

UTIs are very common.  In fact, they are so common that a UTI is the second most common type of infection in the body. One in five women will develop a Urinary Tract Infection at least one time during her life.

The cause of UTIs are known. Urine is usually sterile but there are times an infection occurs when tiny organisms, usually bacteria from the digestive tract, cling to the opening of the urethra and begin to multiply. The urethra is the tube that carries urine from the bladder to outside the body. Most infections arise from one type of bacteria, Escherichia coli (E. coli), which normally lives in the colon. If a UTI is not treated, the bacteria will spread to the kidneys and a kidney infection is the result.

Many women suffer from frequent UTIs. Nearly 20 percent of women who have a UTI will have another, and 30 percent of those will have yet another. Of the last group, 80 percent will have recurrences. The theory behind recurrent UTIs is that for these women, the bacteria tends to attach itself to the cells lining the urinary tract.

Many of the symptoms of UTIs are very similar to IC Disease. Like I mentioned above, there were times I wasn’t sure if my IC was acting up or if I had a UTI. Here are the main symptoms of a UTI:

• Urinary frequency
• Urinary urgency
• Burning when urinating
• An overall sick feeling - tired, nauseated
• Abdominal cramping and/or pain
• Pressure above the pubic bone
• Despite urgency to urinate, only a small amount of urine is passed
• Cloudy, bloody urine

All of these are symptoms of IC Disease.  That is why when someone asks me what IC feels like, I tell them it is like having a UTI 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

A UTI is diagnosed by having a urine specimen tested for bacteria.  If bacteria is present, antibiotics are prescribed.  It is important to take the entire course of antibiotics even after feeling better because the infection can return.

Thank God times are changing for IC patients and the illness is starting to be more understood.  But even though advances have been made, there are still a lot of women being misdiagnosed by physicians due to their lack of knowledge on IC Disease.  Lack of knowledge isn’t the only reason that IC Disease may be misdiagnosed.   It can be difficult at times to correctly diagnose because IC resembles some other conditions that have similar symptoms. 

This week I will be breaking down each of the illnesses in detail I have listed below that resemble symptoms of IC Disease.

• Vulvodynia
• Endometriosis
• Urinary Tract Infection (UTI)
• Overactive Bladder
• Cervicitis