How do you fix interstitial cystitis?
Whilst some lifestyle and home remedies such as wearing looser clothing can sometimes help to manage the symptoms of interstitial cystitis, for me, understanding the underlying root causes is key. This is why managing stress, tackling constipation or targeting underlying inflammation can often help to really fix the condition, once and for all.
How do you relieve interstitial cystitis?
Interstitial cystitis, otherwise known as 'painful bladder syndrome' is a little different from conventional cases of cystitis; the main difference being, with interstitial cystitis an infection is usually not thought to be at the root of the cause.
So, unlike traditional cystitis where bacteria (usually a type of E. coli, for example,) has worked its way into the urethra and is causing an infection, with interstitial cystitis there is often no infection found.
Now, because of this, the underlying cause is, in many cases, somewhat unknown or poorly understood, or there may even be a few different underlying factors.
So, as is often the case, this is why today I'm hoping to go through some of the potential underlying contributing factors, many of which have been found to be plausible causes as backed by research, but may still not be well known enough! Of course, by really looking at some of these underlying causes, we can then potentially hope to try and manage some of those symptoms.
1. Reduce stress
One of the first areas to consider looking at with cases of interstitial cystitis is stress. It's entirely possible that an underlying or lingering stress response could be related to and potentially be exacerbating some IC symptoms.
Interestingly, there are a number of ways that stress could be having an effect. First of all, stress, unfortunately, is quite inflammatory. It creates quite an inflammatory state in the body, and inflammation is thought to be one of the key underlying factors when it comes to interstitial cystitis. Stress can be inflammatory in a few ways. First of all, it can contribute to an imbalance in certain hormones.
Firstly, you've got cortisol, which is one of the primary stress hormones. But then cortisol, in excess, can cause an influx in other chemicals, such as histamine. Histamine is usually released by the immune system, and under certain circumstances can be helpful, but otherwise, when it isn't required, it can be quite inflammatory, and give rise to lots of unwanted redness and irritation.
So, sometimes visible skin rashes can be at the hand of histamine, for example, but it could also be the case that histamine is underlying and irritating other parts of our bodies, such as our bladder, in the case of interstitial cystitis.
Another interesting point with stress is that it can potentially hinder your digestion. I talk a lot about this when I'm writing about digestion and IBS, but stress does have quite a significant effect on your digestion, by depleting digestive function, with it having some particularly negative effects on the stomach.
See, it decreases levels of your stomach acid, but this can actually have a knock-on effect on the rest of the digestive system, often making things quite sluggish. When we don't have enough stomach acid, our bile flow can be affected. Then, it's sufficient levels of these key gastric secretions, such as your lovely strongly acidic stomach acid, plus bile from the gallbladder, which helps to stimulate peristalsis and the movement of waste through your gut.
Now, if you do suspect that stress could be underlying and could be a contributing factor in your case of interstitial cystitis, then it can make sense to tackle this head on.
Our Passiflora Complex tablets, for one, are nice to include. Obviously, with stress, as always, it can quite individual. Some factors might be outside your control.
However, for me, it's trying to incorporate anything that you do have control over. There are lots of lovely stress management techniques available, and by incorporating in a remedy such as Passiflora Complex tablets, and key, nervous system-supporting nutrients such as magnesium as well, you can help your body deal better with that stress, and improve your resilience.
2. Manage constipation
Next, let's talk more about how constipation could be linked to interstitial cystitis. So, we've talked about how stress could potentially be impacting your digestion, or a digestive issue could also be a separate issue for you, and not so associated with stress.
The stress link is important and relevant to many though, since stress can hamper stomach secretions; this means, as a knock-on effect, it can slow bile secretions and this can give rise to constipation in many cases.
Whether the constipation is related to stress or a separate issue, either way, this state of constipation is quite often thought to be associated with interstitial cystitis.
Being constipated - having quite a full, slow-moving gut full of waste - can unsurprisingly create quite an inflammatory state, and in terms of geography and structural considerations, your gut or your large intestine is very close to your womb and your urinary tract. It's all quite close proximity, so that inflammation could potentially be an underlying factor and be connected.
Then, in cases of interstitial cystitis and cystitis more generally, you've also got your gut bacteria to consider. Now, although interstitial cystitis technically isn't an infective form, your gut bacteria is still crucial for managing general inflammatory processes in the body.
So, what can you do for constipation? Keeping hydrated is one of the number one tips. Sufficient water intake is going to be very helpful for reducing irritation and inflammation in your bladder and urinary tract, but also for warding off constipation and helping to keep things moving along as much as possible.
There are dietary ingredients you can include as well, such as linseeds, lots of dietary fibre in the form of fruit and vegetables, or our Linoforce granules 12 years plus may also be appropriate.
Linoforce is a traditional herbal medicinal product use for the short-term relief of constipation. It contains linseeds, together with some herbal ingredients including senna and frangula, which are all known for their laxative effect. Please note, Linoforce is now only available in pharmacies and is indicated for short-term use.
3. Target inflammation
I've mentioned that inflammation is often thought to be an underlying driving factor in cases of interstitial cystitis. And interestingly, this is often reflected in some of the conventional treatments for interstitial cystitis as well.
Quite often anti-inflammatory medications are given as part of the management protocol, for example. So, you might want to ask yourself, what could you do from home in terms of managing that inflammation?
Interestingly, for me, it's not always about cutting out or limiting certain foods or food groups. It's also looking at the benefits, the positives, and thinking what could you add in to help counter inflammation? What are some lovely anti-inflammatory ingredients?
So, firstly, back to some of the obvious pro-inflammatory ingredients that you could perhaps limit...smoking is a big one. There's lots of research on smoking and interstitial cystitis, so that is definitely one to limit if it is still relevant to you.
Then, some other more day-to-day ingredients that maybe a larger proportion of us would be having, would include caffeine, refined sugars and refined vegetable oils too; these are pro-inflammatory in the body. So, especially if you've got symptoms of a sensitive bladder, it would be worth experimenting with limiting some of these ingredients.
As I move on, I want to point out that caffeine is also a diuretic; this means it causes you to lose water, but at the same time you also risking losing key nutrients, such as magnesium.
Magnesium is really, really important for a whole array of positives relating to interstitial cystitis. Firstly, in terms of your blood sugar regulation. (1) Blood sugar regulation and insulin sensitivity are also major driving factors of inflammation in the body, and every little you can do to support that is also going to help in terms of the bigger picture. Magnesium is also important for managing pain sensitivity. (2)
Next, vitamin D, when present in suitable amounts, is considered an anti-inflammatory. But again, unfortunately, one nutrient many of us risk being deficient in.
And then you've got omega-3s as well. This is another lovely anti-inflammatory ingredient which you could add in through your diet with the regular consumption of oily fish, for example, or certain nuts and seeds as well.
And then beyond the dietary components, you could add a supplement in. So, good quality fish oil or flaxseed oil would be the best vegan alternative to this.
The other point I had here is to consider hormone imbalance. When I mentioned insulin, for example; excess insulin, and when you're not responding to it well (insulin resistance), this is a very inflammatory state.
But actually, other hormone imbalances can also be considered inflammatory. So, oestrogen dominance, for example. Oestrogen dominance is quite often a factor in cases of PMS, endometriosis or perimenopause (the initial stages of menopause), in particular.
Then, we have the other side: low oestrogen.
Now, this state could simply crop up the week before your period is due, which to some degree is normal; this tends to be a short-term state as your hormones drop off to give you your period.
Then in menopause, when low oestrogen is becoming more problematic longer-term and these fluctuations in oestrogen are becoming more apparent, this could be considered quite inflammatory and it can risk driving other symptoms such as constipation, as we've covered above.
So, actually, there could be two sides to the story there: the hormones and the constipation. So again, just trying to consider your body as a whole: identify where any underlying inflammation could be lurking, and what we could do about it.
Whilst diet is a good place to start, for more general management of inflammation, Devil's Claw can be a nice option, and may be a nice alternative to some anti-inflammatory medications, where appropriate.
Another group of medications that are often recommended in an attempt to manage the symptoms of interstitial cystitis are antihistamines. So, technically these will be working to help tackle that histamine reaction that I'd mentioned earlier, that can sometimes be triggered through the stress response.
So, something naturally antihistamine can include a source of nettles, or vitamin C is also thought to be gently antihistamine. So, these are all just some options and alternatives to some of the conventional treatments used in cases of interstitial cystitis.
4. Move more
My last point is to consider moving more. Again, it can be quite individual in what factors you feel could be contributing to the interstitial cystitis, but certainly, quite a sedentary lifestyle potentially could be adding to the inflammation; plus, making your circulation a bit more sluggish.
If your circulation is a bit stagnant then you're not going to be taking key nutrients to where they need to be as quick, and toxins and more pro-inflammatory ingredients will be cleared much more slowly.
On the plus side, moving more, (literally, every little helps) is going to be good for managing stress, which is good news for your digestion (as well as physically massaging your bowel into action which can also do wonders!).
Then, in terms of herbs, the herb ginkgo biloba is quite often helpful if you feel that your circulation could do with a little bit of attention.
Just to finish up, obviously beyond all of these tips, if you feel that your symptoms still aren't improving, then it would be down to the doctor to investigate further in order to try to identify any other true, underlying causes.
In some cases, autoimmunity would need to be ruled out, or some physical therapies might be recommended or required.
