Jennifer Matthews: Ellen Siegal is comfortable working at home today. It's a comfort that's been hard to find for the last few years.

Ellen Siegal: I was just in pain all the time.

Jennifer Matthews: She has interstitial cystitis.

Ellen Siegal: It feels kind of like an ice pick, you know, somebody is stabbing you with an ice pick. Its sort of unrelenting.

Jennifer Matthews: Typical symptoms are frequent urination, urgency to urinate, and bladder and pelvic pain.

Stanford's Doctor Christopher Payne says it's a condition with few treatment options.

Dr. Christopher K. Payne: They're all very marginally effective. I mean, if you take any one of those therapies, the response rate is in the range of about 30 to 40 percent.

Jennifer Matthews: He says the bacterium BCG could change that. In a small study, a solution containing the bacterium was injected into the bladder of patients once a week for 6 weeks. 60 Percent improved.

Dr. Christopher K. Payne: And the thing that really seemed to catch people's attention was that most of the patients who responded, responded a lot, and they had reduction of their symptom scores by 70 percent.

Jennifer Matthews: Ellen says the drug has improved her life.

Ellen Siegal: I would say that my pain has been reduced probably 90 percent.

Jennifer Matthews: She hopes others like her will find the help they need.

Ellen Siegal: And it is treatable. So, you know, there's no reason to suffer.

Jennifer Matthews: This is Jennifer Matthews reporting.