Closest I have ever been to a diagnosis

[ambleigh]

Hi, I am a newbie here. My name is Amberleigh and I am 24.

I have had blood in my urine for years and also chronic pain. I was going to my family doc once a month and getting a urinalysis done. There was always blood in it, she would put me on Leviquin and send the urine off for culturing. 9 times out of 10 the culture would come back negative. Finally she sent me to a uro, because she was worried that it could be cancer.

I went to the uro, and he scheduled a scope. I had the scope done on the 28th of April. He scheduled a hydrodistention for the 24th of may (which is the day before my 25th bday...lol good thing I didn't have plans)

When the uro was doing the scope, he said there were some spots that looked suspicious. But that he would check them out more during the hydro.

I am nervous, but glad that I might finally get a diagnosis.

Just wanted to say Hi and introduce myself.

[kelly McC]

Hello and welcome to the ICN
glad you found us. sounds like your Uro is doing a great job checking throughly..
Sorry your Hydro is so close to your Birthday but hopefully you will have some answers afterwards. Check out the handbook if you haven't already http://www.ic-network.com/handbook/ check out the section on diet it can be helpful in the meantime.
Kelly

[ICNDonna]

Sounds like you're on the right track. One thing you can do right now is to put yourself on the IC diet --- it just might help your symptoms.

Donna

[ambleigh]

Thank you for your responses.

Unfortunatly, most of the foods I eat are on the problematic list, which actually explains a lot!

Hopefully, after the hydrodistention the uro will be able to know what is going on and get some sort of treatment for this.

[vm]

:welcome: So glad you found us and that you are closer to knowing what is going on with your bladder. Definitely give the diet a try - for many of us it makes such a big difference. It is really hard to give up some of those foods, but worth it in terms of lower discomfort.

[SharonA]

Hello and :welcome: to the ICN...

You have already heard this, but your diet is very important. I know it is hard and you feel like you would be depriving yourself of every food you want to eat, but it is so worth it. Most people here have found their trigger foods and drinks by following the suggestions on the IC Diet. There are many meds and treatments that are available for us to try...the IC Diet being the first one. Once you have found your triggers, there is a chance that you can add back some of your favorites, a little at a time. If not in the amounts you are used to eating and drinking, then in smaller quantities and not every day or all in one day.

There are some things that I will never eat or drink again because they are just not worth risking bringing back the degree of pain that I suffered in the beginning. Nothing, and I mean nothing is worth that.

[ambleigh]

Thank you for your warm welcome!

I was just on the phone telling a friend about how happy I am that I have found this site. I told him that it was great that there were actually people out there who have a clue about what I am going through.

As for the diet...I love tomatoes! :shake: I have changed my son's diet to dairy-free, including no casein or whey, because of a chronic constipation problem. Poor little guy. But I have started to encorporate somethings back in, because I am thinking it is a quantity problem, plus his school wouldn't substitute juice for his milk on the lunch tray (they said if it was that big of a deal I could send his lunch. I told them that there was a reason my son was on the free-lunch program!) But anyway, I am just going to have to watch things more closely.

Thanks again for all of your ideas!

[charmedx3]

Hi! this is somewhat off the subject but just wanted to let you know what i found out with dealing w/schools & lunches. my 5yr old is not able to have milk it causes fluid in ears (speech problems as result) ped says all the dairy he wants just no milk put him on rice milk. made huge difference!!!
anyway when he started school i went to school office and asked them about substituting juice/water for the milk or i would send him w/drink and deduct .25 from lunch. they had to run it pass the school district BUT they are giving him juice now instead of milk!! sorry so long BUT GOOD LUCK!

[Jeanne D.]

If your child needs a special diet just have his pediatrician write a note to the school nurse. The school will have to comply.

Jeanne

[kadi]

Yes, do have your son's doctor write a note. The school has to comply with that. (It shouldn't be a big deal-- most elementary school cafeterias have juice anyhow, leftover OJ & apple juice from b-fast).

Hoping you get some answers soon & feel better!

[ambleigh]

Ahhh his peditrician...she thinks I am crazy. LOL She has been "treating" his chronic constipation for almost 8 years now. I said treating in quotes because her treatments have been enamas (sp?) and stool softeners. She refuses to send him to an allergy dr. even though she has him on allergy meds. And according to her there is no way that dairy proteins were the culprit. "He must have outgrown it" He hasn't outgrown it. He has a terrible time trying to have a bowel movement when he comes back from a weekend at his mamaw and papaw's house (his paternal grandparents) because they don't really watch his diet. Believe it or not, his mamaw said I didn't realize that there was milk in sour cream and onion chips...I was like seriously sour cream?!

I have eliminated a lot of his dairy consumption. Yes he still has it at school, but his teacher has been helpful. When she buys ice cream for the class (she uses it as a treat) she buys Zakary popsciles. When Zak comes home from school, he usually has either a glass of juice or water to help dilute the milk protein concentration.

Thanks to all of you for you suggestions!

[Ginny]

A symptom of celiac is also constipation. You might want to look into it. And yes, milk also.

Ginny

[charmedx3]

our 1st ped said that there was no milk allergy BUT he had chronic ear infections AND fluid in ears.his skin irritation also left. I switched peds and that did it! If it is a possiblity maybe another dr. Shayn ,5 yrs, is much better now but at times still hard to understand. I hope that the school works with him. try the drs note, call the school district office,try the school nurse. good luck!