momraine
01-31-2007, 12:11 AM
A few days ago I had never heard of IC. My primary care physician brought it up to me a few days ago. He says, he is thinking this is what I have, but he will find a urologist who can officially diagnose me.
Ten years ago at the age of 30, I had a hysterectomy because of endometriosis. Five years ago I got an unofficial diagnosis of Lupus. I have a pretty high pain tolerance and so tended to ignore things till they were bad. I had no idea how bad the endo had gotten till after surgery and then I was astounded at how good I felt (after I recovered).
Anyway, I have always had frequent UTI's. The last few years, I have not been able to go more than an hour between trips to the bathroom. I had just lived with it, figuring it was part of having had kids, even though I only gave birth twice since two of my kids are adopted. When I started having accidents if I could not get to a bathroom fast enough, I just bought pads. When the "gotta go" commercials started, my kids said "that's you mom!" I went to a urologist who was not good, he specialized in prostate problems, and perscribed drugs that not only did not work, but later I found out could have been dangerous. I stopped going to him when I was in the hospital for MRSA and he called and chewed me out for cancelling an appointment. He made me feel like i was doing something on purpose. (like I enjoy the embarresment of wetting my pants!) Anyway, fast forward, I moved and recently changed doctors due to my doctor moving. I casually asked if there were other drugs I could try to solve this problem. He mentioned a few I had already tried. He mentioned that even though I had been on antibiotics I was still showing blood in my urine. When I informed him that this had been the case every single time urine was taken and that I knew from experience antibiotics would not touch it. He asked me how long I had been in pain and why I had not complained. When I told him about ten years he started telling me about IC. He knew I was tired a lot, even though I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and sleep with a C-pap. So I went home and visited this and other sites. I had not told him about the pain with intercourse I had been having for years. (though dh picked up on that right away when I showed him the site)
Anyway, I am glad to have found this, hope that we get a real diagnosis soon. I am a mom of four, one of whom has a lot of appointments because of her two prosthetic legs, another child who is a full time power wheelchair user, a teen ager(that's a disability in itself, LOL) and another one. I just started nursing school. I really don't have time to go to the bathroom every half hour. I am worried about how I will handle clincals if I don't have a bathroom handy.
Anyway, so do you guys think my doctor is right? It's going to take sometime to get an official diagnosis. I live in a small town and will have to drive a ways to find a doctor who can help me. Anyway, any advice is welcome, if anyone made it through this long, long post.
Lorraine
Ten years ago at the age of 30, I had a hysterectomy because of endometriosis. Five years ago I got an unofficial diagnosis of Lupus. I have a pretty high pain tolerance and so tended to ignore things till they were bad. I had no idea how bad the endo had gotten till after surgery and then I was astounded at how good I felt (after I recovered).
Anyway, I have always had frequent UTI's. The last few years, I have not been able to go more than an hour between trips to the bathroom. I had just lived with it, figuring it was part of having had kids, even though I only gave birth twice since two of my kids are adopted. When I started having accidents if I could not get to a bathroom fast enough, I just bought pads. When the "gotta go" commercials started, my kids said "that's you mom!" I went to a urologist who was not good, he specialized in prostate problems, and perscribed drugs that not only did not work, but later I found out could have been dangerous. I stopped going to him when I was in the hospital for MRSA and he called and chewed me out for cancelling an appointment. He made me feel like i was doing something on purpose. (like I enjoy the embarresment of wetting my pants!) Anyway, fast forward, I moved and recently changed doctors due to my doctor moving. I casually asked if there were other drugs I could try to solve this problem. He mentioned a few I had already tried. He mentioned that even though I had been on antibiotics I was still showing blood in my urine. When I informed him that this had been the case every single time urine was taken and that I knew from experience antibiotics would not touch it. He asked me how long I had been in pain and why I had not complained. When I told him about ten years he started telling me about IC. He knew I was tired a lot, even though I was diagnosed with sleep apnea and sleep with a C-pap. So I went home and visited this and other sites. I had not told him about the pain with intercourse I had been having for years. (though dh picked up on that right away when I showed him the site)
Anyway, I am glad to have found this, hope that we get a real diagnosis soon. I am a mom of four, one of whom has a lot of appointments because of her two prosthetic legs, another child who is a full time power wheelchair user, a teen ager(that's a disability in itself, LOL) and another one. I just started nursing school. I really don't have time to go to the bathroom every half hour. I am worried about how I will handle clincals if I don't have a bathroom handy.
Anyway, so do you guys think my doctor is right? It's going to take sometime to get an official diagnosis. I live in a small town and will have to drive a ways to find a doctor who can help me. Anyway, any advice is welcome, if anyone made it through this long, long post.
Lorraine