mitraillette
04-05-2006, 05:46 PM
Hello, I’m 31 years old, and was diagnosed with IC a year ago. I’m very happy to see this community is so active because we need all the help we can get with this painful and frustrating condition.
So I’ll give you the rundown on my story. Like many others in this forum, I started with my IC after a string of urinary tract infections (bladder infections). I was on antibiotics for 30% of the year 2005. In between infections I noticed that I still felt some UTI symptoms like painful bladder, frequent urination. But when I’d get tested for a UTI I’d be negative. Things started to deteriorate because the pain grew worse, and I had no idea how to fix it. I’d always been a happily married woman who loved sex, but because of the pain I was now avoiding it like the guillotine. Also, being a Cajun girl I love spicy food, alcohol, and strong coffee, but these were irritating me so badly that I had to stop ingesting all of the above. All I can say is: No sex + no wine + no haute cuisine = extremely depressed French girl.
After about two months of this I started seeing an urologist for further investigation. She diagnosed me with IC, and told me there was little that could be done about it medically. Then she directed me to this website! Needless to say I was devastated at the thought of doing the “pee pee dance” for the rest of my life, but I went home and consulted ye olde internet.
After reading through a lot of this website last summer, I learned about Prelief and diet alterations, and things were going much better for a while. Then Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans (where I lived) and things went downhill for my poor bladder. Living as a refugee made it hard for me to regulate my diet or obtain Prelief, but I managed by drinking as much water as possible, and avoiding acidic foods. But being under so much stress I still experienced a lot of pain.
Things are looking up though. Three months later I moved to Seattle where I began participating in an IC medical study at the University of Washington. They have been taking excellent care of me, and I’m very grateful to be a part of it. Also, (except for their obsessive love of coffee) people here in Seattle eat much milder food than us New Orleanians do (and don’t hang out in bars as much ;-) ) so I’m finding it easier to adapt to my new diet here. I’m learning to control my IC better every day, and while I still get bad flare ups no matter how hard I try, I feel like my quality of life will get better if I’m persistent and continue to troubleshoot this problem.
I’m a fighter. But even so, I still need support, and my ability to cope – your ability to cope with this condition is stronger if you have others to talk to about it. So kudos to this community!
So I’ll give you the rundown on my story. Like many others in this forum, I started with my IC after a string of urinary tract infections (bladder infections). I was on antibiotics for 30% of the year 2005. In between infections I noticed that I still felt some UTI symptoms like painful bladder, frequent urination. But when I’d get tested for a UTI I’d be negative. Things started to deteriorate because the pain grew worse, and I had no idea how to fix it. I’d always been a happily married woman who loved sex, but because of the pain I was now avoiding it like the guillotine. Also, being a Cajun girl I love spicy food, alcohol, and strong coffee, but these were irritating me so badly that I had to stop ingesting all of the above. All I can say is: No sex + no wine + no haute cuisine = extremely depressed French girl.
After about two months of this I started seeing an urologist for further investigation. She diagnosed me with IC, and told me there was little that could be done about it medically. Then she directed me to this website! Needless to say I was devastated at the thought of doing the “pee pee dance” for the rest of my life, but I went home and consulted ye olde internet.
After reading through a lot of this website last summer, I learned about Prelief and diet alterations, and things were going much better for a while. Then Hurricane Katrina destroyed New Orleans (where I lived) and things went downhill for my poor bladder. Living as a refugee made it hard for me to regulate my diet or obtain Prelief, but I managed by drinking as much water as possible, and avoiding acidic foods. But being under so much stress I still experienced a lot of pain.
Things are looking up though. Three months later I moved to Seattle where I began participating in an IC medical study at the University of Washington. They have been taking excellent care of me, and I’m very grateful to be a part of it. Also, (except for their obsessive love of coffee) people here in Seattle eat much milder food than us New Orleanians do (and don’t hang out in bars as much ;-) ) so I’m finding it easier to adapt to my new diet here. I’m learning to control my IC better every day, and while I still get bad flare ups no matter how hard I try, I feel like my quality of life will get better if I’m persistent and continue to troubleshoot this problem.
I’m a fighter. But even so, I still need support, and my ability to cope – your ability to cope with this condition is stronger if you have others to talk to about it. So kudos to this community!