Both emotional and physiological stressors seem to trigger flares of interstitial cystitis in some patients. For me that was certainly the case. Therefore, I’d like to have a look at why stress can trigger interstitial cystitis flares.
Stress may be one of the biggest culprits of modern life when it comes to triggering chronic illness. The problem seems to be that there is an evolutionary mismatch between the body’s stress response and what we perceive as being stressful.
Mast cells have long been reported to be raised in patients suffering from interstitial cystitis. Mast cells are a type of cell that are usually associated with allergies. Today I’m going to take a look at the relationship between interstitial cystitis and mast cells.
There is new(ish) evidence emerging that recurrent UTIs, also known as chronic cystitis, are not always caused by a reinfection with a new pathogen but rather can be a relapse of the same pathogen.
It turns out that pathogenic bacteria have the ability to invade the cells of the bladder and live there in a dormant sleep-like state.
This is called an ‘intracellular bacterial community’.
In this state, the bacteria remain undetected by standard urine testing and unaffected by antibiotic treatment. They also remain undetected by our own immune system.
Now and again they can leave the cells, causing a relapse of the urinary tract infection.
For anyone who has read my own story, you may remember that repeated courses of antibiotics for chronic UTIs kicked off my interstitial cystitis a few years ago. Can antibiotics cause interstitial cystitis and chronic UTIs? For me, they have definitely played a big role.
This question has been at the back of my mind for a while and today I would like to take a look at some of the scientific evidence to answer this question.
Today I’d like to share Kathleen and Roy’s story about how they beat interstitial cystitis. I found this story very moving and inspirational – it shows once again that interstitial cystitis can be overcome.
The cause of interstitial cystitis may be different for each of us and the only way to overcome this debilitating condition is to keep searching for that root cause.
Together with her husband Roy, Kathleen finally found the root cause of her interstitial cystitis and this empowered her to overcome this condition.
This story is an account of Kathleen’s journey with interstitial cystitis, written by her husband Roy.
I hope this story will be an inspiration for you to keep searching for answers… Healing is possible!
In this post I’d like to get a bit more personal rather than practical. I would like to talk about how I healed from interstitial cystitis.
Contrary to common belief, I have experienced on myself that it is possible to recover from this condition. I believe that this is possible for each of us but that the journey might be a different one.
Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) is a standardized meditation program that has been developed by Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center for patients suffering from chronic pain.
A recent study published in the International Urogynecological Journal found that MBSR could be a promising complimentary therapy for interstitial cystitis (IC) sufferers.
Interstitial cystitis is a functional disorder and as such may have different causes. But most chronic orders are linked to diet and lifestyle to some degree.
Our bodies need the right building blocks to carry out repair and maintenance functions. These building blocks are nutrients, found in natural foods.
Interstitial cystitis (IC) is also known as Painful Bladder Syndrome (PBS), Irritable Bladder Syndrome or Bladder Pain Syndrome (BPS).
Interstitial cystitis is a conditions affecting the space between the bladder lining and the bladder muscle (interstitial meaning ‘between the layers’ and cystitis, in this sense, meaning ‘of the bladder’).
In general terms, it is a chronic inflammation of the bladder wall. It can resemble a bacterial bladder infection (cystitis) but typically symptoms are always present and don’t respond to antibiotics.
There is an estimated 400.000 people living with this condition in the UK alone, of which 90% are females and 10% are males [1, 2, 3].