Interstitial Cystitis (IC) Support Group

Interstitial Cystitis (IC) is a urinary bladder disease of unknown cause characterised by pelvic and intense bladder pain, urinary frequency (as often as every 10 minutes), and pain with urination. It is not unusual for patients to experience nocturia and pain with sexual intercourse. IC is also known as painful bladder syndrome (PBS), particularly outside of the USA.

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Monkeymom3 06/02/2015

I was newly diagnosed with IC several months ago. Today I went to the gynecologist for an exam and Pap smear. I'm 45 years old. I have three kids and I've had many pelvic exams over the years. This was the first time I've ever had pain...severe pain with an exam. Moreover, the Pap smear caused some light bleeding which I never had before. Now I'm having lots of pelvic pain. Uggghhhh. Can anyone weigh in on this? Is this normal or should I be concerned?

Nina1959 06/03/2015

Did your Gyno say anything? Could you be having some dryness inside from perhaps being perimenopausal?
There are other things besides IC that could cause this.
I'd say call your Gyno and put some heat packs on your pelvic area to soothe.
Feel better!

remingtonsmom 06/03/2015

When I first started having bladder problems the doctors weren't really sure what was going on so I ended up having mulitible vaginal examinations and the pain was horrible everytime they did one. My Gyno did a pap test and you could here me in the waiting room I was in so much pain. He gave me a hormone cream to insert in my vagina and everytime I used it the pain was imbearable. Sex is out of the question for me as I am dealing with dryness from menopause and the IC. What you are experincing could be bladder spasms and there are meds for it that help

Nina1959 06/03/2015

I remember reading about something called vulvodynia....
I hope you can call your gyn to get to the core of what is going on, soon....

Monkeymom3 06/04/2015

Thank you for your responses. As of yet, I haven't had any dryness and he didn't mention this as an issue. So, I know that's not it...yet. I'm very concerned. I don't know what vulvodynia is, but I'll look it up. I was really hoping you guys would be like, "Oh yeah! That's totally normal for IC. No need to worry, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see. Hmmmmm????

Monkeymom3 06/29/2015

Pap test and ultrasound were normal. So still wondering if IC is the cause for pain.

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