inflammation or IC?

Hallo, Im a 25 year old female who has been diagnosed with IC after a cystoscopy with hydrodistention which showed glomerulations and bleeding.I have a history of only one UTI six years ago and other than that nothing... I had a completely healthy bladder until about a year ago when I was travelling and didnt go to the toilet, although I badly wanted too. I always used to do that since I was very young...I always held my urine in, because I was afraid of catching a UTI if I went to a public restroom. Now I dont know what happened. I sure know this time I held my urine for the longest time ever. Since then, I have pain in the bladder, frequency, urgency and nocturia.. The urine tests are negative for bacteria, no blood in the urine, nothing. No doctor could be able to help me, they just treated me for OAB with no response..

2 months ago I went to see a doctor with knowledge on IC and so we did the cystoscopy. The histologic examination showed no mast cells and a low grade chronic inflammation.. After the cystoscopy with hydrodistention I was soooooo much worse for 2 weeks. Then the doctor told me to take Atarax, but I didnt want to accept the fact that I had IC, so I went to another doctor who prescribed me the medication CELEBREX (1 per day for 10 days), because he said it would help with the inflammation in the bladder. Then out of the blue I was doing great !!! Every symptom disappeared and its been 40 days now and Im doing just great.... I feel healthy...!!! I dont know if it was the CELEBREX or the hydrodistention that helped but I was back at normal..

I just dont wanna accept the fact that I have IC and Im living with the fear the symptoms will appear again... What I wanted to ask is this: is it possible that my bladder just got inflammated due to the overdistention (my holding my urine in) and that this is not IC? Im hoping it is just an inflammation and not IC, but I dont know how any doctor can know for sure, in order for me to get a proper treatment..

[David A Burks, MD]

Hi,  There are two issues here-  what triggered your symptoms and what made them better. It is true that prolonged retention of urine has been shown to be a possible trigger of IC.  The bladder suffers a hyperdistention injury, resulting in damage to the bladder nerves and/or lining that triggers the problem.  Other causes of bladder injury include a bad urinary tract infection, bladder surgery, hysterectomy and childbirth.  The exact mechanism of how IC is triggered is unclear. It is also true that bladder IC symptoms initially get worse after hydrodistention, then get dramatically better in a week or two in about 70% of patients.  I suspect it was the hydrodistention, not the celebrex that caused the improvement.  Unfortunately, for most patients the symptoms usually return within 6 months, with a few lucky patients sumptom free for up to a year. I would still be careful with your diet, avoiding caffeine, acidic fruits and other bladder irritants.   Good Luck    

[keira25]

(In the past 40 days I also ate all the spicy food one can possibly imagine and still no reappearance of any pain or frequency..)