Crying more

[Freedom]

I'm new to IC and almost a week ago finished with a major, over month long flare.Today had a small one from doing too much yesterday..But, have noticed that WITH my flares I seem to be
more emotional and cry more often.Even watching tv!Anyone else notice this? I read somewhere that the nerve recepters in the brain that register our IC pain are located in the lower back part of the brain and are very close to the emotional centers of the brain and that is why.Is that true?

Freedom

[kadi]

Here is an article on the types of pain often associated with IC & it does mention emotions being involved as well. Maybe this is what you read?

http://www.ic-network.com/handbook/icpain.html

I understand very well what you are talking about. When I am flaring, I'm much more emotional, even unreasonable... It's not just hard on me, but on the people around me, so I try to be very slow with what I say during those times & spend a little more time by myself, reading positive things or listening to books on tape.

I just started reading a book on chronic illnesses ("The Chronic Illness Workbook" by Patricia Fennell) & it also says that having your emotions spill out in inappropriate places is not unusual in the beginning phase of the illness....

So, don't feel bad or beat yourself up over it. Sounds like it's just another part of the IC.

Hope you feel better soon!

[diane57]

Yes, I agree - when I'm in a flare I get as emotionally upset as I do on the most awful PMS days - now I'm sort of used to the feeling, and usually some part of my brain can tell the other parts, Hey, this is that super-emotional-IC-flare thing going on, don't take it too seriously, look at the facts of the situation. Or I check with my husband and friends - Do you think my entire life is ruined forever or am I maybe over-reacting? I've also read that IC pain is the type of pain that involves the emotional center of the brain. It's one of the reasons why other people don't understand this kind of pain - when they think "pain" they're thinking of the physical pain that they've had with maybe a broken leg or a bad back - very painful, true, but that kind of pain doesn't activate all your depression/anxiety/fear/panic centers the way visceral pain like IC pain does. It's a very unfair double whammy, because to cope with our flares, we need our brains to be as calm and sensible as possible.

[tbokay]

I figured I was just crying more due to stress of missing too much time at work and dealing with IC. That could explain why my employer sent me to EAP - to "deal with my personal issues".

It didn't help the fact that my aunt had one major stroke and 4 "after-strokes" in March and we were told she would die. She is doing better now - but that on top of what I deal with was too much and I started crying at my doc's office when she asked how I was. She prescribed Xanax for those moments when I just can't take it anymore - only I forgot I had the meds and haven't taken any.

This is the aunt that I have a "medical competition" with. I was rearended by a drunk driver 3 yrs ago - 2 wks later she hit a train. Last July, I had abdominal pain (ovarian cyst) and she had her gallbladder out. Last Oct, I was finally diagnosed with IC - she cut her ring finger off in a woodchopper. We finally made a bet - that the next person in the ER owed the other $5. She won and we decided enough was enough - no more competition. Then she has the stroke.

I know when I get stressed or upset, my bladder and urethra will spasm more than usual. If I can't urinate, I know I need to relax and not stress. But add an infection on top of that and I can't help but cry - it tends to help relieve some of the stress. Apparently right now I hold my stress in my pelvic area - and all those muscles tighten up.

I'm so glad I found this site - where other people know what I am going thru and can help me understand things when my family and friends just don't get it.

[songbird7]

Oh yes, definately more emotional. I was talking with my daughter in law about something that happened years ago when I was a single parent after working almost 10 years on the marriage, raising 2 teenage boys. Something one of the kids said when I was raising him I remembered and I was crying and crying and IC hurting and hurting.
I hope this helps,
hugs

[sacausa]

I am definately crying more than usual...

[darkWillow]

I have had these "episodes", I'm not sure what else to call them, where I get very dizzy, sometimes sweaty, where I will feel awful for up to a week or more feeling like I've had the flu or something, like my energy has been zapped out of me. This is just one type of the spells that I go through, but several times I have also cried at the beginning of the symptoms, and it is very strange. When I cry, or feel like crying during the spells it feels more like it's a reaction to the spell. I don't feel sad or depressed at all. I just feel like I have to cry and can't stop it, almost like a sneeze. But I have noticed that these symptoms are usually accompanied by extremely frequent urination, well, I mean more frequent than usual, and also diarrhea. One time when I got hit by a spell and cried it was so bad that I was on the phone at my work sobbing to my family member all the while trying to convince them that nothing bad had happened to me or anything. I just had to cry. That spell was so bad that my boss told me things that I said that I had no recollection of later on. It seems like these symptoms seem to increase for me as I get older, as does the odd crying. :hmm: Just for the record these are not panic attacks, and I have been tested for just about everything you can imagine trying to find out why these weird symptoms come seemingly out of nowhere and knock me out for days on end. The more spells I have, the more I am convinced that it is somehow connected with the IC. Though I can't recall having the same extreme urination frequency with every spell that I've had. I can't keep track of them. I mention all of this because maybe someone else out there has gone through something similar, and the crying is so odd. For crying out loud, I have enough of my own reasons to cry with this frustrating disease, I don't need my body to manufacture new unknown reasons to make me turn on the water works. :bonk:

[SandyRN]

I understand, as I cry a lot lately. I cried when I was first diagnosed, and I cry with every flare. It's not exactly like I feel sorry for myself as it is that I just mourn for my old, healthy self again. I want to go do the things I used to do and be more active with my kids. I think we all go through a period of mourning after a dx of a chronic illness and we can't expect these emotions to just stop because our illness doesn't stop. It's something I guess we have to get used to, and maybe crying is just a way for us to let out those pent up feelings of sadness and frustration.

Good luck to you. Sandy