Cysto Today, Final Diagnosis, Treatment and Questions

[Sashabella]

So I had my cysto and pressure test today. I had a mild reaction to the potassium in the cysto and my urgency began at 250CC but I could tolerate up to 350CC's of liquid inserted in my bladder.

I have only had frequency and urgency lately. In total, I have had 4 days of pain which abated with antibiotics (though no bacteria in urine).

The urologist feels I have IC but it's such a mild case that he wants to first treat it as overactive bladder. He thinks my flares started after a UTI and lots of stress (exams/death of grandfather at once). He thinks if we can prevent UTI's and minimize stress, I could feel normal. He says I have one of the mildest cases he has ever seen and would call it "early, early, early stage IC".

My current treatment plan is as follows: Detrol LA (4mg) daily, Norfloxacin after sex, no caffeine/alcohol/citrus/cranberry and avoid acidic foods.

I have a follow up appointment in 6 weeks.

Does this sound reasonable to everyone? Should I seek a 2nd opinion? Can it get worse or is IC non-progressive?

[vm]

In the great majority of cases IC is NOT progressive. But, there are some who do progress. My symptoms started and were always the same - never got worse, per se. Now I feel pretty back to normal (with treatments).

I used to get 3 to 4 UTIs a year (cultured, true blue UTIs) and now that I take one antibiotic after sex I have been infection free for a year! I think a lot of my flare ups were exacerbated by infection.

My IC is mild and my uro also started out slowly with treatments. Each month we added a new med until I felt better. The first one we tried was Detrol LA (which I still take) - it helped minimally by itself, but with the other meds it seems necessary still. Every time I have tried to stop it I flare.

Anyway, I am rambling. Glad you have a diagnosis and you're so fortunate to have a mild case. Sounds like you plan to be good to your bladder. :)