I was diagnosed with this after a cystoscopy showed excessive mucus and inflammation of the urethra. I have been treated with periurethral injections of steroids and don't know anyone who's had this approach taken. Another urologist scared me by telling me this could be I.C. and sent me home with Elmiron. These symptoms are very similar to prostadynia in the male. The urethral syndrome were also divided into acute and chronic depending on there chronicity, but this terminology has been largely abandoned since the mid 80 s. The acute syndrome usually means an infectious etiology and antibiotics is the treatment of choice.
Most doctors work -up urgency and frequency in the female by the referenced algorithm.
Some urologist prefer cystoscopy in the OR with anesthesia, so that the bladder can be distended. This is a treatment for IC as well as a provocative test to see if small hemorrhages in the bladder wall can be produced under a specified pressure. Bladder instability can be treated by decreasing the amount of caffeine in your diet and with medicines that relax the bladder. The epidemographic data with regard to IC is as follows. With this in mind steroid injections decrease the local inflammatory reaction but may inhibit local tissue healing.