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 would like to address how important it is to get dressed and make ourselves look good when we’re suffering from chronic illness. Especially when we’re suffering from chronic illness!
Why? Because when we look better, we tend to feel better!
Today I’d like to share Beth’s IC success story on how she managed to send interstitial cystitis into remission.
I found her story very inspirational and it shows once again that diet and lifestyle changes are a must when dealing with IC.
It also shows that finding the right doctor/therapist/caregiver and getting your loved ones on board is so important!
I hope this story will give you some inspiration to take the first steps improving this painful condition!
Bone broth played a big role in my recovery from interstitial cystitis. I consumed it everyday for 6 months and finally the pain started to ease. Although I don’t think it was just the bone broth, there are good reasons to believe that it can do a lot of good for interstitial cystitis sufferers.
In my last post I looked at the GAG layer in the bladder and how damage to it can cause problems for the bladder lining, a.k.a the bladder urothelium.
When the bladder urothelium gets damaged it can lose its integrity and become ‘leaky’ or ‘hyper-permeable’. Molecules that shouldn’t normally leave the bladder can get into the space (‘interstitium’ – hence interstitial cystitis) between the layers of the tissue and into the blood.
The so-called GAG layer plays an important role in protecting the bladder lining (epithelium) against anything that enters the bladder.
When this protective layer is disturbed, the sensitive bladder lining is exposed to irritation and attack. From this, sensitivity, pain and other problems can arise.
A damaged GAG layer has been established to play a big role in the pathogenesis of interstitial cystitis.
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!