How do you cope?

[superkitty]

Hi,

I am so depressed and its hard for me to get thru the day at work. I have been on medication for two weeks and I know it takes a while for it to work and I am seeing a therapist once a week. I wanted to see if anyone has any advice on how to cope and get thru the day? It's really hard for me to focus on my job and I really just want to cry. Any advice on what to do between therapy appointments? Any advice on making it thru the day at work? Any sugggestions on books to read? Thanks!:help:

[kadi]

Hi there SuperKitty (love your name!),
Just wanted to give you a little encouragement. You are right now in the hardest part of IC, figuring out what works for you. If you're not on the diet yet, I really recommend it. Click on the link to Patient Handbook at the top of this page & go to the diet section. A lot of people find some relief in modifying what they eat & drink. It takes a couple of weeks on the diet for it to work, so keep that in mind too...

For books, "The Chronic Illness Workbook" was very helpful to me; it gives specific strategies for handling each of the stages in chronic illness. And it especially gives good strategies for the place you are in right now. I got it from Amazon. If you have a church affiliation, you might consider talking with a pastor--that helped me a lot, especially since my family was also in crisis over other issues at the time I got sick.

Hang in there. What really helped me at that early stage of IC was to just take one day at a time. Just do one thing at a time. And give yourself permission to just be in a "holding pattern" for now, don't take on life issues or goals right now. Just take it one day at a time.

Also, just so you know, I was very very sick with IC when I got it a few years ago. (Voiding 50+ times a day, unable to sleep, wear pants, exercise, drive any distances, barely able to make it through a work day.) Now that I have found my personal combination of treatments, I am feeling pretty good most days. This past school year, I worked fulltime as a teacher, took a graduate level class,completed a lay ministry counseling training program at my church. I wear jeans all the time, can exercise moderately, can travel. In fact, my mom & I are taking a trip this coming week:) So, just want to tell you that to give you hope; that just because you feel bad right now, doesn't mean it's forever. Most IC patients do find treatments that work & have perfectly fine lives.

Sending an encouraging hug & wishing you better days soon!

[armslee]

Hi Kitty-
:grouphug:
I really can understand your feelings as I have dealt with them myself. Having IC is hard enough. Having IC and working fulltime is almost maddening.
The one thing that worked best for me was swapping my antidepressant from Cymbalta to Lexapro. Lexapro works better for anxiety, which I have ALOT of! Have you discussed this with your physician? Have you let him or her know exactly how you feel mentally? I truly believe that there has to be harmony within the mind and body for there to be any hope for healing. Once I was able to get my anxiety and emotions more under control, my physical symptoms began to get more tolerable.

Now regarding working full time:
I still do. And it is still a horrific struggle for me. After my last visit with my doctor, he asked me what I felt caused most of my pain and I told him my job. The sitting just kills me. At home in the evenings, or on the weekends I feel much better. AT work though I am forced to take pain medication just to make it through the day.

Try to make your work enviornment as comfortable as possible. Read up on as much about IC as you can. Check your local library for books on Chronic Illness. There are some good ones out there that cover multiple diseases.

Please let me know if I can help you, answer any questions or just offer support.

Hugs,