Bladder discomfort facts

What is bladder discomfort

Pain or a burning sensation in the bladder are referred to as bladder discomfort. One should be aware that bladder discomfort is not a disease, but a symptom, which is often not distinguished from bladder pain. Bladder discomfort can be a common symptom for a number of diseases, which can be anything from urinary tract infections, which are relatively harmless if they do not get out of hand, or serious and life threatening conditions such as bladder cancer.

Causes

Bladderinfection is the usual cause of bladder discomfort, and the usual cause of bladder infection is the bacteria Escherichia coli. This bacteria enters the organism from the outside, typically during the sexual intercourse, travels up the urethra and eventually reaches the bladder, where, if it begins to propagate in large numbers, it causes bladder discomfort and bladder infections.

Pregnancy is a period when women frequently complain about bladder discomfort. Cause of this is the enlarged uterus, full of during pregnancy is a common complain. This is because the uterus is gradually filling with amniotic fluid and the growing fetus, and exerts more and more pressure on the bladder, leaving less and less space for it to expand. Bladder is therefor unable to hold any significant amount of urine at any given time and women have to urinate frequently.

Distendedbladder is a condition where the person is unable to urinate although the bladder of the said person is filled to capacity. Pain and discomfort arise from the overstretched bladder walls. There are various causes for inability to urinate, such as, obstruction of urethra by descended kidney stones, some sort of neurogenic disorder, sphincter malfunction (inability of muscle that seals off urethra to relax at will), side effects of treatment by some medicines, or psychogenic causes.

Interstitialcystitis is a condition where, for some reason (infection or some autoimmune diseases), the bladder and the inner bladder lining are inflamed. Painful and frequent bladder spasms are common in this condition. These also lead to frequent urge to empty the bladder, lowered bladder capacity and difficulty in retention of urine in the bladder - urinary incontinence.

Kidneyinfection is frequently misdiagnosed as bladder infection when a patient complains of bladder discomfort. Obstruction of the ureters, and, thus, flow of urine into the bladder, by kidney stones also causes bladder discomfort. X-ray scan is the best way to determine if kidney stones are causing the problem.

Symptoms

Symptomsinclude changed color of urine, painful urination followed with irritation and itchiness, and urinary incontinence. These symptoms can be so harsh that the affected person might even try and avoidurination.

Treatment

Thetreatment depends on the underlying cause of discomfort. Treatment will be planned only after a series of tests which will help the doctor to determine the diagnosis, that is, the true cause of discomfort.