scott777
01-03-2007, 07:57 AM
I was just diagnosed with IC yesterday. The urologist pretty much told me the diagnosis is due to the fact that everything else was ruled out. I am a 29 yr old male, non smoker, drink rarely, 6'3'', 205lbs, athletic build. For me I first noticed I had an urge about 10 times a day back in Nov 2005. I first went to my PCP who treated me with an antibiotic and checked my prostate. He said the prostate was fine and the antibiotic did not work.
I then went to a uroligist who had a CT scan done to check for stones. He told me I had overactive bladder and my CT Scan and urine tests were fine. I didn't understand how one day I could wake up and have this problem without it being muscular. They put me on Ditropan XL.
I went to a 2nd urologist over the summer who did a cystoscope in office with no anesthesia. Needless to say I wimpered like a dog in trouble the whole time. They said my bladder looked good and told me to stop the ditropan and retrain my bladder. If I feel the need to urinate, hold it as long as I can.
I wasn't happy with this so I called my PCP again and was referred to a surgeon to check for hernia. The disomfort I felt since day one seems to be on more in the lower left quadrant, extending down to the groin and slightly left of my bladder. There is a slight pain that feels muscular or like a tendon strain in my left groin area when I lift my left knee up toward my chest. The surgeon had a MRI done and results were negative.
I next went to a gastroentologist to check my signmoid colon which is on the lower left side. He put me on prozac which is sometimes used for IBS which did nothing for me. I scheduled a sigmoidoscopy for Feb. because pushing on my sigmoid is a feeling of nausea.
While waiting for the sigmoidoscopy appt. I had a really bad flare up around 12/17 where I almost constantly felt an urge or some discomfort even after urinating. I went back to the original urologist who performed urodynamics testing. They said my bladder is definitely overactive. When my bladder feels it's going to explode, it's still 200cc less than a normal bladder telling someone it's needs to go. That's when they told me they think it's IC.
I was prescribed Elmiron 100mg 3 per day, hydroxyzine hcl 25mg 1 per day, and Ditropan 10mg 1 per day.
I am hoping this works. Some days/weeks I feel pretty good. Other times there is a flare up in which the entire day/week I feel an urge or discomfort almost constantly. It's more noticeable when I am walking and especially jogging/running. During flareups I wake up 2-3 times per night to go and each time the urge is really strong and annoying. But, other times when it's feeling better I can make it the entire night without going. During flareups the stream is weak and I feel I need to push harder than I should. I also tend to dribble afterwards which is annoying.
I read about how not drinking water, and drinking a lot of soda/fruit juice, etc... could bring on this condition. I almost never drink/drank water so that certainly could have been the cause. I probably drink about a pt of water every 2-3 days on avg. Normally even before the urges began I would drink 2-3 cups of 1% milk, 2-3 cans of soda or diet soda and maybe 1-2 cups of apple/cranberry juice or gatorade per day.
I don't think I want to change my diet yet. By doing so I won't know if the medication is working or the diet change. I am going to give the medication a try first to see what happens. I will probably replace soda with water a bit more often though.
It's great to see everyone coming together to chat about this, although it be better if there was a quick cure and no such IC forum. I'll make sure to check in weekly and provide updates if something works for me.
Scott
I then went to a uroligist who had a CT scan done to check for stones. He told me I had overactive bladder and my CT Scan and urine tests were fine. I didn't understand how one day I could wake up and have this problem without it being muscular. They put me on Ditropan XL.
I went to a 2nd urologist over the summer who did a cystoscope in office with no anesthesia. Needless to say I wimpered like a dog in trouble the whole time. They said my bladder looked good and told me to stop the ditropan and retrain my bladder. If I feel the need to urinate, hold it as long as I can.
I wasn't happy with this so I called my PCP again and was referred to a surgeon to check for hernia. The disomfort I felt since day one seems to be on more in the lower left quadrant, extending down to the groin and slightly left of my bladder. There is a slight pain that feels muscular or like a tendon strain in my left groin area when I lift my left knee up toward my chest. The surgeon had a MRI done and results were negative.
I next went to a gastroentologist to check my signmoid colon which is on the lower left side. He put me on prozac which is sometimes used for IBS which did nothing for me. I scheduled a sigmoidoscopy for Feb. because pushing on my sigmoid is a feeling of nausea.
While waiting for the sigmoidoscopy appt. I had a really bad flare up around 12/17 where I almost constantly felt an urge or some discomfort even after urinating. I went back to the original urologist who performed urodynamics testing. They said my bladder is definitely overactive. When my bladder feels it's going to explode, it's still 200cc less than a normal bladder telling someone it's needs to go. That's when they told me they think it's IC.
I was prescribed Elmiron 100mg 3 per day, hydroxyzine hcl 25mg 1 per day, and Ditropan 10mg 1 per day.
I am hoping this works. Some days/weeks I feel pretty good. Other times there is a flare up in which the entire day/week I feel an urge or discomfort almost constantly. It's more noticeable when I am walking and especially jogging/running. During flareups I wake up 2-3 times per night to go and each time the urge is really strong and annoying. But, other times when it's feeling better I can make it the entire night without going. During flareups the stream is weak and I feel I need to push harder than I should. I also tend to dribble afterwards which is annoying.
I read about how not drinking water, and drinking a lot of soda/fruit juice, etc... could bring on this condition. I almost never drink/drank water so that certainly could have been the cause. I probably drink about a pt of water every 2-3 days on avg. Normally even before the urges began I would drink 2-3 cups of 1% milk, 2-3 cans of soda or diet soda and maybe 1-2 cups of apple/cranberry juice or gatorade per day.
I don't think I want to change my diet yet. By doing so I won't know if the medication is working or the diet change. I am going to give the medication a try first to see what happens. I will probably replace soda with water a bit more often though.
It's great to see everyone coming together to chat about this, although it be better if there was a quick cure and no such IC forum. I'll make sure to check in weekly and provide updates if something works for me.
Scott