Assessing Chronic Pain Conditions in Patients With and Without Interstitial Cystitis

Interstitial cystitis (IC) is a chronic disorder with significant symptoms of urinary urgency, frequency and pelvic pain. IC is more prevalent in women than men. Similar to other chronic pain syndromes such such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and fibromyalgia, the cause of IC is not fully understood. Two subtypes of IC have been identified: classic IC (ulcerative IC) where visible ulcers exist in the bladder and non ulcerative IC, where bladder abnormalities are not apparent but significant bladder-related symptoms exist. We hypothesize that ulcerative IC is a disease of the bladder whereas non ulcerative IC is a more generalized and centrally-mediated chronic pain syndrome similar to IBS and fibromyalgia. To test this hypothesis, we will compare the presence of pain conditions/symptoms in ulcerative vs. non ulcerative IC women vs. community dwelling women (controls) without an IC diagnosis.