Sexual Abuse

[AngelEyes]

Is there any connection (mentally or physically) between IC and sexual child abuse? I was abused as a child and have often wondered if that triggered off IC as a child.

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[ICNLesa]

Angeleyes,

There is no evidence or indication that sexual abuse causes IC. I believe, however, that the trauma of abuse can have a long-lasting effect...(emotionally and physically) and may heighten or contribute to the level of your symptoms. It may be more difficult for an abuse survivor to endure the uncomfortable and very 'personal' nature of urologist or gyn exams as well (in turn causing muscle tightness and added discomfort).

Your question is a good one, Angel! I am sending you healing wishes.

ICNLesa

[ldwall]

I was also abused as a child and I have had IC my whole life. I have never believed it to be realted to the abuse. However; I am sure that it plays a major role in my level of comfort discussing it and dealing with the exams and personal nature of things. (I am so uptight about those things that now that I have had a hysterectomy instead of being happy about being out of pain I am happiest that I don't have to have gyn exams very often anymore, let alone all the rest of that crap).

I developed IC, I believe, when I was an infant. I was potty trained early because of my symptoms which made diapers horribly painful for me. I believe IC is genetic, not in a sense that it will be passed on, but that it is a genetic mutation that causes our bodies to attack our urine which causes the IC related problems. There is reasearch out there that supports this (you can find them in the research article section of the handbook.....ones about IC urine being different from normal urine).

I would not convince myself that your IC is because of your abuse. Mostly because that would put a burden on you to deal with that you don't need. We just DON'T know where IC comes from and fretting that someone did this to you, or that you did this to yourself only makes it harder for you to deal with the disease.

I hope I have helped. Lisa

[AngelEyes]

Lisa,
I was wondering if it may be / have been a trigger for IC. I know that as a little kid I always suffered from cystitis and my mom always had me at the doc (I am 27). He told my mom it was because we lived in wet swimming costumes and this caused cystitis. I am totally paranoid about my little girl of 4 getting IC and it definitely has terrible side effects. I was diagnosed 3 years ago after much abuse and neglect from the medical community as a whole. I still blame them in a lot of ways and feel that if they were interested in keeping their oath they would had researched my problem when I was a child never mind putting me through years of mistrust, tests, etc etc. I truly believe that if they caught it in time I would not be as bad as I am today!

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[kkurtz]

Last night I was reading the IC Survival Guide and when I got to the "related medical problems" of pelvic floor dysfunction and painful intercourse I felt a stab of lightning insight about my own sexual abuse. I thought the connection made sense because of muscle tightning and the overall painful rejection of sex--then I turned the page and there it was--there is some speculation that some IC symptoms are a response to childhood sexual abuse.

[rhonda]

I have to answer a resounding NO to this one. I am your normal american woman. No sexual abuse, no sex before marriage, only 1 sexual partner my whole life (32) and my husband has only had me for a partner also. My IC is on the worst list.

[AngelEyes]

"...........then I turned the page and there it was--there is some speculation that some IC symptoms are a response to childhood sexual abuse."

I am pretty sure that it may have been a trigger for me. Not that it is for everyone. Glad to see that there is / has been some thought on it!

[AngelEyes]

Rhonda, I was not implying that the cause of all IC is sexual abuse, only wondering if it has been looked at. I certainly feel it may have had something to do with triggering IC in me personally. I was abused at a young age and have always suffered from cystitis and guess it may have been IC all along. I have Hunners ulcers and if I can't get to a loo quickly enough my bladder actually bleeds! Bad case of IC as well as abuse from the medical profession. I have no faith in our medical profession here in Zimbabwe. GP's are too overworked to care and even take an interest in something unusual. Vent vent.

[thcbabydoll]

i am late posting this but i just wanted to say that i am definite that sex has caused my ic at age 19. i don't know if your situation would have caused your condition. but not only my boyfriend gave me a parasitic sexually transmited infection (curable but gave me horrific bladder infections) but he was really rough on me and i wonder if that was a factor in it too as i came down with my ic during the fist year of our relationship. it wasn't rape but it would bring on tears. he's a big guy of 6'6 ft tall and there was aggresive sex. he was repeatedly battered and raped by a family member as a child. after sex i'd end up with bruises, vaginal bleeding, difficulty urinating. a year of this took it's toll. the std is not thought of as causing serious damage as chlymdia and others can... but i believe that and my boyfriend being very rough brought on ic. i keep thinking how i wish i never got involved with him although i'm still in love with him as sick as it.

[rhonda]

Angeleyes, I'm sorry. http://www.ic-network.com/ubb/frown.gif I didn't mean to seem to jump on you. I didn't mean to imply that you thought that causes all the cases. I live in a very small town and have to deal with alot of people who think that this disease is something that I caused. IC is a horrible illness. No known cause. I think as others suggested maybe some of your symtoms, especially dealing with the doctors , could exasperate the symtoms but this is not your fault and unfortuantly we don't know what causes it. Personally, I believe they will eventually find that IC is a cluster of SEVERAL different illnesses (ie the different symtoms some of us experience). I didn't mean to upset you I just didn't want you to think this was something that you somehow caused. Ok?

[AngelEyes]

Rhonda

I guess I too understand about living with IC. After a while everyone thought I was making "it" up to get out of doing things i.e. being lazy and that was terrible. I have lived with the secret of being abused as a child and only through the anonymity of the net have I revealed something I have never told anyone - my partner, mother etc because of the adversity and tradgedy of the whole situation. I am trying to deal with that on my own in my own mind and have only wondered if anyone else has ever associated IC with sexual abuse. I too am a bad case with Hunners ulcers etc. I do believe that there are many triggers to IC - just wish I never how to switch it off!

I have come off Elmiron (cannot afford it) and the generic antidepressant Imiprimine and am trying hard to control IC.

I hope that you have some kind of control over it and that you will one day come off the "Worst" list.

Take care

[Jean Ann]

Hi Angeleyes,

Sorry to hear about your hard time (((HUGS))).

I take Elmiron and it is way expensive. Maybe if you talk to the doc he can get some samples. The elmiron I think it helps. You have to do something sweetie. Try to get the medication any way you can. This could worsen your symptoms. There are alot of us out here who love you and don't wnat you to get worse.

((((((((((((HUGS))))))))))

[violethillfarm]

Well, I'm glad someone else broached the subject of chilhood sexual abuse and IC.
Yes, I was but I don't think it has caused
my symptoms per se. I do feel STRONGLY
that the lifelong stress, guilt (yes I know
it was not my fault) and secrecy that
surrounds this trauma may well affect our
immune systems. I have Chron's disease
and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (both are auto-
immune diseases) and I truly feel that the
terrific emotional strain of being an abuse
survior has taken it's toll. I think it's
even more true if you are of my generaton,
growing up in the fifties and sixties, back
when no one talked about sexual abuse from
strangers, let alone from your own family. I confronted my abuser years ago, and he got
the pyschological help he needed, and thanked
me over and over for ending the nightmare,
but it is still a very painful memory
that I find difficult to discuss with my
family. You can forgive, but you never
forget, and I think it takes it's toll no matter how hard you try to put it behind you,
particularly if the abuse came from someone
whom you trusted implicitly.


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GardenLady

[D_Belvo]

How terrible, I wish that you had not had that to happen to you. I beleive that people should be treated considerately and compassionatly. Please, you do not deserve
to be treated that way and if you can guard against it don't let anyone treat you like that anymore.

[suz z]

I had posted several years ago that I thought that my childhood sexual abuse might have had something to do with my IC.

I didn't tell her about it at the time, but now my mother reflects that it was about that time (age 10) that I started experiencing recurring bladder symptoms.

I have a new uro now, and I asked her about this. She says that her informal questioning of her paitients suggests that the majority has has sexual trauma. She doesn't think that it necessarily (although it could have) caused specific organ injury. However, it may have caused a general tenseness that could be at least one of the causes of IC. She also stated that many of her IC patients also have IBS and other colon problems which can also be attributed to pelvic tenseness.

However, she is as unsure of the "real" cause as anyone else. She was really just assuring me that my situtation was pretty common, disturbingly so and that she was sorry that I had that experience in my childhood, and the IC now.

Suz

[ICNDonna]

This sort of fits in with my theory that some IC may be caused by trauma. In my case, the trauma of two major abdominal surgeries within a short period.

Some years ago I transcribed records for a family counselor, and I can totally verify that sexual abuse leaves emotional scars and guilt. The guilt is because the abuser, by telling a child that they are being "bad" or that they "don't dare tell." They are doing this on purpose --- to prevent themselves from being caught.

To those of you who suffered this kind of treatment, remember that YOU DID NOT DO ANYTHING WRONG! You can't tell youself that too often.

Love to all of you,
Donna

[This message has been edited by ICNDonna (edited 04-10-2001).]

[suz z]

I have been in therapy with an "analytically informed" psychotherapist and we have made a really good connection in the last 8 months. Until last month she has been an Internal medicine M.D. and just gave up her practice to devote her time solely to psychotherapy.

She knows what IC is and knows that it is a real condition. However, she believes that working through the past trauma of sexual abuse and the long habit of muscle tightness etc. will go a long way to helping to relieve symptoms. (Not that I should stop my uro treatments until I no longer need them!)

Also, she believes that most illnesses can be cured by relieving stress, which allows the auto-immune system to kick in and help fight off whatever is going on.

I will say emphatically, as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, that there is still a lot of stress from that even after 45 years! I am really hoping that she's right and that our therapy together will help me in many ways, including helping my IC.

I think there are multiple causes of IC as well as multiple symptom sets, and that it may not be just one condition, but a bunch of conditions that for convenience and because of certain similarities got labeled "IC".

BTW, U.S. Government statistics (you can look this up) report that 1 of 3 females and 1 of 6 males are sexually abused before the age of 16, with the median age for both being in the NINE YEAR OLD range. I was 10 and my bladder problems, according to my mother's memory, stem from around that time.

Some of us were unlucky because we were not protected in childhood. If you were protected and didn't experience childhood sexual abuse and/or child abuse in general, which can also cause significant trauma to a small body, count your lucky stars!!!
mailto:js@stowevt.netjs@stowevt.net</A>

[Teri]

{{{{{suz********** I am so sorry that this happened to you. It also happened to my daughter and she was VERY protected when it happened. It's so important to TELL our young ones that if this does happen to them, it's OKAY to tell. My daughter kept her secret until she was about 15. She is 29 now and has a wonderful therapist and I am so proud of her that she has made the decision to work thru this and has stuck to it for a year now. I'm also proud of her because she is able to talk to me about it. I sure do wish she would have told me when it happened. I was there all the time and I didn't have a clue. There is no amount of therapy on this earth that will ever take away the guilt that I feel.

[liz2]

I disagree with anyone who says that sexual abuse causes IC. I have severe IC and have for over 6 years--it was there in some form many years before. I have been married 42 years to the same loving, gentle man and there has been no sexual trauma in my life. I have had only one sexual partner. I fail to see the abuse connection. However, I do know that sex is very painful with IC, and in my case, it had been for five years before I was diagnosed. Currently, pain makes sex impossible for me. Last week I had to have my annual pelvic exam and pap smear, and I though I would die for at least 5 days after.

I can, however, see where forced sex would be awful if an individual had IC. I think sexual abuse and IC are just coincidental. Given the diagnosed population of individuals with IC, we are bound to find a certain percentage who have been sexually abused.

[sue041]

This is for Angle, There is a place where you can get Elmiron for nothing, all you must do is contact this company and they will send the pills to your doctor and you go pick them up. I originally got this from the ic network.call this number They will send you a form and you must fill it out and the doctor fills out his part and the pills are sent to your doctor.
My email address is meemee@pa.net I sure hope this helps you get the medicine that you need. 1-800-577-3788. ;)

[Lady J]

OF course, being "normal' and "american" has nothing to do with having been a victim of sexual abuse or any other type of trauma. Children are children- we all start out innocent- someone victimizing a child has nothing whatsoever to do with anything being wrong or abnormal about the child. Trauma happens to people of all ages in lots of forms. Unfortuantly sexual abuse is very very common. Certainly there being a connection between sexual abuse and pelvic floor muscle dysfunction is common and known. Some experts believe pelvic floor muscle dysfunction can cause IC-others don't.

In any case, trauma changes neurons in the brain and this affects how our bodies process sensations. One of the affects of trauma is that the brain may register stimuli as painful that another, non-traumitized brain would not. It's all cutting edge stuff in the science of the brain and trauma and I would not be at all surprised if trauma made people more susceptiple to IC. Even hormones are affected by trauma. One thing is for sure- the seperation of mind and body is a MYTH and trauma changes brains.

[darlene]

I have been married almost 34 years to the same person. Neither of us had other sexual partners. I have never been sexually abused, but I suffer from 2 painfull, incurable diseases, crohn's and IC. I truly believe that if infection of some sort isn't involved with IC, and most researchers don't think that it is, we have a genetic mutation that allows us to be vulnerable to these diseases.I also believe because we are all so different that IC is a group of different subtypes . That could explain why what works for one, may not work for someone else.

[Mira]

I had been sexually abused since the age of about 7. I did not experience any IC symptoms until I was about 25. I had wondered if there was a connexion, but my Doctor did ask me if I had been. evidently the jury is still out. Perhaps some people get IC who have not been abused, but I wonder how many people who have IC had been sexually abused. I also wonder how many others repress the memory and deny having been sexually abused. As for me, I never forgot.

[suz z]

Mira,

I do think that there are people who were abused as very young children and who have repressed the memories. Also, physical abuse can play a part in the trauma which may initiate IC.

Perhaps some people who were not sexually abused, were spanked to whatever degree (for their own good, as Alice Miller says) and the physical trauma from internal injuries to delicate organs could have developed into IC.

It is possible that the tightening of the pelvic floor from constant stress or fear of punishment might also be a factor.

So there may be people who say, no I wasn't sexually abused and I have IC, but perhaps they were emotionlly or physically abused, harming them in insiduous ways.

Or it's something else. Or combinations of things.

Something I read recently about physicians learning about diagnosis. A paitient comes in with a list of presenting complaints and the doctor thinks about the symptoms and tries to think of what might be the cause of the symptoms. The punch line is "the dog can have BOTH fleas and worms." Meaning - the list of symptoms might not be for one disease but for more than one.

So, many of us have not just IC, but IC and some colon problems or IC and whatever...

[Lady J]

TRAUMA affects the brain- TRAUMA can be caused by many things. Childhood sexual abuse is certainly one of them but illness or loss or just being a perceptive child in an unhappy home or one with an ill or depressed parent....basically this list goes on forever. Everyone has some trauma in their lives and in their childhoods- how it's handled and how sensisitve the child is at the time can affect how much it damages or harms that child. That such experience is connected to illnesses like IC is not at all far fetched.

I'm sure some of you are married once or only have one sex partner but I'm not sure how that relates to any of this. Think of trauma as what it is- extreme stress- that affects our bodies, brains and all. This is not about morals, people, not yours, not your families', there are no moral questions involved at all.

[darlene]

I am one of those married once, one sex partner people. In no way was I talking about morals, mine or anyone else's. I know without a doubt, that I was never sexually abused in any way. We were responding to the question about sexual abuse causing a physical reason for IC. No moral judgements were intended.

[violethillfarm]

Darlene: As one of those SA survivor's I was not offended by your comments. Who knows what really causes IC. I personally suspect that it is some immune system defect regardless of the cause. For some of us life long stress (from whatever cause) may indeed weaken our immune systems. I too have Chron's and Autoimmune Thyroiditis. I also know that I am a very uptight and stress-prone person, and I worry a lot, am overly sensitive etc etc. Having said that I truly do not know if my personality is a result of genetics or of years of sexual abuse or both.
What really saddens me is to know how many other women and men have been abused. There are times when I want to wipe most men off the planet (even though I am married to a great guy)! Life isn't fair, but then no one
told us it would be.

Peace and healing to all.

[AngelEyes]

To all those ICer's out there who are survivors of S.A., thanks for your words of wisdom and encouragement. Unfortunately I cannot confront my abuser as he was killed 11 years ago, he was my brother.

It would be interesting to find out of all the ICer's out there how many have been abused. I was abused from quite a young age and my symptoms were always there as far back as my mom can remember. I do think that there are triggers for IC and only wonder if this may be one of many (not the only one). I am 27 years old.

(((Hugs)) to all ICer's who are suffering! ;)