Renee11
07-30-2008, 03:41 PM
Hi everyone!
First of all, I just wanted to say that all of you suffering with this terrible disease are angels and truly heroes and survivors. :angel: IC is NOT easy to deal with and I feel all your pain. I understand all the mixed emotions and physical and psychological pain that comes along with this disease. I am right along side all of you, as I suffer as well. By the way, my name is Renee, I am 31 years old, I've been married to my husband since 2001 although we've been together since 1996; we are high school sweethearts! :) We have 2 dogs and 2 cats which we spoil to death...they love every minute of it and so do we! :lmao:
With that being said, I was just formally diagnosed yesterday by my urologist. I have been having IC symptoms since April 1st (yes, April Fool's Day! Looks like the joke's on me!) of this year. I want to believe that my symptoms started after I had a fall while running on my treadmill, because just a few short weeks after that incident, I began having frequent and urgent urination and some pressure in my pelvic area and lower back pain. Since then it has been downhill and I've developed different symptoms which I didn't have for the first month or two, like burning in the urethra area after eating tomato sauce (yike's). I also out of the blue developed IBS during the last few weeks. Not fun. :tsk:
My uro did an in-office cystoscopy a few months back and said my bladder looked fine. Since I've been complaining so much he decided to have me do the urodynamics test, which I did just last week. The results showed that my bladder capacity was 550 cc's and the only other thing he said is that when I go to urinate, my bladder/pelvic muscles tighten and spasm and my urine doesn't completely empty. I'm not sure if that is related to IC or not? He diagnosed me based on my test results and by my symptoms. He didn't bring up the hydrodistension under anesthesia and I didn't ask about it, but I'm thinking maybe I should since it has been known to be therapeutic in some people. I just hate the thought of anesthesia. I've never had to be put under before, for some reason it scares me to even think about it. :loco:
As far as my medications go, I'm already taking Elavil (past 7 yrs.) and Neurontin (past 5 yrs.) for my migraines, which I'm glad I already take since that might be why my pain level isn't through the roof! My uro wants to try Elmiron instillations within the next few weeks. He also put me on Urelle which has been helping a lot with the frequency and burning. :woohoo:
Overall, I am completely disappointed with my diagnosis, but I can't let it bring me down. I won't let it. As the saying goes..."what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger." I try to keep my spirits up as best as possible. I also suffer from incapacitating migraines which I've had since I was a pre-teen, so I am not new to pain and discomfort. It is part of me day in and day out. :bonk:
Thank you for reading this and big thanks to this site...it is truly a life-saver (and sanity saver, too!) :smile tee
First of all, I just wanted to say that all of you suffering with this terrible disease are angels and truly heroes and survivors. :angel: IC is NOT easy to deal with and I feel all your pain. I understand all the mixed emotions and physical and psychological pain that comes along with this disease. I am right along side all of you, as I suffer as well. By the way, my name is Renee, I am 31 years old, I've been married to my husband since 2001 although we've been together since 1996; we are high school sweethearts! :) We have 2 dogs and 2 cats which we spoil to death...they love every minute of it and so do we! :lmao:
With that being said, I was just formally diagnosed yesterday by my urologist. I have been having IC symptoms since April 1st (yes, April Fool's Day! Looks like the joke's on me!) of this year. I want to believe that my symptoms started after I had a fall while running on my treadmill, because just a few short weeks after that incident, I began having frequent and urgent urination and some pressure in my pelvic area and lower back pain. Since then it has been downhill and I've developed different symptoms which I didn't have for the first month or two, like burning in the urethra area after eating tomato sauce (yike's). I also out of the blue developed IBS during the last few weeks. Not fun. :tsk:
My uro did an in-office cystoscopy a few months back and said my bladder looked fine. Since I've been complaining so much he decided to have me do the urodynamics test, which I did just last week. The results showed that my bladder capacity was 550 cc's and the only other thing he said is that when I go to urinate, my bladder/pelvic muscles tighten and spasm and my urine doesn't completely empty. I'm not sure if that is related to IC or not? He diagnosed me based on my test results and by my symptoms. He didn't bring up the hydrodistension under anesthesia and I didn't ask about it, but I'm thinking maybe I should since it has been known to be therapeutic in some people. I just hate the thought of anesthesia. I've never had to be put under before, for some reason it scares me to even think about it. :loco:
As far as my medications go, I'm already taking Elavil (past 7 yrs.) and Neurontin (past 5 yrs.) for my migraines, which I'm glad I already take since that might be why my pain level isn't through the roof! My uro wants to try Elmiron instillations within the next few weeks. He also put me on Urelle which has been helping a lot with the frequency and burning. :woohoo:
Overall, I am completely disappointed with my diagnosis, but I can't let it bring me down. I won't let it. As the saying goes..."what doesn't kill you will only make you stronger." I try to keep my spirits up as best as possible. I also suffer from incapacitating migraines which I've had since I was a pre-teen, so I am not new to pain and discomfort. It is part of me day in and day out. :bonk:
Thank you for reading this and big thanks to this site...it is truly a life-saver (and sanity saver, too!) :smile tee