CWard3
08-06-2008, 11:14 AM
Hello everyone. I was diagnosed with IC at the end of June 2008. I believe my symptoms started a few years ago when I had 2 "urinary trace infections" in a row. Every time the culture came back I would get a call from a nurse saying there was no bacteria and I may have a UTI. I just chalked it up to them not knowing what they were talking about. Back then the antibiotics seemed to clear things up, however I did notice that I always peed just a little bit more throughout the day...
Soon after this I coincidentally started the South Beach Diet. I was really good with it for 2 years and in those two years I must say I had no symptoms. What motivated me to stay on that diet was that fact I was getting married. After the reception, I tried staying on it but found it harder and cheated way more than usual. Then in September of last year I had a sharp pain in my right side. It came in the morning after my shower and I nearly fell limp from the pain. I could almost feel my face go white. Later that day it came again. I thought it was just from my period or that it was what I called my "Mittelschmerz pain" (anyone else out there dealt with this pain? Its the pain felt when you ovulate- I first got mine around 14 years old and every month about 2 weeks after my period I would get a sharp pain on my left or right side that would last from a couple hours to a day-btw I never had a doctor tell me outright I was having Mittelschmerz pain, I just researched as a teen and its what made sense to me....well this pain just got more frequent and worse a few months before the pain I mentioned above in September)
Anyway, on that day I had a bowel movement and the pain went away as fast as it came. Days after, i began peeing more than usual and the sharp pain was now lasting for 3 days straight. When I went to the doctor they treated me for another UTI and possible kidney infection. The first round of antibiotics seemed to help again to a point but I was still peeing a little more than I thought I should be so I was put on 2 more rounds of antibiotics and no relief. I had a pelvic and abdominal ultrasound and 1 CT Scan to rule out kidney stones. All of which turned out normal. I was scheduled for a cystoscopy but then all my symptoms went away...
Now cut to this May when i began waking in the middle of the night to pee-I called the dr with no hesitation (and without seeing me ((arg!)) they put me on an antibiotic. No help. Another antibiotic again...I had relief for a week and then it returned. In June I had a gyno exam on the same day as an appt with my urologist.
To my surprise the gyno found a piece of plastic in me (from the O.B. tampons packaging) I desperately hung to the notion that this is what was causing my misery. The urologist later that day was not impressed. He put me on Elavil and i scheduled a cystoscopy to rule out IC. Later that week on my way to the cystoscopy I got my period. As a result, the urologist would not go ahead with the cysto and instead gave me a prescription for Elmiron. I have been on both since then.
Right now I believe the Elmiron has started to work. I no longer feel the urge to urinate stemming from the pain in my bladder. Instead I feel it now all in my urethra and my pelvic muscles are so tight I have to concentrate on relaxing them. The slightest bit of concentration on something else (such as writing this) causes them to contract and tighten again. I'm realizing I probably have PFD and have called the gyno(who works with a gyno/urologist) and the urologist again. Now I'm seeing who can call me back first and who has experience treating PFD.
The PFD seems trickier to handle than the IC. -The PFD makes me not want to leave for the simplest errand.
I realize I have been lucky through all this-I'm a teacher and have had the luxury of not working the past few months, but I don't know how I'll be when school starts again in a couple of weeks. I guess I'll plug right along like i did last year. Class meeting and conferences are going to be tricky if this keeps up and I don't know how I'm going to pull those off. My husband has been the greatest and so has my family. I'm also lucky that I have so much hope the diet will help me since South Beach and the IC diet have a lot in common.
This site and all of you out there, I have a feeling, will also get me through this. Any thoughts or suggestions are all welcome here. I hope those out there who are having a 'bad day' can still have a good frame of mind because at the end of the day that's what counts the most...
Soon after this I coincidentally started the South Beach Diet. I was really good with it for 2 years and in those two years I must say I had no symptoms. What motivated me to stay on that diet was that fact I was getting married. After the reception, I tried staying on it but found it harder and cheated way more than usual. Then in September of last year I had a sharp pain in my right side. It came in the morning after my shower and I nearly fell limp from the pain. I could almost feel my face go white. Later that day it came again. I thought it was just from my period or that it was what I called my "Mittelschmerz pain" (anyone else out there dealt with this pain? Its the pain felt when you ovulate- I first got mine around 14 years old and every month about 2 weeks after my period I would get a sharp pain on my left or right side that would last from a couple hours to a day-btw I never had a doctor tell me outright I was having Mittelschmerz pain, I just researched as a teen and its what made sense to me....well this pain just got more frequent and worse a few months before the pain I mentioned above in September)
Anyway, on that day I had a bowel movement and the pain went away as fast as it came. Days after, i began peeing more than usual and the sharp pain was now lasting for 3 days straight. When I went to the doctor they treated me for another UTI and possible kidney infection. The first round of antibiotics seemed to help again to a point but I was still peeing a little more than I thought I should be so I was put on 2 more rounds of antibiotics and no relief. I had a pelvic and abdominal ultrasound and 1 CT Scan to rule out kidney stones. All of which turned out normal. I was scheduled for a cystoscopy but then all my symptoms went away...
Now cut to this May when i began waking in the middle of the night to pee-I called the dr with no hesitation (and without seeing me ((arg!)) they put me on an antibiotic. No help. Another antibiotic again...I had relief for a week and then it returned. In June I had a gyno exam on the same day as an appt with my urologist.
To my surprise the gyno found a piece of plastic in me (from the O.B. tampons packaging) I desperately hung to the notion that this is what was causing my misery. The urologist later that day was not impressed. He put me on Elavil and i scheduled a cystoscopy to rule out IC. Later that week on my way to the cystoscopy I got my period. As a result, the urologist would not go ahead with the cysto and instead gave me a prescription for Elmiron. I have been on both since then.
Right now I believe the Elmiron has started to work. I no longer feel the urge to urinate stemming from the pain in my bladder. Instead I feel it now all in my urethra and my pelvic muscles are so tight I have to concentrate on relaxing them. The slightest bit of concentration on something else (such as writing this) causes them to contract and tighten again. I'm realizing I probably have PFD and have called the gyno(who works with a gyno/urologist) and the urologist again. Now I'm seeing who can call me back first and who has experience treating PFD.
The PFD seems trickier to handle than the IC. -The PFD makes me not want to leave for the simplest errand.
I realize I have been lucky through all this-I'm a teacher and have had the luxury of not working the past few months, but I don't know how I'll be when school starts again in a couple of weeks. I guess I'll plug right along like i did last year. Class meeting and conferences are going to be tricky if this keeps up and I don't know how I'm going to pull those off. My husband has been the greatest and so has my family. I'm also lucky that I have so much hope the diet will help me since South Beach and the IC diet have a lot in common.
This site and all of you out there, I have a feeling, will also get me through this. Any thoughts or suggestions are all welcome here. I hope those out there who are having a 'bad day' can still have a good frame of mind because at the end of the day that's what counts the most...