Interstitial Cystitis and Candida

If you have bladder pain, but no urinary infection, then you might have interstitial cystitis. Interstitial cystitis is also known as Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome, CPPS. There is no infection, yet there is a very sensitive, inflamed lining of the bladder. Often there is abdominal pain. This condition occurs more frequently in women than men. (The “yeast syndrome” and irritable bowel also occurs much more frequently in women.) Many times men feel pain in the prostrate, but the pain is actually emanating from the bladder.

Many people have noticed that their interstitial cystitis starts to clear up when they improve their intestinal flora. It could be the change in the immune system, or nutritional status, or it could be a reduction in the amount of toxic material dumped into the urine. The reason is not known. Interstitial cystitis appears to be a local manifestation of a whole body problem. Women with interstitial cystitis were found to have a greater number of other symptoms than controls. They were more likely to have headaches, dizziness, chest pain, aches in joints, heart pounding, backache, abdominal cramps, nausea, or other pelvic discomfort. Even though there is no urinary bacterial infection, antibiotics have often cleared up the pain and frequent voiding in women. (This might be due to a mycoplasma infection.) All of this suggests that there may be an infection elsewhere in the body that is contributing to the interstitial cystitis.

If you have bladder pain, as an added precaution, ask your doctor to rule out a urinary fungal infection. Most doctors only run a routine test for urinary bacterial infections. The urine must be cultured on a different medium to detect a urinary fungal infection.

References

1.    Potts JM, Ward AM, Rackley RR, “Association of chronic urinary symptoms in women and ureaplasma urealyticum. Urology 2000, 55: 486-489 (A mycoplasma was found in the vaginal specimens of half the women with chronic voiding and pain. 90% of these women improved with antibiotics. All had negative cultures after treatment.)

2.    Keay S, Kleinberg M, Zhang CO, Hise MK, Warren JW. “Bladder epithelial cells from patients with interstitial cystitis produce an inhibitor of heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor production.” J Urol 2000 Dec;164(6):2112-8 (This heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like production was reduced both in urine and serum, suggesting a systemic problem.)

3.    Erickson DR, Morgan KC, Ordille S, Keay SK, Xie SX “Nonbladder related symptoms in patients with interstitial cystitis.” J Urol 2001 Aug;166(2):557-61; discussion 561-2