Diagnosing and Treating Interstitial Cystitis
By: Dr. Gary Bellman on March 26, 2014
For more than a century, interstitial cystitis (IC) was thought to be a rare, bladder specific disease that affected only women. Through slow, steady research and several false starts, IC is now considered a pelvic pain syndrome strongly linked to the bladder, the pelvic floor muscles, the bowel, the reproductive tract and/or the nervous system.
IC is defined as an unpleasant sensation (pain, pressure, discomfort) perceived to be related to the urinary bladder, associated with lower urinary tract symptoms of more than six weeks duration, with no infection or other clear causes.