How should we treat pelvic floor dysfunction? Should everyone get physical therapy? What if they don’t respond well to physical therapy? What other treatment options are available. New clinical guidelines for the treatment of pelvic floor dysfunction were released in the Spring of 2024. Developed by eleven women’s health specialists, this first of [...]
Clinging To Old Treatments For IC/BPS Could Hold You Back If you had been diagnosed with IC/BPS forty years ago, odds are you would have been prescribed antibiotics, given urethral dilations and/or referred to a psychiatrist under the mistaken assumption that IC was all in your heads. Twenty years ago, that same patient might have [...]
If you love getting a manicure or pedicure, a recent announcement by the Environmental Working Group will make you rethink the brands you might be using. Polishes by Sally Hansen, Essie, OPI, Revlon, Wet N Wild, Spa Ritual, Orly, theBalm, Nuance, Maybelline and Beauty without Cruelty contain a chemical called triphenyl phosphate (TPHP), known for its endocrine-disrupting [...]
How You Can Help Barbara Flanigan and Her Search For the Cause of IC (Editors Note – I’ve wanted to share Barbara Flanigan’s story and theory about IC for many years. Barbara was the founder the first Interstitial Cystitis Association here in California in 1983. She has always had one key goal in her volunteer work, [...]
(Winter 2015) For some women, it's a breeze and barely noticeable. For others, perimenopause and menopause is a time of crazy mood swings, hot flashes and, to our great frustration, new episodes of leakage. Whether you're going through the change naturally, chemically or through a total hysterectomy, the loss of estrogen can have a profound [...]
Some patients have had inappropriate hysterectomies only to discover, after the fact, that their pelvic pain was originating from their bladder. IC patient Angela Burch won a $2,000,000 federal medical malpractice settlement in Florida when her ob-gyn needlessly removed her healthy uterus even after the urologist reported that she had interstitial cystitis. This is not [...]
The use of vaginal mesh during pelvic reconstruction surgeries, such as for the repair of pelvic organic prolapse, is now very controversial due to a number of serious adverse events. The US FDA has issued several warnings about the use of mesh and complications which can occur, such as the erosion of the vaginal wall. [...]
