The symptoms you describe —- frequent urination, pain or burning during urination, lower abdominal pressure and bloating — are all common symptoms of a bladder infection.

Other possible reasons for how you feel include:

• An infection of the urethra
• An infection of the vagina
• Inflammation of the urethra (urethritis) or vagina (vaginitis) caused by other factors. (For example, post menopausal women can have vaginal dryness and irritation.)

I assume you had a pelvic and abdominal exam by your doctor. Anything pressing on the bladder could cause these symptoms. Examples include:

• An enlarged uterus
• A large ovarian cyst or growth
• Inflammation of part of the lower intestine next to the bladder

Even bad constipation might cause some of your symptoms.

Another condition to consider is interstitial cystitis. This is long-lasting inflammation of the bladder wall without any signs of an infection, irritant or another disease. It falls into the category of chronic bladder pain. And the symptoms are most often just what you describe.

It can be very frustrating to have discomfort without finding the exact cause. But there are treatments that can help relieve your symptoms.