A daily dose of Viagra could help thousands of women with bladder problems. New research suggests that the anti-impotence drug for men also helps to ease symptoms in women with interstitial cystitis, a severe form of the bladder infection.
The results of a study published in the journal Urology show that women who took a low dose of 25mg of the drug (the dose given for male impotence is 50mg) every day for three months saw a significant improvement in symptoms compared with a placebo group.
Most cases of cystitis clear up on their own or with antibiotics. Interstitial cystitis, however, does not respond to the drugs and can turn into a painful long-term condition that is hard to treat.
Interstitial cystitis does not respond to the antibiotics and can turn into a painful long-term condition
It is thought that the condition is caused by messages from the bladder to the brain becoming scrambled. When the bladder fills up with urine, it sends a signal to the brain, which in turn orders muscles to squeeze to release it.
In most people, these signals are not sent until the bladder is almost full. But in interstitial cystitis, the signal to empty the bladder is sent more often or when the bladder is not particularly full.
Around 400,000 people in the UK are affected and more than 90 per cent are women.
Symptoms include frequent urination and severe pain when the bladder is full. The only treatments are painkillers to ease the discomfort and, in some cases, a short course of antibiotics to try to clear up any residual infection. However, previous animal studies have suggested that the impotence drug Viagra may help.
In the most recent study, doctors at the First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University in Zhejiang, China, recruited 48 women with interstitial cystitis and split them into two groups.
The women in one group were given Viagra every day for 12 weeks, the others a placebo pill. Every two weeks, doctors measured their symptoms using an index to record how often they felt the need to go and how painful their symptoms were.
Anti-impotence drug for men also helps to ease symptoms in women with interstitial cystitis
The results revealed that the women on Viagra felt less need to go to the loo, got up fewer times at night to urinate and had fewer complications, such as pain, than those on the dummy drug. Nearly two-thirds of those in the Viagra group reported a significant improvement in symptoms. Although it's not clear how the impotence pill might work, one theory is that it relaxes muscles in the bladder by boosting blood flow to the area. This takes some of the pressure off the bladder and alleviates the urge to urinate.
Commenting on the study, Dr Robyn Webber, consultant urologist at the Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline, Scotland, said: 'Interstitial cystitis is a very distressing condition and the results of this trial do suggest that for some patients the drug may be a possible new treatment.
'But the number of patients involved was small and the findings need to be reproduced with bigger numbers. If the results do hold up, it could potentially offer hope to some patients.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2810091/Viagra-ease-pain-cystitis-Daily-dose-help-thousands-women-bladder-problems.html#ixzz3HUo4FSTU
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