Increase education, awareness, & research for interstitial cystitis!

Increase education, awareness, & research for interstitial cystitis!

Started
February 27, 2020
Signatures: 3,506Next Goal: 5,000
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Why this petition matters

Started by Interstitial Cystitis Association

Interstitial cystitis (IC) is a bladder condition that consists of multiple symptoms. IC patients have recurring pelvic pain, pressure, and/or discomfort in the bladder and pelvic region, urinary frequency (needing to go often) and/or urgency (feeling a strong need to go). IC may also be referred to as painful bladder syndrome (PBS), bladder pain syndrome (BPS), and chronic pelvic pain.

IC can affect anyone - men, women, and children of any race and ethnicity. The condition affects 3 to 8 million women and 1 to 4 million men in the U.S. That is 1 out of 77 citizens living with IC in the United States.

The cause of IC is unknown, there are no diagnostic tools, and there is no cure. Patients suffer for years before receiving a diagnosis or finding treatments to relieve symptoms. The symptoms can dramatically affect an IC patient’s quality of life, mobility, relationships, sense of isolation, and often the inability to continue to work.

With so much unknown about IC, awareness and education programs are needed and increased IC research is vital to the understanding and eventual cure.

ICA FY 2021 Funding Priorities

  • Please provide $1,100,000 for the IC Education and Awareness Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC).  This program promotes public awareness of IC through education for health care providers and the general public. As a diagnosis of exclusion, physicians must be aware of IC in order for patients to receive timely and accurate diagnoses and this program maintains a significant focus on information sharing among stakeholders, with the aim to increase awareness, diagnosis, and proper treatment.
  • Please provide the National Institutes of Health (NIH) with at least $44.7 billion in FY 2021. The cause of IC is unknown, there are no definitive diagnostic tools available to clinicians, and there is no cure for IC. The National Institute of Diabetes, and Digestive, and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) leads the NIH research portfolio with groundbreaking studies like the Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Chronic Pelvic Pain (MAPP) Research Network which takes a whole-body approach to studying IC as well as epidemiology research
  • Please continue to include “interstitial cystitis” as conditions eligible for study through the Department of Defense Peer-Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP) for FY 2021. IC is becoming increasingly prevalent among veterans and is associated with post-traumatic stress disorder. Congress has historically included IC in the list of eligible conditions for research under this program and IC researchers compete successfully each year.

ICA 2021 Policy Priorities

  • Maintain access to chronic pain care medication and protect the patient/doctor relationship with regards to prescriptions. Chronic pain patients depend on important medications to cope with their pain.
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Signatures: 3,506Next Goal: 5,000
Support now
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