"urethral syndrome" or IC flare caused by fertilty drugs?

[MelindaP]

I am 34 & have always been prone to sometimes feeling like I might be getting a UTI. My mother got them alot when she was younger. Usually I could take care of it with alot of cranberry juice & water & it would go away in a few days. Sometimes I would need to take a 3 day course of macrobid & it would clear up. This past Christmas I was down visting my sister for the holidays & I got that "feeling again" I tried my usual home remedies, & when that didn't work, I put in a call to my OB. They prescribed the 3 day course of macrobid. I finished that & it still felt like my urethral area was "stingy" (I should add that with my UTI, I never get the urgency/fequency, just a stinging sensation in my urethra). So I went to a walk in clinic. They did a dipstick test & said there was some bacteria & a high protein count. They put me on a 5 day course of Cipro. Well, the burning got WORSE! It felt like a hot poker, 24/7! When i finally got home I went to see a local uroligist & he did not find any bacteria, but put me on a 2 week, low-dose anibiotic. My symptoms really improved, although I do not think the "strange" sensation in my urethra totally went away. But it did not bother me much. Two weeks later my husband & I started an IVF process. They had me on estrace to boost my estrogen levels & to build up my lining. I was taking it orally & 1 tablet vaginally. I noticed a few days after I started the estrace that the stinging was getting worse, but I didn't put 2 & 2 together. I went back to my urologist who said I have either some kind of urethral irritation or interstitial cystitis. He did another culture of urine in the office, which was negative, but 5 days later called me back to say the culture had grown a little bit of bacteria. So now another round of antibiotics! ( I should tell you have been faithfully taking pobiotics & multidophulus powder to coombat a yeast infection). But it FINALLY occurred to me that maybe it was the estrace aggravating my urethra? I was able to stop taking it vaginally, which definately eased up the severe burning around the opening, but I have to continue taking it orally 4x a day (2mg) until my pregnancy test next Thursday. And if I am pregant, they keep you on the estrace until about your 10th week until they wean you off of it!!

My doctors at the IVF clinic say their is no way the estrace could be causing my symptoms, but it is the only thing that really coincides with emergence of the stinging again. They said that estrace is a pure form of estrogen & should mimic my own estrogen. Is it possible if I already had a weakness there from a damaged lining in my urethra, that taking the estrace orally would make it worse? I figure it comes out in your urine, right? I am so confused & distressed as I have burning in my urethra 24/7. I drink gallons of water & am trying to keep my urine as diluted as possible so it dosen't burn more when I urinate. I also am following the IC diet, but to be honest with you, I don't really see a difference. THe Prydium the urologist prescribed does not even touch the pain.

I am afraid if I do get pregnant, my nutrition is going to suffer because I am afraid to eat! I can't even tolerate my prenatal vitamin as I feel this makes my urethra burn more.

What do you you guys think? Please help!

Sincerely,

Melinda

[Romans8:28]

I and many others here suffer from urethral pain! I would think the estrace could definately be the culprit since many of us have increased urethal and iC pain based on our hormone levels! I know from the first day of my cycle till a few days after ovulation are the worst! You may have to remain on this medication but there are some things that can help! (By the way have had to do the long term anitbiotic thing also, after using my natruals for years. The Cipro made my BURNING much worse!) Lidocaine 2%jelly helps alot, along with daily sitz baths etc.
I considering using the MSM or DMSO gel on the DMSO.org website also!
One good thing is if you are pregnant I've read most of the IC symptoms usually improve! You might be able to take a natural vitamin without a problem. When I was pregnant I could only take naturals and took Alfalfa tablets instead of prenatals. My firends and I found that we had to go off a few weeks before delivery though since we all started having such BIG healthy babies.., hard on us:)
Just something you could ask your DR about!
Hope that helps and all goes well with your pregnacy test!

[Allibeth]

MelindaP, your history of urinary symptoms sounds identical to mine (except for the estrace part -- I've never tried estrace. But IC sx's can definetly be influenced by hormones, as well as certain fillers in topical medications). I'm also 34. I was put on short rounds of antibiotics for recurrent UTIs, and then after awhile an MD said the cultures are now negative and I have IC which he claimed is never infectious. Of course, clinicians leave out the fact that traditional colony count agar cultures often bear false negatives, and even when they manage to grow something they only check for certain bacteria (i.e., agar cx doesn't check for ureapasma, which 40-80% of adults have, or mycobacteria, viruses, etc). I'm fortunate to live in Manhattan and know a very good infectious disease GYN here that has his own lab. He was able to grow stuff in his culture that mainstream labs couldn't, and put me on IV antibiotics, bladder irrigations with an antibiotic cocktail, intravaginal antibiotics, diflucan, and followed up with oral antibiotics. At first I thought I wasn't getting better, when in actuality it was just the antibiotics irritating my bladder/urethra. It's been 4 months since my IV, and I'm progressively better and better. Two weeks ago, for the first time in a year, I was able to insert a tampon because my vulvar vestibulitis has been improving as well -- maybe I'll actually be able to enjoy penetration one day (fingers crossed). Off the topic, but my sister had vulvodynia, bladder discomfort, and lichen sclerosis (diagnosed with vulval biopsy) for 8 years and was told it was incurable, but IV antibiotics and uterine irrigations with antibx solution cured her -- her sclerosed vulval skin is even soft and supple now (she's how I know about this fabulous GYN). I implore people with negative agar cultures to investigate broth cultures, PCR cultures, and ureaplasma test. Also, just because short term antibiotics don't help doesn't mean something isn't infectious -- I'm on a 9-12 month course of antibiotic for mycobacteria, and I know women that take oral antibiotics for 6 months or longer and then are fine.

[Allibeth]

MedindaP, I should have mentioned, since you're getting IVF, that the GYN I went to is an infertility specialist that does IVF (as well as an infectious disease MD). He thinks a lot of infertility is infection-related. My sister and I started to think about it, and then realized some of our friends with fertility problems suddenly got pregnant after taking zithromax for sinus infections (or whatever antibiotic/ailment, you get the point) -- antibiotics in our circle of friends definetly helped. This MD has a website and books, but I don't think we're allowed to recommend specific clinicians on this site (if I remember my "posting protocol"), so feel free to email me for info. My sister had IVF -- it's so difficult, I wish you the best of luck and I'll keep you in my thoughts.

[Debgail]

MelindaP I too have a vulvar problem and the urethra stuff too. I found before I got on elevil and atarax I coudlnt handle ANY creams etc...sting sting burn!! You may not be allergic to the estrace HOWEVER it is still chemically made.. and there are still the other ingredients in there like propylene glycol or other "inert" carriers in the base of the product that you could be allergic to. I remember being so thin vaginally I thought a hole was going to punch thru my bowel with sex. Since i could not tolerate the premarin, estrace cream etc..but needed the hormones..I got prescribed bio identical hormones from a compouning pharmacy and I apply it to my arm or inside of my thighs. Anyway...the result is nice plump tissue again and I dont cringe to be touched anymore. The only one that did work vaginally and was not messy, just a tablet called Vagifem. I didnt stay on it b/c I needed total body hormones. Hope youre feeling better! Debbie :bunny: