A Physician’s Take On Interstitial Cystitis

Dr. Walt Stoll (see bio. below) has a different take on Interstitial Cystitis than a lot of doctors.  I found the information that I have listed below very interesting! 

Interstitial Cystitis is usually treated by repeated dilations of the urethra and irrigation of the bladder wall. Dr. Stoll believes that a practitioner that only uses conventional medical treatments will suggest that there’s not an answer to this problem.

He believes that holistic medical practitioners have a pretty good idea what causes IC Disease. He states that physicians will not tell their patients about the holistic approach to cure IC because basically the doctors, hospitals, etc. will not make money off of this procedure, whereas they do with the conventional treatments. 

Dr. Stall says that there are two different systems of sphincters – one for urine, one for stool.  He explains that these are involuntary and inner sphincters that he describes as smooth muscle that tell the bladder and rectal area to release whenever it is full and that it is a reflex.  So in babies, we know that this muscle is working correctly because we are always changing diapers!  Once we are potty-trained we stop the involuntary action of urinating and bowel movements by clenching what he calls the “external, striated (voluntary) muscles (the levator ani)” in order to not have an accident in our pants. 

The Levator Ani are the muscles that are from the tailbone to the pubis in the front and the part of the pelvis on the sides. Because this is the floor of the abdominal cavity, everything would fall out without it.  The vagina, rectum and bladder sphincters are a part of this muscle and we learn to control them individually. Unless there is an urge to urinate or have a bowel movement, the voluntary sphincters are to always be relaxed.  Once we get the urge to go, we tighten these up until we can relieve ourselves – then these sphincters will relax.

He continues to explain…   

“The involuntary sphincters are already open so the act of defecation or urination then is controlled completely by the voluntary sphincters. The elimination process takes place, the involuntary sphincters close (until the organs are once again full) and the voluntary sphincters are supposed to STAY relaxed until they are needed again.

However, if a person is experiencing a continuous fight-or-flight stress effect in the hypothalamus (so that the body is ALWAYS “ready”) ALL of the muscles in the body stay more tense than normal. People who tend to keep their perineal muscles tighter than the rest of their muscles are the ones who are more likely to get interstitial cystitis, hemorrhoids, and bashful bladder syndrome”. Dr. Stoll believes that there are symbolic reasons why we might hold these muscles selectively tight. 

When your voluntary muscles are always tight, you NEVER totally relax your sphincters. NOW when you try to urinate, the bladder wall muscles must squeeze the urine through a narrowed urethra. The friction causes urethral irritation. However, more importantly, the increased pressure in the bladder forces urine into the bladder wall which causes “interstitial” (inside the wall) inflammation. Can you begin to see why dilation is part of the treatment and why it always has to be repeated?”

Dr. Stoll recommends that us sufferers should learn an effective skilled relaxation technique and practice it regularly for 20 minutes twice a day. He says that within 6 months the generalized muscle tension–of which the pelvic muscle tension is a part–will be under control. Then simply recognizing when the muscles in the pelvis are being held tight–and relaxing them–will go a long way toward getting in control of this problem.

“The bases for these kind of problems have ramifications that go far beyond the easily resolved condition of Interstitial Cystitis. No one with this condition has ONLY this condition. The IC is but the tip of the iceberg of what these causes are doing to the individual’s health.”

Dr. Walt Stoll, MD – 30+ years as a board certified family practitioner.  He taught medical school for 3 years at the University of Kentucky Medical School.  The last 17+ years he has been combining many other healing philosophies along with conventional medicine so that he could learn enough to evaluate. 

He has had working for him in his practice at one time:

• Chiropractor
• Acupuncturist
• Biofeedback Trainer
• Homeopath, Naturopath
• Chinese Med. Practitioner
• Minister/Counselor
• Dentist
• Nutritionist
• Reflexologist
• Therapist
• Applied Kinesiologist
• Rolfer

They all worked together as a team, watched each other work, and were able to learn how each treatment related and would work together with the others.

Dr. Stoll is a founding member of the American Holistic Medical Association.