IC or Kidney Stones

[jerseygirl]

Hi All,

I was newly diagnosed with IC in December. I has been suffering wih increasing discomfort, frequency, spasms, burning, stinging, etc,..many of the symptoms that seem to be associated for 3 weeks. Although I had twinges and the nagging feeling like maybe I was getting a bladder infection on and off since July. In December the nagging feeling never went away and got progressively worse. And then one day I urinated and no pain or sensation since and that was 2 weeks ago. There may have been a stone in the toilet but I was at a public reststop and was not going to scrounge around the potty to verify.
I noticed several members have had kidney stones as well and wondered if there is connection? I know that the pain with a kidney stone sounds much more acute than what I was experiencing. I am just worried that this may be a remission from IC and it may hit me again. But the relief was so instantaneous that I feel as if I must have passed someting out of my system.

[tigger_gal]

from what I understand kidney stones hurt horribly. I would talk to your doctor and see what he says to you.

[patricia1]

For me when I passed my kidney stone it was worse than giving birth was. Although like you mention once it was passed I was better right away. For me even the pain pills I was taking at home did not even work, I was very uncomfortable totally paced the floor and the moment it passed I almost passed out. My IC pain is way different than this was. Its hard to tell about your experience though, because of the way mine felt. I have had two epiosdes with them and they were both way worse than childbirth for me.

[karen10300]

Hi jerseygirl. I've had probably at least 10 kidney stones that I know of. Stones are always different sizes. Some people pass small stones and don't even know it. The bigger the stone gets normally the more the pain increases with them. With me, the stones I know about have been worse than childbirth. But my doctors do believe that I pass small stones and don't even realize it. I know several years ago I had a stone that was causing alot of problems, frequency, pain ect.. I was scheduled for surgery to have it removed. I think like 2 days before surgery I started to feel alot better. Anyways I went in for surgery and told them I was feeling much better and that I think the stone may have passed. Told them they needed to do an x-ray to check for sure before they started the procedure to remove it. Well apparently they didn't do the x-ray after they put me to sleep. They dugged and dugged around looking for the stone and never found one. HELLO- What idiots ! If they had listened to me in the first place I wouldn't have had all the pain I had afterwards from their digging around trying to find it.
I also just had another stone towards the end of October. Wanted to rip my hair out because the pain was so bad. Went to the emergency room and the next day they took my to surgery and used a laser to break up the stone (it was a 9 mm stone) so that I could pass the smaller pieces. My IC symptoms had been terrible for 9 months before this. After the laser surgery and the pieces of the stone passed my IC pretty much went into remission for about 2 months. My IC is starting to flare again somewhat again now. That might be because I've not been real real good about the diet and have tried some foods on the no-no- list to see if they really bother me. Guess I'm finding out that some of them do. So I gues I'm saying that you can have stones and pass them with just minimal pain or they can cause extreme pain. So it is possible that you did have a stone and passed it. You will never know for sure but I'm really glad that you are feeling better now.

[emilyrose197377]

I had a kidney stone and it wasn't like my ic pain at all. it was the most horrible pain I ever experienced. If you are worried I would call your dr. to find out what is going on.

[jerseygirl]

Thanks to those who have replied. I did call my Doctors office to get some test results and mentioned that my symptoms had disappeared. The reponse was I am glad your feeling better...maybe it was a kidney stone...thats why I am asking the you for your thoughts.
It was a GYN who suggested that I might have IC. And even though she thought that IC might be my problem she performed the most abrupt and painful pap exam I have ever had! I think she maybe is not well informed on IC.
I did have blood in my urine per my doctor and no infections. I can't even remember the last time I had any kind of UTI and even yeast infection...maybe 20 years ago. But I have been having hormone balancing issues and have started on bioidentical hormones...progesterone and testosterone about 2 months ago. I work with a compounding pharmacist and my doctor.
I was diagnosed with gallstones this summer...I thought I was having a gallbladder attack ( I had eaten 3 slices of homemade baklava the day before) but now I am wondering if it was IC...because the discomfort was not located where gallbladder pain normally occurs. I had a ultrasound done and they found gallstones. I was referred to a surgeon who generously offered to remove them but I declined. Trying to hold on to my body parts!