Lari
02-04-2008, 08:05 AM
After ten years of experiencing frequent urination and urgency I was diagnosed a few days ago with the early stages of IC. I was completely convinced that I didn't have IC and that it was mostly in my head after taking Detrol and other similar medications that didn't work. I usually don't experience pain and if I do it's very temporary. I do however have a frequent need to use the bathroom that made sitting through a car trip after 10 minutes extremely unpleasant.
I learned over the years on my own to ignore my bladder when I knew that it felt irrated rather than full. But my ability to do that became difficult once bathrooms weren't easily accessible and I thought people were noticing my frequent bathroom trips. This would last for weeks and the constant attention that my bladder demanded and the thoughts that I might be home bound because of my increased feelings of urgency scared me so much that I would have anxiety attacks. That finally led to depression and when I felt suicidal I sought the help of a psychologist. She told me that I should rule out any medical causes as well as deal with my anxiety. Since then I've been on anti-depressant medication which I would rather not have to take.
Finally after ten years I saw another urologist who ran a lot of tests on me and found that my bladder was slightly inflamed and that my pelvic floor muscle never fully relaxes. She also said that I need to take care of the symptoms now before they get worse. So now I have to go on the IC diet which seems pretty daunting since most foods available have preservatives.
Does anyone else have IC without the pain? And how hard is the diet to follow?
Thanks
I learned over the years on my own to ignore my bladder when I knew that it felt irrated rather than full. But my ability to do that became difficult once bathrooms weren't easily accessible and I thought people were noticing my frequent bathroom trips. This would last for weeks and the constant attention that my bladder demanded and the thoughts that I might be home bound because of my increased feelings of urgency scared me so much that I would have anxiety attacks. That finally led to depression and when I felt suicidal I sought the help of a psychologist. She told me that I should rule out any medical causes as well as deal with my anxiety. Since then I've been on anti-depressant medication which I would rather not have to take.
Finally after ten years I saw another urologist who ran a lot of tests on me and found that my bladder was slightly inflamed and that my pelvic floor muscle never fully relaxes. She also said that I need to take care of the symptoms now before they get worse. So now I have to go on the IC diet which seems pretty daunting since most foods available have preservatives.
Does anyone else have IC without the pain? And how hard is the diet to follow?
Thanks