ttc q.

[designergirl9]

my husband and I have been ttc for the last year. I am in a semi-remission..all I take is 200mg of elmiron a day with no pain or severe problems. I can sleep all night and go several hours at a time without having issues. my problem is I haven't been able to go below the 200mgs without having a setback. Is it safe for me to continue taking this while we are ttc? I know the minute I found out I would probably have to stop but I am wondering if its better to take the low dose until I find out esp since we are having no luck versus being in lots of pain?

my husband is in the military and my uro is back in my homestate and they wont answer questions like this over the phone so I am just trying to get other peoples thoughts, opinions and experiences.

thanks!

[July]

I'm not sure. We are ttc, and my dr. said he'd take me off the Elmiron as soon as pregnancy was confirmed.

[holles]

i was told to stop while ttc. but then again, that was back in 2003. who knows if they've learned anything new since then?

[massagedoula]

My uro told me to stop when TTC and stay off through pregnancy. She told me this recently, and she is the regional IC specialist, so I trust her answer. It may be possible to go back on when breastfeeding, as the Elmiron does not seem to pass through to breast milk, but best to check in with your care provider.

I will deal with the pain of stopping if it means I will have a healthy baby. Elmiron had helped me immensely, but I also want to get pregnant in the next 2 years. I will take the drug until we start TTC, then I will go off of it. I think it is the safest option out there. I am unsure if I will go back on when breastfeeding or wait....Who knows what I will feel like at the time, anyway?!

[KeeKee]

Hi Designergirl9,

Looks like our situations are very similar. I have very mild IC and am able to control it with 200 mg of Elmiron a day, like you. But, I'm also taking Zyrtec as well. Hubby and I are currently trying to conceive and have been for about 10 months. My ob/gyn said it was fine for me to stay on Elmiron both while trying to conceive and during pregnancy. In fact, she advised me to stay on it, saying that if I get into a situation where I'm in severe pain, that wouldn't be good for me or the baby. I've read many other posts where people stay on Elmiron during their pregnancy at their doctor's advise and they've have no problems. I do believe, however, that it is a very personal decision and definitely should be thought about carefully and discussed with your doctor. I plan on trying to go off it entirely when I actually do get pregnant because the less medication you can be on the better as far as I'm concerned, but if I'm not able to go off it, I'm not worried about continuing the Elmiron. Good luck with TTC!!!

[teelag]

My OB said to stay on my IC meds (Elmiron 400 mg, Elavil 10 mg) until I had a positive pregnancy test. My uro said to go off all meds while TTC. I knew that quitting the IC meds was going to flare my bladder, and then that would make it hard to even do the baby making part of the process!

I decided to listen to my OB, quit all meds when I found out I was pregnant, and had a beautiful, healthy baby girl 10 months ago.

Incidentally, my first trimester was pretty hard with hormones raging and IC meds gone, but things were tolerable the second and third trimester. Not a remission, but I could deal with it.