Painful Bladder Syndrome Symptoms
If you've heard of Painful Bladder Syndrome or are experiencing pain in the bladder region while you urinate or after you urinate, this blog post is for you.
What Is Painful Bladder Syndrome?
Painful bladder syndrome can also be known as Interstitial Cystitis or IC for short.
It is characterized by pain in the bladder either with bladder filling, emptying, or both.
Common Symptoms of Painful Bladder Syndrome
Many symptoms overlap with other diagnoses and conditions, so there is no set list that will indicate whether you do or do not have Painful Bladder Syndrome.
Here are some of the symptoms that our patients have reported and that are known to be common with Painful Bladder Syndrome:
Urinary urgency
Urinary frequency
Pain in the lower belly and/or abdomen with bladder filling
Pain in the lower belly and/or abdomen after bladder emptying
Difficulty delaying the urge to pee due to pain
Low volume of peeing due to pain
It can also be accompanied by:
Endometriosis
Pain with sex
Constipation
Hip pain, back pain, pain in the genitals
What Triggers Painful Bladder Syndrome
There are many triggers for painful bladder syndrome, and it is person-to-person specific.
Pelvic floor tension/tightness is one of the most common causes, and we need to figure out whether it is actually a bladder problem or referred pain from the pelvic floor muscles.
We do this in pelvic floor therapy.
And it's an important distinction because if you're not treating the correct thing, then the problem will continue to be present, and symptoms will continue to be present!
Some patients can have food and drink triggers such as acidic foods, carbonated beverages, caffeine, and other bladder irritants and some patients have no dietary triggers at all.
Fascial restrictions associated with endometriosis and scar tissue from abdominal surgeries could also trigger painful bladder syndrome as well as lower estrogen states, such as those that are associated with hormonal birth control, and perimenopause.
How Painful Bladder Syndrome Is Diagnosed
This is something that is variable.
Typically, we want to rule out Hunner’s lesions, which are spots of irritation in the bladder. Hunner’s lesions are only present in about 10% of IC/PBS cases.
This is done through cystoscopy.
In most patients, especially those without Hunner’s lesions, interstitial cystitis/PBS is a diagnosis of exclusion, meaning that all other causes of the pain in the bladder (such as cancer) have been ruled out.
Treatment Options for Painful Bladder Syndrome
Pelvic floor PT is the gold standard for treatment of IC/PBS. It is the only recommendation that has a grade A (or the highest recommendation) from the American Urological Association.
Other things that may help include bladder instillations and medications such as amitriptyline; but the evidence is limited, and response is variable person to person.
Things that are not effective are pelvic floor strengthening exercises like Kegels. This can make pelvic floor tension and thus symptoms of IC worse and are not recommended.
How Pelvic Floor PT Can Help
in our opinion, we believe that pelvic floor PT should be an essential component of the assessment or diagnosis of painful bladder syndrome and treatment of painful bladder syndrome.
Good pelvic floor PT consists of pelvic floor relaxation, nervous system downtraining, manual therapy to the pelvic floor and abdominal wall, and movement that helps to decrease the tension and thus pain around the bladder.
And since pelvic floor muscle tension is prevalent in painful bladder syndrome/Interstitial Cystitis, it should be addressed, as pelvic floor muscle tension makes symptoms of PBS/IC worse.
Where to Find Pelvic Floor PT in Bucks County for Painful Bladder Syndrome and Interstitial Cystitis Treatment
We at Vivid believe that everyone should come to pelvic floor PT if they are experiencing painful bladder syndrome for specific, holistic, and whole-body treatment.
If you’re local to Doylestown or Newtown, PA, we’d love to help you decrease and eliminate symptoms from Interstitial Cystitis. Our pelvic floor therapy sessions are perfect for determining exactly what YOU need based on your symptoms and presentation.
We proudly put our patients first by offering one-on-one appointments for a full hour. You will have time to be heard and we will take time to listen to your whole story.
You won’t be passed between different professionals, and we will work to get you a holistic solution to your pelvic health concerns.
We choose to participate in a private pay model so that we can focus on putting patients first.
We’d love to work with you. Feel free to schedule online or reach out to us if you have questions before getting started.
