Bladder Pain Syndrome (Interstitial Cystitis): When Antibiotics Never Help

শেষ আপডেট: আগস্ট 15, 2026

• ওয়ার্ডপ্রেস
• লিঙ্কডইন
• মেইল

A large number of the women who come to my clinic with bladder pain arrive after months of going from clinic to clinic. The pattern is almost always the same: a bladder infection is suspected, antibiotics are prescribed, the course finishes, and nothing improves. Then it happens again. When that cycle keeps repeating, one condition deserves serious consideration — মূত্রাশয় ব্যথা সিন্ড্রোম, also known as interstitial cystitis.

If that describes your experience, the most useful thing to know straight away is this: the antibiotics were not failing because the dose was wrong or the bacteria were resistant. They were failing because there is no infection to treat.

Bladder pain syndrome (BPS) is a chronic painful bladder condition reported to affect at least 2.7% of women in the US. It has a long-lasting effect on quality of life and, because of the repeated consultations and treatments, a considerable financial cost too. It occurs in men as well, where it is frequently mistaken for chronic prostatitis, so the description below is not exclusively a women’s condition.

How the diagnosis is made

BPS is suspected when the following criteria are met (American Urological Association):

1. An unpleasant sensation — pain, pressure or discomfort — perceived as coming from the bladder
2. Frequent urination, or an urgent need to pass urine
3. Symptoms persisting for more than 6 weeks
4. No infection or other identifiable cause

There is no single definitive test, so the diagnosis rests on the clinical picture and on excluding other conditions. That exclusion matters: anyone suspected of BPS should be investigated to make sure nothing else is hiding behind the symptoms, infection and bladder cancer in particular. Blood in the urine is not a feature of bladder pain syndrome — if it appears, it needs investigating in its own right rather than being attributed to the syndrome. Cystoscopy is optional rather than mandatory; it adds confidence if it reveals the characteristic Hunner’s lesions, but their absence does not rule BPS out, and a trial of treatment is reasonable either way.

Why it happens

Several theories exist, and the honest answer is that the cause is not fully understood. Two explanations carry most of the weight:

1. The protective outer layer of the bladder lining is disrupted, letting chemicals in the urine reach the deeper layer, which is dense with nerve endings — producing pain from something the bladder would normally tolerate without complaint.
2. Repeated urinary tract infections set off inflammatory pathways in the bladder lining that persist as abnormal chronic sensation long after the infection itself has cleared.

Treatment: start gently, step up if needed

Management begins conservatively and becomes more interventional only if the response is not good enough.

1. Behavioural change and dietary adjustment — keeping track of which foods and drinks reliably worsen your symptoms is genuinely useful, because the triggers differ between individuals.
2. Pelvic floor physiotherapy
3. Stress reduction — stress does not cause BPS, but it reliably amplifies the symptoms
4. Oral medication — reported success rates of up to 77%
5. Intravesical therapy, where medication is instilled directly into the bladder — reported success rates of up to 93%
6. Sacral neuromodulation — reserved for cases that do not respond to the above, given its cost and invasiveness

Those success figures come from published series of selected patients rather than from a guarantee, and the higher ones sit at the far end of the reported range. They are a reason for optimism about the stepwise approach, not a promise about any individual.

At Bangkok Hospital Headquarters I manage bladder pain syndrome through the conservative and medical steps above, and I perform intravesical instillation therapy myself — so the full pathway from assessment through to bladder instillation is available in one place. Sacral neuromodulation is not performed at BHQ; if your case reaches that point, a referral to a centre that provides it can be arranged.

Most patients improve with treatment. What has to be said honestly is that symptoms commonly relapse, so this is a condition to be managed over time rather than cured once. Knowing that in advance changes the experience completely: a flare after months of doing well is a normal feature of the condition, not evidence that the treatment has failed or that something was missed.

If you have been suffering from chronic bladder pain, frequent urination, or recurrent UTI-like symptoms that don’t respond to antibiotics, Dr. Soarawee Weerasopone offers specialist consultations at Bangkok Hospital Headquarters. পরামর্শ বুক করুন. Appointments at Samitivej Sriracha Hospital can be arranged by calling the Urology department on 088-022-1445.

Frequently Asked Questions about Bladder Pain Syndrome

দাবি পরিত্যাগ This content is written and reviewed by Dr. Soarawee Weerasopone, a board-certified urologist at Bangkok Hospital Headquarters. It is intended for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. No medical advice, diagnosis or prescription is provided through personal messaging channels. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before starting any medical treatment.