Anyone have remissions from rescue intills?

[mom_in_ma]

Ok...I'm starting rescue instills on Friday and I'm scared, but being brave. Has anyone actually gone into a remission from rescue instills?

[Sarojini]

I'm sure some have... I did not, but they are a HUGE help for me. I am really glad I learned to do them myself, too, because whenever I get "that feeling" in my bladder, I can just do one and often help stop a flare (or at least make it much more mild than it would have been)! :)

[kadi]

Depends what you mean by remission. I think of remission as no more IC, no medicines, no diet - gone. So, no.

But...
Have the instillations reduced my symptoms? YES! My symptoms are greatly reduced. I sleep well most nights, can exercise, can work without missing too many days, most days I do have some mild discomfort during the day, but at a very manageable level. Do I still have flares? yes. Do I still have to follow the diet? yes. Do I still need other meds? yes.

But here's the thing. Before the instills, all of my days were miserable. And if the symptoms spiked into completely horrid (which it did frequently) there was nothing I could do about it, except lose a day of work or my plans with family or friends, take Darvocet, cry.

With the instillations, the quality of my life is much improved, I can enjoy life again, work productively, & be a good family member & friend again. None of which I could do consistently well before the home instillations. And now if I wake up flaring (and by that I mean feeling the pain/frequency I used to feel all the time), I can do an instillation & 90% of the time, I feel good enough to go to work and have a nice ordinary day, without anyone but me knowing I woke up with a "problem".

They did take some adjustments, I had to try different catheter sizes & types & we had to tinker with the formula some to make them as great as they are now... Here's an article on different formulas & tips to try out if Friday proves helpful, but not comfortable.
http://www.ic-network.com/handbook/rescueinstillations.html

You may not need the article at all, but I always like to know there are options available so I don't feel like I'm at the end of the road:)

Good luck! I'll be praying these work out well for you.