Myths and Facts

IC /BPS is due to infection of the urinary tract
IC/BPS is not a condition that can be categorized as an infection. In fact many people have tried using antibiotics, but this doesn’t work in patients of IC/BPS. It is advisable that you should not be taking antibiotics empirically.

IC/BPS can be transmitted to children
This disease is not genetically transmissible. However there may be more than one person in a family suffering from this disease, which may be due to common environmental factors or dietary habits.

IC/BPS can be transmitted to spouse
This is not possible as IC/BPS is not a sexually transmitted disease.

IC/BPS is a disease which can’t be cured
This is true to some extent. The disease may go into remission with change in lifestyle including diet and appropriate medication. How ever one can’t claim that it can be cured for life.

Patients suffering from IC/BPS should not be indulging in sex
Patients can have sexual activity as long as they don’t have pain. In acute flare, the condition is very painful and therefore these patients would be sacred of indulging in sexual activity because of fear of pain. However if the disease goes into remission and there is no pain, then these patients may indulge in sexual activity.

IC / BPS is a disease that affects psychologically weak patients
This is not true. Patients suffering from IC/ BPS actually feel so miserable because they do not get proper medical care. In addition, the near and dear ones also start believing that these patients are imagining their symptoms. This results in loss of trust between the patient and the family resulting in the patient feeling frustrated and depressed.

IC/ BPS patients have an attention seeking behavior
IC/ BPS patients are really suffering from their painful disease so much that they might feel withdrawn or would refuse to go for outdoor trips, picnics, shopping etc. Therefore they may be misunderstood when asked to accompany out door trips.