Having a Hard time!!

[Flarin-up Vicky]

I just got started on Elmiron a week ago and I'm having a hard time with this medicine(taking it as directed). The bottle says take 1 3xs a day but on the drug facts paper it says take 1 hour before a meal or take 2 hours after a meal. If I take the medicine 1 hour before a meal, I'm starving up until that time passes! But then again I eat like a bird because I get full easily and 2 hours later I'm hungry!! Is it really neccesary to take Elmiron exactly as directed? Which is the correct way? Has anyone else ever had this problem?

[Katrina]

I had the same problem with Elmiron....I have to eat often and just couldn't do that and talked to my doc who said to do what I could. So I have taken them without worry about eating close to it and it worked for me. Many on the board have asked about this since. Some have chosen to take one in the morning and two at night instead and some just took them the best they could. I would call your doctor about this. Some docs do seem to think taking the med away from a meal is important but many don't think that it is important at all. Some of us have other health problems that do make taking elmiron as directed impossible and still have success with the drug.
Good luck to you.
:grouphug:

[kadi]

I would take one when I got up in the middle of the night to pee. (I do that at least once a night, so no problem there). Then took one when I first woke up, so an hour before b-fast, and set a watch alarm for an hour before dinner. I kept the pills in a weekly pill box, so I could see how many I'd taken (cause taking that many pills, along with the other meds, I could never remember).

Elmiron didn't work out for me (I was allergic to it), but it has helped a lot of people! Wishing you very good luck!

[ICNDonna]

When I took it it seemed to be easier to take it two hours after a meal. I had to stop taking it after almost six months because I developed side effects.

Donna

[vm]

I tried really hard to follow those eating directions for the first year I was on it. I would take the early one right when I woke up and then it would be almost an hour before I ate. Then the night one I would take right before going to bed soi my stomach was usually pretty empty. The afternoon one was a crap shoot. ;)

After a year I pretty much disregarded the empty stomach thing. It's been 3 years and my bladder feels better than ever so it doesn't seem to have made a difference to my bladder one way or the other.

[sacausa]

My urologist said that it would be fine for me to take it even with meals.... Call your urologist and check with him/her! :)