Doc's answer

[pottywoman]

I told him about this pill and the topomax. He doesn't want me to take the topomax because of the serious side effects and I do agree with him. He is going to talk to my GP doc about the cytotec. He knows about it but has never written a prescription. Did you know it is used for abortions too? I told him I went off the celexa and he said get back on it but in different words. ;) So, I am doing that. Will see what he finds out on the cytotec when I go back but I don't feel so bad about it. I trust him with my life and if he says to try it I will.

[Baba Yaga]

PW, first and foremost I am hoping you will tolerate the celexa. Then I hope you get some good news about at least being to try this option. Because you are so sensitive, I would try with as little as possible at first of the cytotec.

[pottywoman]

I'm sure if it were up to just my Uro he would ok the cytotec. It's up to my GP which might ask my Gyno (which I don't see anymore) and if he says I need to be on the birthcontrol then I won't be able to try it. I'm hoping that won't happen. It should really be up to me with it but I can't force them about it.

[Baba Yaga]

:hmm: I guess I should feel lucky to be living a monastic existence and approaching age 43.

[Cheries]

Why is it all "up to them"?? It is your body and you need to fight for what you feel is right for you.

[pottywoman]

I tried fighting for the birth control 2 years ago. I needed another perscription for it and the two docs wouldn't give it without the physical. My uro would have given it to me but he doesn't deal with that. I made my GP doc really mad which he had never done before. Told me to go to my GYNO which he knew I couldn't do. (Another long story) So, I told them I wouldn't bother anyone again and I haven't been back. Back then I needed it to go on living so I have a very hard decision to make. Not to sure really how it will go but if they say no then it will be no.

Yeah, I've often thought it was my body and I should have the decision but they said they could be sued.

[Baba Yaga]

PW, it is risky to YOU to be going for so long without physicals or visits to the gyno's. Aren't there other options for you beside these specific doctors' offices?
What about a gyno at planned parenthood?

Are they particular about what kind of birth control they would require?


It's true that a doctor can be sued for a patient's decisions. Because of the prevailing legal climate, jury decision history, and legal precedents, they do have to take specific precautions with some things. A drug that can induce spontaneous abortion/miscarriage would definitely be a candidate for that.

[pottywoman]

I had my first physical when the IC started. I can't handle doing it again. Something was said by a person (no doctors) and I can't do it now. My Uro was upset with me when I told him I wouldn't do it ever again. He even offered to do it but I told him no. Mind wise if I do it again I won't make it. I'm not having sex, never had and never will so nothing should go wrong in that area. Cancer there is only caused by having sex. My Uro said that wasn't true but I've looked it up and it all says it is. I've talked to my Uro about what someone said to me and he told me it wasn't true but I can't forget it. I cry when I think about having the physical done and just mind wise can't. I know I sound crazy. :loco: What they said to me I will never be able to have sex even. The thought of it is discusting to me. I'm just hoping they won't bring up the birth control with it.

[Baba Yaga]

PW, I hope you will consider talking about what happened to someone. If not a professional, then maybe someone you trust here.

I have had such amazing benefits from psychotherapy -- and I am not talking about anything that has to do with being "crazy". I was not ever crazy (and I know from my family history what it means to be crazy), but i did have hurdles i needed to over come and issues I had to cope with.

I remembered your implying you were celibate, and was baffled that you have doctors pressing you for birth control. Do they not believe you about your celibacy, or do you not discuss that with them?

There can indeed be all kinds of cancer in the reproductive organs. Cervical cancer is one that can arise from specific sexually tramsmitted diseases, but that is not the only risk that exists for reproductive organs.

You may feel more comfortable with a woman gyno, or best of all with a female nurse practitioner. I am most comfortable with my female nurse practitioner gyno (I wish she could do my installations!), and my first experience with a gyno was with a NP at planned parenthood. These women were as down to earth and caring and responsible, in my opinion, as many of the people here in the ICN.

And both NPs and psychotherapists have seen EVERYTHING, especially in their training, so they would be unlikely to treat you as someone crazy or unusual, because they would know you are one of many people in the normal population, albeit a person with personal issues mostly arising from IC. I'll bet you could find eventually somebody who really wanted to help and work with you.

And as far as something someone said or things new people might say: **** them!
They are nothing, they don't matter, and in another few minutes you can be among people who never said that thing, whatever it may be.

I talked today with somebody and was recalling what a therapist said to me once, which was really hard for me to fully grasp at first: "It's not your business what anybody else thinks of you." From certain angles, that has real meaning.


I hope I have not harangued you too much here. I don't understand all of it, but thank you for being so open about what's going on with you inside. I just hope you know that there are lots of people here who have faced various hurdles, some related to yours, and discovered in the end that they were surmountable, that there were avenues for help, and that they could feel better and freer in the end.

[pottywoman]

A woman doc or NP wouldn't make a difference with it being done. In fact I wish my Uro could be my doc for everything. I had it done by a NP (woman) and I think I would have been better off having it done by the GYNO who I went to later on. Never went to one before. Actually, first doc visit was due to the IC which I thought was ovarian cancer. Otherwise, I never would have gone. Paniced from wathcing the news.

My Uro I'm sure believes me aobut not having sex. Didn't mention it to the GP or the gyno. They wouldn't let me have the birth control without the physical no matter how hard I tried so I gave up. Was a hard time too. THey just might want me taking birth control with the cytotec. Then they might not either.

My Uro has told me over and over who cares what they think or say. It wasn't true adn I should listen to him. I did listen but I still feel like I've lost something and can't get it back. It's a long story and can't really explain it all here.

I do feel like I am crazy. I know I don't think right at all but going to a therapist won't help. My Uro has tried to get me to go but nothing will change things. That is part why I''m trying the celexa again but I can't seem to stay on it. DIdn't take any yesterday or today so far. I'm afraid of getting fatter and most people would say a person is crazy when they take those pills. Tho, no one knows I am. I wish I could just try everything for the IC without having to worry so much. I'm pretty much on my own with this.

[Baba Yaga]

OK. PW, I hope you don't worry too much. The cytotec is just one more thing to try, and may involve some struggle and discipline at first. If nobody yet has told you that they require you, PW, to be taking some sort of birth control pills, or fitted for a diaphragm or something, then don't worry about it until they say this to you, because it doesn't seem likely given your uro trusting you.

I'm sorry you have so many worries. They don't make you crazy. And in fact, even irrational hangups don't make a person crazy, nor do specific phobias, nor wounds over hurtful words. "Crazy" is being completely being departed from reality: concretely delusional and/or hearing voices/auditory hallucinations that you take to be real, or not being able to speak in coherent sentences. People call normal people crazy to insult them when they don't agree with them. Sometimes I do that when someone is a real jerk, and are doing things I cannot fathom - though not to their face.
But even for seriously mentally ill people, "crazy" is an insult, and you are not mentally ill in any way that could be taken as a complete split from reality or inability to function. You get on the computer, speak to us clearly, make it to your appointments, cook food for yourself, and do all kinds of things that make it obvious how well you function in reality. If anything, you are depressed, and afarid, and suffering physically.

I hope you can at least talk to somebody, even if they are not a psychotherapist, about what troubles you. It's not right for you to carry these burdens alone, and I hope they don't interfere with your care for your health indefinitely. I am glad that you can count on your uro for so much.

:grouphug:

[pottywoman]

Yeah Wendy, I'm trying not to worry about the birth control thing. He didn't mention it but did say how it is used for abortions. If he had perscribed it before I"m sure he would have let me have right there and then but he wants to talk to my GP first and then discuse it with me when I go back. I'm getting my hopes up that this pill will "cure" the IC for me. I'm really tired of wearing the tens unit and then maybe I can start exercising and having a life again. If he does say the Birth control thing when I see him I know I will be crushed. Very crushed so I'll wait and see. Will post what happens. Cross my fingers it goes all well.

I know people say things to me to be mean. They put me down all the time to make it seem that they are better. I have no kids or husband so therefore I'm useless and have all the time in the world.

[Baba Yaga]

You have said that your family has treated you that way, which is unfortunate in itself, but there are certainly medical professionals that would not behave that way toward you, and not having a husband or having ever been pregnant or given birth is not their business unless they are in certain specific types of medicine. You have a good relationship with your uro, it seems, so hopefully he can coordinate some of this stuff.

I am crossing my fingers for you, and really doubtful that you will be told you must be on birth control or see the gyno in order to get this medication. I do think they may try to encourage you to go to the gyno just to get a check up, though.

[Franny]

PW It sounds like you need to spend less time around some of these negative people offering you negative remarks. Everyone knows people like that but we need to stay clear of them as much as we can. Please surround yourself with things that make you feel happy - no matter how small that thing may be -start with that and you will begin to find more and more things that make you happy and feel good about yourself. Some people are definitely more sensitive than others and have a harder time breaking away from negative relationships but that being said, does not mean you cannot do it. Try recognizing when someone is just being mean and accept it as just that. Say to yourself: "this person is mean spirited I am glad I am not that way." then move on the best you can with your own pursuit of happiness. Everyday can get better and better.

[Baba Yaga]

And in your more vulnerable moments when it doesn't seem enough to be glad, say:
"This person is mean spirited and Franny and Baba respect me more than her/him."

[ICNDonna]

Please --- I urge you --- see a professional therapist. You don't think it would help, but it certainly can't hurt.

Sending encouraging hugs,
Donna