What is a bulge pressing on the bladder?

Author: Dr. Eli Hilpert  |  Last update: Wednesday, November 5, 2025

A cystocele occurs when the ligaments and muscles that hold up your bladder stretch or weaken. You may see or feel tissue bulge through your vaginal opening or have difficulty peeing or inserting menstrual products. Sexual intercourse may also be painful.

What does a bulge in the bladder mean?

Anterior prolapse (cystocele)

A dropped or prolapsed bladder (cystocele) occurs when the bladder bulges into the vaginal space. It results when the muscles and tissues that support the bladder give way.

What are the symptoms of a fibroid pressing on the bladder?

As an example, if a fibroid is pressing on your bladder, you may feel like you need to urinate frequently or have trouble emptying your bladder. Similarly, a fibroid pressing on the rectum can cause constipation (or sometimes diarrhea alternating with constipation).

What does it mean when it feels like something is pressing on your bladder?

A feeling of bladder pressure is a normal occurrence and typically indicates a person needs to urinate. However, prolonged or severe bladder pressure can indicate underlying health conditions, including interstitial cystitis. Interstitial cystitis may last a lifetime, but treatments can help to relieve symptoms.

How do you fix a bulging bladder?

Often, the surgery is performed vaginally and involves lifting the prolapsed bladder back into place using stitches and removing any excess vaginal tissue. Your doctor may use a special type of tissue graft to reinforce vaginal tissues and increase support if your vaginal tissues seem very thin.

Bladder Prolapse 101: Causes, Symptoms, and Fixes

What is a bladder bulge?

Cystocele (Fallen Bladder) A cystocele occurs when the ligaments and muscles that hold up your bladder stretch or weaken. You may see or feel tissue bulge through your vaginal opening or have difficulty peeing or inserting menstrual products. Sexual intercourse may also be painful.

Can I push my bladder prolapse back up?

If prolapse results in bulging of the bladder or rectum into the vagina, the bulge can be easily pushed back into place before intercourse, and most women with prolapse say they don't notice it during intercourse.

Why do I feel pressure on my bladder but no infection?

Interstitial Cystitis (IC) or Bladder Pain Syndrome (BPS) or IC/BPS is an issue of long-term bladder pain. It may feel like a bladder or urinary tract infection, but it's not. It is a feeling of discomfort and pressure in the bladder area that lasts for six weeks or more with no infection or other clear cause.

What is the life expectancy of someone with interstitial cystitis?

Interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome isn't a life-threatening condition. It doesn't cause bladder cancer and won't affect your life expectancy.

What are the symptoms of a cyst pressing on the bladder?

Symptoms
  • A strong, persistent urge to urinate.
  • Pain or a burning feeling when urinating.
  • Passing frequent, small amounts of urine.
  • Blood in the urine (hematuria)
  • Passing cloudy or strong-smelling urine.
  • Pelvic discomfort.
  • A feeling of pressure in the area below your belly button (abdomen)
  • Low-grade fever.

Can an enlarged uterus press on the bladder?

Urinary symptoms of frequency, urgency, and nocturia may be caused by the direct pressure exerted on the bladder by the enlarged uterus. Symptoms of urge incontinence and stress incontinence deserve a more specific treatment as they are not related to uterine size.

What are the symptoms of cancerous fibroids?

In addition to symptoms associated with benign uterine fibroids, signs that a fibroid may be cancerous include:
  • Quick fibroid growth that causes acute pain in the abdominal or pelvic area.
  • Post-menopausal bleeding.
  • Anemia from heavy bleeding that can result in fatigue.
  • Unusual findings from imaging or blood tests.

What does passing a fibroid look like?

In rare cases, fibroid sloughing can lead to infection or sepsis. Symptoms of passing a fibroid can include dark and clotted vaginal discharge containing tissue fragments, similar to a heavy menstrual period.

What does a stage 3 bladder prolapse look like?

Grade 2 and 3 bladder prolapses are moderate to severe and associated with a bladder that has dropped further into the vagina. A person may also feel or see a bulge in their vagina. A bulge is more common in grade 2 and 3 prolapses. Some experts describe a bulge as the most common feature of bladder prolapse.

Why do I feel a bump on my bladder?

Bladder cysts are almost always benign, which means that they are noncancerous. A doctor should determine whether any newly formed lump is a cyst or a tumor, as tumors are more likely to become cancerous.

What can be mistaken for bladder prolapse?

The most common disorders that pelvic organ prolapse is mistakenly diagnosed as include urinary and fecal incontinence, constipation, and irritable bowel disease. Unfortunately, when pelvic organ prolapse is misdiagnosed as urinary incontinence, surgical outcomes are poor and women can be left with worsened conditions.

What does an urologist do for interstitial cystitis?

Sacral nerve stimulation.

Stimulating these nerves may reduce urinary urgency associated with interstitial cystitis. With sacral nerve stimulation, a thin wire placed near the sacral nerves sends electrical impulses to your bladder, similar to what a pacemaker does for your heart.

Do you gain weight with interstitial cystitis?

Dealing with weight gain or loss goes beyond frustration when their clothes no longer fit right. While IC is hurting their bladders, some of its unexpected effects are hurting patients' self-esteem in dramatic ways. Some report gaining anywhere between 20 and 60 pounds since being diagnosed.

What famous person has interstitial cystitis?

Recently, actress Lili Reinhart opened up about her health battle, revealing she was diagnosed with interstitial cystitis after months of unexplained symptoms.

Why does it feel like something is pressing on my bladder?

Overview. Interstitial cystitis (in-tur-STISH-ul sis-TIE-tis) is a chronic condition causing bladder pressure, bladder pain and sometimes pelvic pain. The pain ranges from mild discomfort to severe pain. The condition is a part of a spectrum of diseases known as painful bladder syndrome.

What is the root cause of interstitial cystitis?

What causes interstitial cystitis? The cause of IC is not known, but it may result from conditions such as: allergy. vascular (blood vessel) disease.

What are the 5 warning signs of a bladder infection?

Lower urinary tract infection
  • feeling a strong urge to urinate (pee) and more often than usual, a constant, dull pain in the pubic region and pain when urinating (dysuria)
  • cloudy urine (pee) or blood in your urine (haematuria)
  • urine that smells unusually unpleasant.
  • back pain.
  • a general sense of feeling unwell.

What does a prolapse bulge feel like?

a feeling of heaviness around your lower tummy and genitals. a dragging discomfort inside your vagina. feeling like there's something coming down into your vagina – it may feel like sitting on a small ball. feeling or seeing a bulge or lump in or coming out of your vagina.

Why does sugar fix a prolapse?

If you have difficulty reducing your prolapse, apply granulated sugar to the prolapsed rectum. Let the sugar sit for 15 minutes and then attempt to reduce the prolapse again. The sugar will absorb the extra water in the prolapse and cause the prolapse to shrink. You must use granulated sugar.

Is sitting bad for bladder prolapse?

Essentially, if you're sitting down for too long, your core and pelvic muscles can become strained, which eventually causes damage. When damage to the pelvic floor occurs, it can lead to other issues, such as: Pelvic organ prolapse.

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