Page 82 - Urological Health

What to do if your doctor says you have

interstitial cystitis

Dr. R. B. Egerdie
Urologist
Adjunct Professor of Urology, Western University, London, ON, Canada

First things first — what is the bladder?

Your bladder stores urine, produced by your kidneys, until you decide the time is right to empty it.
Think of your bladder as a muscular balloon, or sac that gradually stretches as it fills.The muscular part
comes into play when you go to the bathroom and want to completely empty your bladder. The sac is
lined on the inside with a special layer of cells that prevent your urine from penetrating the bladder
walls. In addition to the lining cells, there are nerves, blood vessels and connective tissue (layers of cells
that support the structure of the bladder) that make up the bladder wall to make it thick.
You may be surprised to learn that the bladder is located much lower than it feels. The bladder is
behind and below the pubic bone (the bone you can feel at the front of your body at the lowest part
of your belly).
UNDER REVIEW Bladder

Kidney

Ureter

Bladder
Urethra

What is interstitial cystitis?

Interstitial cystitis (or IC) is a chronic, non-life threatening condition of the bladder. When you have
IC, you tend to go to the bathroom a lot during the day and night and also have pain in your bladder.
We don’t know very much about IC. It can be called different names.

The other names of IC

• Painful bladder syndrome
• Detrusor mastocytosis
• Urethral syndrome
• Urethritis
• Chronic pelvic pain syndrome

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