Newbie here ..

[harleygal]

Hi... my name is Tina and I live in central Ontario.

I was diagnosed with IC in early 2004 but not before living thru a nightmare. I have been taking Elmiron for the past 4 years, 3 x dailty 100 mg each time. Seemed to be helping until recently. I am now having flare up's mthly, sometimes staying for 2 weeks. Today I have an appt to discuss pain management with my doctor. Not many GP's understand IC in Canada and my Urol. indicated he would prefer I use my GP for this. Wish me luck... I may need it.

It has been great to read that I am not alone... thank you for providing this site.

T

[leelee88]

Hello Tina! Glad you found us.. I am sorry to hear you are flaring.. I hope you are sticking to the IC diet. I have found during the times my bladder is vunerable the diet can be a life savor...Also please remb to up your water intake.. It is very important to keep your urine diluted during a flare..

Keep in mind there are other treatments for IC..

Also I have a link on my signature to the Patient Handbook. You can find some great things in there so check it out. Again :welcome:

[SharonA]

:welcome: to the ICN... :)

[Renee11]

Hi Tina, welcome!

I'm new here, too, and recently diagnosed with IC. I noticed that while I am flaring, if I drink a lot of water it really helps with the burning pain. Having flare ups for two weeks is not fun. I hope you get to feeling better soon!

Take care,
Renee

[lisabar36]

Hi and :welcome: I am glad you found us. I want to wish you luck at your appointment. One thing thats is good to do, is print info on IC and take it with you. That way if the doctor doesn't know much, you have info with you. I have found this to be helpful to me in the past. I hope your appointment goes well and they will manage your pain. :) Lisa

[harleygal]

Thank you all... The flare up seems to have subsided.. for which I am grateful. It has been 3 weeks now and I am relatively pain free!

Yes water and diet play a large roll in recovery, I have always been a big water fan and have learned over the years to manage my diet fairly well. There are many things I hate to give up so I know that if I am eating, lets say tomatoes for dinner that I can't have any other thing that day that I know will give me grief. I have become a great juggler!

It seems the new GP I have knows a little about IC and was a very good listener. She said she had an idea how she was going to treat the pain, and also indicated that because this is life long that she was reluctant to just hand out the usual pain meds because she suspected that years of those could be even more damaging for. In fact she said.. lets save the best for when you really need it. So she prescribed Mefenamic for now and suggested I keep a diary on how it worked for me over the next couple of months and then get back to her. But so far so good .. I have not had to use it.

Tina