Bladder Infection or Interstitial Cystitis?

By Kristi Patrice Carter

While interstitial cystitis is a fairly common medical condition, most people have never heard of interstitial cystitis until they or someone they know is diagnosed with this painful condition. In fact, many people falsely believe that the symptoms of their interstitial cystitis are the symptoms of a persistent bladder infection. Many doctors also make this mistake, which can lead to more pain and suffering that is simply not necessary.

A bladder infection is indicated by frequent and urgent urination, much like interstitial cystitis. Urination is also very painful in both medical conditions. People with both conditions may experience pain in the pelvic area. Another symptom that is common to both conditions is increased urination during the night. For these reasons, interstitial cystitis is often mistaken for a bladder infection.

Bladder infections can be easily treated with antibiotics. The condition is usually gone after three days of antibiotics. For more persistent bladder infections, your doctor may prescribe seven to ten days of antibiotics in order to complete remove the infection from your body. Some bladder infections will recur, especially if you do not completely finish the entire course of antibiotics. If your bladder infection does not go away after doing everything the doctor tells you to do, you will want to make an appointment with your doctor in order discuss the possibility of interstitial cystitis.

In order to properly diagnose interstitial cystitis, your doctor will need to conduct several tests. Your doctor will want to rule out several other conditions, such as bladder cancer, sexually transmitted diseases, and endometriosis. Once these conditions are ruled out, your doctor will then most likely start looking for a possible diagnosis of interstitial cystitis.

The first test conducted by your doctor will be a urine culture. The doctor will either collect your urine via a catheter or by using the "clean catch" method. The doctor or lab technician will then look at your urine under a microscope. If there are any germs present, they will indicate that you have either a urinary tract infection or a sexually transmitted disease.

The second test requires the doctor to use a cystoscope to look inside the bladder. This is in order to rule out cancer. It can also look at the walls of the bladder in order to see if the walls are inflamed or irritated. This procedure is usually performed as an out-patient procedure. After a day of rest, the patient can resume normal activity.

The final test is a biopsy. In this procedure, the doctor extracts a piece of the bladder and examines it. This is also done to rule out cancer.

After all of these tests, the doctor may diagnose interstitial cystitis. At this point, the doctor will discuss the various treatments options available to you. This will help you better manage your pain and alleviate your symptoms.