Any Success Stories Out There Please?

[Shelleynz]

I've also posted this on the Success Stories Board.

I'm about to try my 1st Rescue Instil. I've never had a bladder instil in my whole 13 years with IC so am feeling nervous.

What I can't understand is that that the IC doctors on this site claim a 95% success rate when this Board is full of horror stories.

It would help me a lot if there were some more positive posts. I'm not complaining about people who've had bad experiences posting - they need support too, but it would be nice to have more positive stories to balance out the scary ones.

Shelley

[kadi]

Hi Shelley,
Rescue instillations have helped me a lot. (See my post on the Success Stories board)

Hoping you have equally good or even better results!

[jjmowen]

I did rescue instills for several months with some success. I saw a decrease in frequency and pain. I did at home marcaine/elmiron instills. The awesome thing about them is the no feeling I had for several hours before emptying the marcaine. It was a wonderful break to not feel my bladder for a while.

If my urethra could handle the constant cathing I would have continued this therapy.

Good luck.

[dminton]

The heparin/marcaine/lidocaine instillations have really helped me. The key for me was getting lidocaine gel squirted into the urethra first, before the cath is put in, to ease any discomfort that may occur. I am not perfect by any means, but it's the first thing in 7 years that I can say helps and does not hurt. I did them twice a week in the uro office, now on my own when I need to. Good luck with it!

[Shelleynz]

Thanks everyone. That was very helpful. Diana, I know you, and have sent you some Private Messages.

[elsie3205]

I have done elmiron, marcaine instills daily for almost 2 years now. They have been a tremendous help.

[Kimchi]

I do Lidocaine, Sod Bicarb and Elmiron daily for over 1 yr and the frequency/urgency is a lot better. My pain level, it has not helped. W/o the treatments though, I would be in really bad shape. They are truly a blessing. You just have to get past being freaked about cathing yourself. A small cath works best, less pain. I use a 5 French which I think is the smallest. It's a child's catheter. Good luck, :hi:

[hoping4acure]

I did Elmiron, lidocaine, and bicarb treatments ALL the time which helped me a great deal.

Good luck!

[icsonja]

I do rescue instills with elmiron and lidocaine since before they had a name, and it has greatly helped my freqeuncy, but not pain. I do it my self after learning how to do it properly (sterile cath,betadine, gloves etc). It is my favorite time of the week, those blessed moments where I dont have to feel my bladder!
Dont be afraid, we can talk you thru it!
Sonja
email addy icsonja@sbcglobal.net