Suspected Interstitial Cystitis - Right side only?

[Lindastarr]

I am new to this site and have not been diagnosed as yet with IC. I thought I had a UTI but after 2 courses of antibiotics and 2 clean urine samples, my Dr. did an internal and found my vagina extremely tight and dry. She prescribed "Replens" lubrication and a 3rd urinalysis after a week to make sure that the blood in the urine was coming from the bladder and not from the dry vagina.

I have had urethral pain since last summer sometimes worse than others but it seems to be on the right side. I also have a heavy feeling sometimes on the right side of the vulva and lower abdomen more on the right.

Presently I am awaiting the results of a 3rd urinalysis before my doctor books the cystoscopy.

Does anyone else experience pain on one side only?

I had no idea about this disease until my Dr. mentioned it and this website has been extremely helpful to me.

Linda:cat:

[Kara29]

Linda,

After all of your tests come back and you get results and you are still suffering....you could ask your doctor about vuvludynia, vestibulitis and pudendal nerve entrapment. She may have some way of ruling these things out for you so you can better tell if it is in fact IC by elimination of other possibilities. IC is often times a diagnosis of exclusion by the appropriate IC testing. Maybe she will call in a Urolgist for help as well and they can work together to try to get to the root of the pain and get you on the road to some relief.

Kara

[Lindastarr]

Thank you for the advice Kara. Much appreciated.
Linda

[Kara29]

Oh yeah, I almost forgot.....you could also ask about being screened for all of the yeast and bacterial infections, skin conditions, STD's and such. (I know the STD topic seems horrible but it's a nice thing to have ruled out).

I've been going through all of this recently. It's all new to me and I've had a lot of women on here be of great support when I had questions about some of this stuff.

The ICN Patient Hanbook is a great place to start to find info about being diagnosed with IC and other conditions. http://www.ic-network.com/handbook/

Well Wishes,

Kara

[Lindastarr]

Hi Kara,
Since I haven't had sex for 15 years I'm not too worried about STD's. Haha. But thanks. You are right to include to suggest those. :)

[born2swim]

I don't really have pain (except for my periods or when I try to run), but the pain I do get is on my left side (imagine direcly over/under my left ovary). I heard it is not uncommon to have pain or symtpoms on one side and not the other. They diagnosed me with IC, but since the meds (and many many meds we have tried) don't help, they are doing exploratory surgery in August to rule out endometriosis. So... pelvic pain can have other causes, but a cytoscope is a good step in determining if you have IC or not! (on mine, nothing abnormal was present, but I also didn't have the hydrodistension where abnormalities are more likely to be seen with mild IC).

[Lindastarr]

That's what I feel too, Alyssa...I was worried that it might be ovarian cancer since if I pressed into my right abdomen I had pain but noticed if I stretch, the pain goes from the urethra up the right abdomen. I have to look up all these new medical terms since I'm totally new to this (i.e., gastroparesis). I am in awe of everything many of the people posting to this site have gone through. My symptoms are fairly mild most of the time so far, with a few bad days. Good luck with your surgery. I really appreciate your reply. Thanks.
Linda