In your experience, is there an association between interstitial cystitis and systemic lupus erythematosus?

There are reports of interstitial cystitis associated with lupus. I have had two patients with that combination, one that is particularly severe. Lupus may or may not be active at the time. There are case reports in the literature of different treatments to try as the standard drugs may not be effective. The two most often mentioned are using benlysta and/or a calcineurin inhibitor. In the severe case I had she did not respond at all to prednisone and she was already on Imuran. She did not respo...

In my experience the association of interstitial cystitis has been relatively frequently seen in patients with fibromyalgia. In lupus, it must be rare, as pointed out by Dr. Gilkeson. However, lupus patients are not exempt from having fibromyalgia though.