How to Relieve Bladder Pain

Video transcription

Hi guys, this Dr. Sean Hashmi with Kaiser Permanente. I'm a Practicing Nephrologist in Woodland Hills, California. So today, I thought I'd talk to you guys about painful bladder and how do you relieve bladder pain specifically. So, here's a thing about bladder pain; in order to answer a question that's so complicated, we have to start off with the anatomy a little bit. So, let's start off from the outside and work our way backwards a little bit. So, first question is, "What are the sources of bladder pain to begin with?" So, the most common sources can start from the outside; so you can have problems with the urethra which is the opening going on. So, there' can be structures there; there can be irritation there. You can have urinary tract infections occurring in that area including the bladder or even extending all the way up to the kidney. So these are some common sources; other things can include things such as cancers, so you have to look for those things; kidney stones and last but not least syndrome that's more of an explosion syndrome which is called painful bladder syndrome. So, when we talk about treatment, we have to address each one of these. So, if you're talking about kidney stones going on, common treatments include making sure you're getting adequate hydration going on; making sure that we are checking to see what the stone composition is so we can treat it appropriately. If you're talking about a urinary tract infection, oftentimes, your doctors may give you things like antibiotics. They may prescribe things like cranberry juice which is over the counter; drinking a little bit everyday can help prevent some of that bacteria from sticking to the walls. But if we can find a source for it and if you find that every single time your bladder starts to fill up, just starting to have pain, then that can be a sign of painful bladder syndrome. Like I said, this is more of a diagnosis of explosion. So what does that really mean? Well, painful bladder syndrome is very tough to diagnose; it's also very tough to treat. There's a lot of triggers that can be associated with it. A common thing is certain foods; in some people, coffee or caffeine can be associated with it, alcohol can do it; foods such as high in potassium, foods like strawberries can certainly do it. So, avoiding these types of foods can actually help relieve that. Some people find that voiding more frequently; so, having to go to the bathroom a lot can actually help out your symptoms too. Oftentimes it's because as the bladder fills up, that is what causes pain. So, common ways to alleviate pain is hydrate yourself. This will prevent infections. Another easy thing to do is avoid foods that you find trigger your abdominal pain. That can help too. If you have a history of kidney stone, see your doctor so we can check for that and help you out with that. Sometimes your doctor may prescribe medicines such as a Tricylic Antidepressant to help in situation where they think this is painful bladder syndrome. Sometimes they may even refer you to physical therapy to help with strengthening muscles in that area which can also help in terms of bladder pain. Once again, this is Dr. Sean Hashmi with Kaiser Permanente and thank you very much. Today's topic was how to relieve bladder pain.