Am new and have "Flare" question...

[loriw]

If I am in the middle of a "Flare" and going to the bathroom ALL the time...should I drink more or less water?How long do "Flares" usually last?
Thanks!

[lnseagraves]

Hey,

If youre in a lot of pain (my flares are always painful) I would recommend drinking as much as possible. It seems counterintuitive (I have to have my husband FORCE me to drink, I'm really bad at making myself when I'm flaring) but it does help. The more you dilute the urine, the less painful it should be. More concentrated urine is much higher in acid so it is more painful. By drink more, though, I mean WATER. Juice, sodas, teas and coffees will make the flare worse in most cases. I also drink milk (and my flare standby, vanilla shakes) because they help me but I know that they also will increase some peoples flares so if your willing to try it, do but be wary.

As for how long they last.... well, there is no answer for that. Some flares last only a few hours. Some last days. Some weeks and I have heard of some poor women on this board who have had a flare for years..... Those are relatively RARE tho, so please don't worry about that right now. Worry and stress make flares worse.

To help recover, try to minimize stress, try to stick to the IC diet (if youre new here and don't know about the IC diet you can find it in the patient handbook), drink a lot of water, take a pyridium (uristat or azo are the otc names), rest, use a heat pack or ice pack on your pelvis to relax your pelvic muscles and help stop the bladder spasms, take a hot bath and if youre like me go to McDs or somewhere for a BIG vanilla milkshake... those ALWAYS make me feel better (even if for no other reason than it puts me in a good mood and helps me relax)

[Roxie2007]

Hi! Sorry to hear you are flaring. I hope your flare up and pain ends soon! Roxie

[Trishann]

Sorry you are in so much pain. As for the water, I would drink plenty of water but maybe not all at one time which may aggravated the pressure of the bladder.

Sending lots of hugs, Trishann

[ICNDonna]

You need to be drinking six to eight cups of water every day.

Donna

[cshell]

Dehydration bad!!! I always find my flairs are so much worse if I am dehydrated. I have been known to flair for that reason alone. Drink plenty of water, but not too quickly. Too much too fast just increases pressure and pain.

cshell