Advice I got from Dr. B. concerning Interstim

[ICLori]

I had the good fortune of seeing Dr. B., who is one of the world's leading experts in Interstim and is the expert on the new Bion. He is such a great doctor!

Anyway, he told me something very interesting about Interstim that I wanted to pass along to others.

He said that sometimes patients and doctors would make the mistake of, after interstim is implanted, thinking they were "cured" so to speak by the interstim and that they (patients and docs both) would conclude that the other meds (such as Elmiron, Atarax, Elavil, etc.) are no longer needed.

He said that what happens in many cases if meds are discontinued, is that the baseline pain then increases because the meds that were providing modest benefit are stopped. When that happens, either the interstim must be reprogrammed for that new, increased pain, or even there is a point where interstim won't help anymore.

His advice to me was, if I got either Interstim or Bion, was to stay on the Elmiron, stay on the IC diet, stay on Atarax, stay on any meds that seemed in any way to help me.

Thought I'd pass that along.

Blessings, Lori

[dyno]

Thanks Lori, it is always nice to hear new information.

[Dixiefireball]

I dont know much about the implant but i would agree with that. I mean heck if you stop taking elimron what is giong to coat your bladder the implant can't. You must have something to coat your bladder or it will not get any better.
I don't use elimron but i do use heparin its a stronger form of elimron but i do have something coating the bladder.
as far as the other drugs go i also agree with those because the implant is to help people who is using the bathroom many many times in a day. its not to stop any other troubles you may be having with IC.
as i stated i know very little about the subject but what was said makes sences.
Rhonda

[dancemomof2]

Thanks for this info, maybe now I can hold off URo and interstim decision until this is got some more talk around the MD world.