kathleentopor
03-15-2008, 05:39 AM
It's been almost a month since I my last post here. At that time I was the only one posting so I felt like I was talking to myself, which I do quite a bit anyway. I am glad to see that places like the Cleveland clinic are looking into Cytotec. I am still taking it orally, and I am tolerating it pretty well. I do believe it is helping. I am also fascinated to see that some of the Doc's are telling their patients not to take NSAIDs. I discontinued all NSAIDs on my own, because I have suspected that they might be bad for the bladder. Since Cytotec is a prostaglandin, it makes sense to stop all NSAID's since the way that they work is to block the action of prostaglandins. I also suspect that this worst flare that I have ever had may have been triggered by heavy use of NSAID's after a herniated disk in my back. My experience with Cytotec is that you really have to work up the dosage slowly. I started with 100 mcg twice a day only. after a month, I worked up to 400 mcg/day. This seems to be enough for me. I think if you start with the full 600 mcg initially, you will have intolerable side effects. I also find the instill method of taking it very interesting. I don't think I'll need to go there as I can take it orally. I am also still taking elmiron, and the combination of both seems to have done the job. I will check back here from time to time as I am very interested in seeing how it is going for everyone. I wonder why no one is doing a clinical trial on this med. I'll bet its because the drug is already off patent, and therefore none of the fat cat drug companies will provide funding for such a study, because there are no profits to be made. Speaking of which, I saw someone here complaining that elmiron cost them $30. I just paid $1,400.00 for a three month supply of elmiron. (Yes, that's what it costs if you are paying for it without insurance). I sure wish the patent would expire on that one.