What, exactly, do bladder spasms feel like?

[izazen]

Are they stress related?
Are they intermittent?
Do they feel like a pinching sensation?
When are they worse - when sitting, standing or walking?
What do you recommend doing for them in terms of self help and not prescriptions such as exercises, Kegels, etc?

Thanks very much.

[GriffsMommy]

Lately I've been getting them after I void. They feel like my bladder is going crazy. It feels almost like my bladder is cramping. I don't really know how else to describe it. My pain meds kicked in so I'm not very good with words right now, lol. I find that a heating pad right over the bladder area is what helps me the most.

[Roxie2007]

HI!
When I have spasms mine feel like menstral cramping and a severe aching. They hurt worse after I've urinated and when I'm walking around, and if I sit on a backless chair. My husband bought a book called "Pain Erasure" by Bonnie Prudden. In her book she talks about trigger point therapy and shows where trigger points are. We found that my trigger pain points are near my tail bone and I have a one on each leg. So we bought a heating vibrator and my husband would use that on the spots in my lower back and legs for 30 min. and then we'd apply ice after that and then Biofreeze. We did this every night for several months and it has literally put an end to my spasms. If I feel a twinge that I think might be a spasm starting we start over for a week.
Also, I take Freeze dried Aloe Vera (not a prescription) to help rebuild the lining of my bladder and coat it. Roxie

[verdicries]

oh god...my bladder spasms (and they've kicked in again, ate a bit of green pepper grrrrrrrr) feel like cramping and period pains!!! i swear for awhile i thought i was getting my period even tho i'd just gotten over it! there seems to be no pattern either--sometimes they'll come AFTER i pee or before...sometimes worse before/after. i dunno what's worse, though...bladder spasms or urethral spasms (which are HORRIFIC).

hope this helps!

[ICNDonna]

I have always described mine as being like slightly misplaced menstrual cramps.

Donna

[Natalie41]

Mine are more like a throbbing sensation right above my pubic bone.

[izazen]

So the menstrual cramping/"pelvic pain" I've heard so much about (and experienced) is actually bladder spasms??? Very interesting!!!!

My PFD therapist said that when your bladder feels "hard" when you touch it - its in a spasm. Anyone ever notice this?

[sandymarie]

Hey ladies'
Before I start writing i want you to know that i can spell, just can't type, so figure it out if you can lol. My spasms are terrible. I am glad yours are like menstrual cramps. I know that sounds bad, but what I mean is mine are very hard lately and They feel like I am actually in labor just before delivery. I told my uro and he said that most did not get as horrible as mine. They would rate as the most a labor contraction gets. I had to get belledona and op. supp for mine and they have really helped, but there goes another pain narcotic. Maybe just a low dose would help yours. Also I was told that cammolile tea helps with spasms. My doc said I need to have my bledder removed and I refuse until I have exhausted all other alternatives, even pain meds. I don't want to tell this as tha gospel but I was told the DMSO instill did more damage to my bladder than they knew at the time I took them. They did give some relief when I was first dxg. and you all know you will do whatever to get relief and being new I thought they were great. I think some of the docs. are pulling back from them now days. If you can get any other kin of instills I wish youu would see about leaving out the DMSO> They told me you do not know it until later stages in ic. I have heard that the trigger point massages help. I haven't found out anything about them. I will try to get the book for myself. Hope this helps. I also have breakinnng into back pain when the spasms start. I went to the er back a while and was groaning like a mad woman and they gave me a shot. Only thing it coat a fortune to go to the er.

Hope all is well as can be. and I hope this helps. and pray noone ever gets them like mine.


J.J.

[RobinD]

My pain is very a sharp pain and low in the front (pelvic area) and I would describe mine as someone taking that area and wringing it and twisting it very tightly. My lower back almost always hurts too. I am worse at the end of the day usually. But I try to take pain meds at the 1st sign of pain to offset it getting worse.

Robin