Does hydrodistention help urethra pain?

[born2swim]

Does hydrodistention help urethra pain? My major problem is urethra pain... so I wonder if that will even do anything (which my uro doesn't think it will help... but he also said to seeing an IC specialist wouldn't hurt).

Thanks for all your help! I know I keep putting up questions and stuff, but I don't know what to do!

[ICLori]

Hi, born2swim, that's an interesting question! You know, I always feel the pain is in my urethra - but amazingly enough, during cystoscopies, my urethra is as healthy as it could possibly be, but the trigone (base) of my bladder is incredibly inflammed and ulcerated. I asked my doctor about that, and he said the reason I feel it as urethral pain is because of referred pain. I don't really understand much about that, but basically when it comes to the visceral organs, you can be hurting in one spot (say, your heart) and it feels like the pain is coming from another spot (like your shoulder or jaw, in a heart attack.)

So if your urethral pain is like mine is, and it's referred pain, there is certainly a chance a hydrodistention could help you. They give me pain relief - doesn't last long enough, but I do get pain relief.

I agree with your uro that seeing an IC specialist wouldn't hurt! Best of luck to you!

Blessings,
Lori

[born2swim]

Hey thanks for your response! My cysto was unbearably painful for my urethra... the numbing gel (sitting in the urethra) was horrible! I did have some inflammation in the trigone area too (but no ulcerations and my uro said the inflammation was so minor that normal bladders look like that or ever worse).

You do bring up an interesting point though. I'll see if my gyno knows any IC specialists in town. He knows quite a bit about IC, but on the pelvic exam he sort of thought I didn't have it because palpating the urethra was painful and not the bladder. I just don't know about this stuff. I'll see about the specialist though. Maybe I'm not as atypical as my urologist feels I am! LOL!

Thanks again!