Right Side Bladder/Urethra Pain For 6 Weeks!

[Flowerchild]

I've been on a 6 to 8 week bladder flare. Was in remission for quite awhile but not now! I have pain primarily in the right side of my baldder with a new symptom of urethra pain/pinching. The urethra discomfort is usually when I move a certain way..not when I pee. I am on or have tried a variety of meds...none really help. I've tried atarax, flexeril, neurontin, pyridium plus, librax, oxycodone. These only offer temporary relief at best. Anyway, I would love to hear from anyone with similar symptoms.
Hope everyone had a nice 4th. My bladder was on the grill along with the hamburger:lmao:
Flowerchild

[jen286]

My main symptom from the beginning of my IC has been urethral pain and burning. I do have bladder pain, but only on occasion. Sometimes it burns while urinating, and other times it just starts burning for no reason. I have been on oral elmiron for almost 5 months with no relief yet, and I have just started doing instillations. I am constantly trying to find other people with IC that have a main symptom of burning, but I have a hard time finding them. I hope you get to feeling better.

[glassd18]

I have the exact same symptoms as you Flowerchild. Always the pain on the right side (although that seems to have subsided for some reason), and when I'm about to flare or sometimes for no reason I have urethral burning that feels like pinching, and yes movement does affect how it feels. My description of it is like an Alien in the area!!! A temporary solution for me is 1/2 tsp of baking soda in water (if you have high blood pressure or on a low sodium diet this might not be good for you). This calms my bladder down, and the urethra. I also have been putting a cortizone cream (OTC) around my urethra and tissue surrounding the vaginal area, and this helps to cool things off quite a bit. I believe my symptoms are very hormone related, but like others here I have had a hard time figuring out why it's happening. Doctors can't seem to figure it out either. I have been tested for yeast (negative), STD's (negative -standard testing--I'm married, and wasn't worried,but apparently they wanted me to rule it out). CT Scan, pelvic MRI, and cystoscopy where they found urethral polyps (not the type that they can remove, but an indication of inflammation in the bladder) that do not seem to respond to the treatment they suggested. I have had difficulty finding a med that will help me due to side effects with either my bladder or other effects. I'm so sorry you are out of remission. What seemed to help you go into remission before?

My main bladder symptoms are:

Pressure
Frequency
Urethral burning
Hesitancy
Sometimes urgency

[littlemyrn]

My main troubles are right sided pain and a pulling/pinching feeling. I have gone through a hugh ordeal recently with it getting worse and my URO ordered a CT and they found free fluid, I have had a complete hysto so she was concerned, long story short and 3 specialist later I am scheduled for surgery on August 18 for the removal of my appendix and my gyno will be doing a complete lapro to release major endo adhesions and look for other causes of this free fluid. Two surgeons working together, that is why I have to wait so long. The surgeon I saw reviewed my CT and after listening to my symptoms and doing an exam pushing on right side near hip bone which causes terrible pain, believes I have what is called "Chronix Appendicitis" which means it flares just like the bladder. That is when I am nauseated, tired low grade fever and terrible right side pain. He is the Chief of Staff at our hospital and he has known my family for as long as I can remember, so I trust him completely. The thing is I saw my gyno first and she was reluctant to do a lapro although she knows that I have always had endo and I am on HRT and reading Mayo's website endo can grow back even after hysterectomy so I tell the surgeon that and he said if I call her she will do it, well that was at 4:30 in the afternoon and 8:00 the next morning his nurse was calling me with date and time. I guess it pays to go to the head guy.

So if the pain in always on the right side I have found it could not be your bladder, I also saw a GI dr. it could be from that or other things. So you may want to go further and try and get to the bottom of it.

Good Luck...

[glassd18]

What bothers me is that since I had a pelvic MRI 1 1/2 yrs ago, and CT Scan in Jan 2006 doctors won't do these tests again as they came up negative (except for a small fibroid). I always worry that if something new crops up they will push it off to my bladder problem, and will go untreated. I had a friend who had Fibromyalgia, and he had pain in his legs, but thought it was his Fibro, and it ended up being a clot that traveled and he had a heart attack and died. I had this pain two years ago and had a CT Scan done then and they saw nothing at the time. I'm seeing a GI dr on the 24th of July, and then going for a colonoscopy (I'm high risk for colon cancer).

[Flowerchild]

glassd18,

I am thinking of calling a gyn/pelvic floor doc to get another opinion. I have a friend with IC and numerous other prolems. She was having bladder/pelvic pain and found out it was from some fragmental ovarian tissue that had been left behind after surgery which had grown and was the source of the problem.

I really don't know what helped me into remission. I started Algonot at that time, very strict IC diet and lots of prayer. I wish it would go away now.

All the Best to You!

[glassd18]

Well I hope and pray that it goes back to whereever it came from again Flowerchild. Thanks for answering. I hope you get some satisfactory answers. I know with this disease I feel so frustrated with doctors as so many different things seem to be happening at once. Good luck, and keep us posted.

[TexasHoney]

Flowerchild, I hope you are feeling better by now.

[Flowerchild]

I stopped all meds 3 days ago, including my oral estradiol and only using estrace cream externally. My bladder is so hyper sensitive to medications since my last surgery in 2002, that I felt it would be a good idea to cold turkey on it all for about 10 days and see what happens.

Well, the right side pain & discomfort is better but is more centered and lower. Overall, I have had a decrease in symptoms...I'd say about 30%. It's not so inflamed feeling but it's still lurking for sure.

Amazingly, I have not had many menopausal symptoms....yet. After 5 1/2 years of estrogen patches & pills, maybe I can get off the stuff & still feel ok without it. Cancer runs in my family so that would be a good thing.

I saw my Uro a few days back and had my first bladder cocktail. My bladder was so numb that I held it in for 3 hours with no problem. Feeling nothing felt great! But after I let it out, it was quickly over. He gave me more rx's..Elavil, Utiva-C & more estrace cream. I have not tried the Utiva which is like pyridium but blue. Nor have I tried the Elavil but I might. My nerves could stand a breather if my bladder can stand the medicine.

I am continuing to pray,pray, pray for myself and all the women stricken with this painful, weird & misunderstood IC burden.
It is such a comfort to be among others on here who understand. I am so grateful for this site:pray:

Flowerchild