chloe's mom
10-19-2008, 08:55 AM
Hello! Here is my quick history: Last summer I had a few bladder infections following family weekends where we swam in various hotel pools. (Looking back: bad idea) That was followed by being diagnosed with H-Pylori, in which I was prescribed 8 antibiotics/day for 14 days. I felt better, but by December/January had more bladder infections that seemed a bit different than the others. My very smart gynocoligist had me answer a list of questions and give a urine sample. The sample showed no infection. A short time later I came in the office to do the potassium test and was told I had IC in Febuary 2008. For thirty days I firmly stayed to the IC diet and kept a journal of all I ate. Then I started to venture out and tried watermelon with no ill effects, then gradually added other foods. I would never dream of drinking lemonade or eating chili or spicy food, but I can eat outside the strictest IC diet and not flare up. I do feel very fortunate. I also am thankful that my Dr. was able to diagnose me quickly, I know many others have suffered so long without knowing what was happening to them. Thanks to this website, I had the courage to ask to do the bladder instillations at home. I use sodium bicarbonate, heperin, water and marcaine twice a week and that has kept my IC under control. I could not afford the $700 instillations at my dr.'s office so this has been a life-saver and improved the quality of my life! Thank you to all of you who wrote about your experience!!
Last Tuesday a.m. out of nowhere I could tell I was coming down with a bladder infection. Since I was three hours away from home I called into my dr.'s office and they faxed a prescription to the nearest pharmacy. The pain killer was Phenazopyridine 100-mg tablets and the antibiotic was Nitrofurantoin mono/mac 100-mg. I began taking them around 1:00p.m., but did not feel any improvement, I was getting worse. By 1:00 am on Wed. I was in severe pain and flushing away blood clots and what appeared to be pieces of tissue. This had never happened to me before. I was in so much pain and could not understand why the medicine was not kicking in by now, so I called the dr. on call and she prescribed Propoxyphene-n (The generic for Darvocet-n) for the pain and cephalexin 500-mg as the antibiotic. I took the pills and fell asleep pain-free by 3:00am. I woke up at 7:00 and was feeling okay, it still hurt when I used the bathroom, but I just knew that would go away with time. Wrong! By noon I was sobbing as I walked into the ER, desperately wanting the pain to stop. I had not eaten since dinner the night before and was starving, but the meds made me so naseated and dizzy. Don't ask me how I could be so naseated and yet so hungry, but I was. The docs were skeptical that I really had a bladder infection, thinking it was only my IC acting up. A urine test confirmed that I did have a bladder infection and the white blood cells present confirmed I also had IC. They confirmed that I was not pregnant and the only helpful thing that came out of it was that they said I could take both painkillers at the same time, which I immediately did! It did help tremendously with the pain. I am back on the strictest IC diet now, since I ate a grape and had an IC flare. My follow-up appointment with my gynocologist said that when a bladder infection is VERY SEVERE it can cause bleeding in the urinary tract. I did not know that. She said I still had blood in my urinary tract and I had been on antibiotics for three days at that point. I wondered if my bladder instillation may help? The marcaine is a painkiller used in childbirth, so I thought it may help my bladder to calm down, but she said to just let my bladder rest and not do any treatments until I had fully recovered. Has anyone else had a Bladder infection AND IC flare-up together? Did you react well to the antibiotics? My doctor and my theory is that I had the IC flare-up because my bladder hated those medications. Has anyone else gone through this? What did you learn?
Last Tuesday a.m. out of nowhere I could tell I was coming down with a bladder infection. Since I was three hours away from home I called into my dr.'s office and they faxed a prescription to the nearest pharmacy. The pain killer was Phenazopyridine 100-mg tablets and the antibiotic was Nitrofurantoin mono/mac 100-mg. I began taking them around 1:00p.m., but did not feel any improvement, I was getting worse. By 1:00 am on Wed. I was in severe pain and flushing away blood clots and what appeared to be pieces of tissue. This had never happened to me before. I was in so much pain and could not understand why the medicine was not kicking in by now, so I called the dr. on call and she prescribed Propoxyphene-n (The generic for Darvocet-n) for the pain and cephalexin 500-mg as the antibiotic. I took the pills and fell asleep pain-free by 3:00am. I woke up at 7:00 and was feeling okay, it still hurt when I used the bathroom, but I just knew that would go away with time. Wrong! By noon I was sobbing as I walked into the ER, desperately wanting the pain to stop. I had not eaten since dinner the night before and was starving, but the meds made me so naseated and dizzy. Don't ask me how I could be so naseated and yet so hungry, but I was. The docs were skeptical that I really had a bladder infection, thinking it was only my IC acting up. A urine test confirmed that I did have a bladder infection and the white blood cells present confirmed I also had IC. They confirmed that I was not pregnant and the only helpful thing that came out of it was that they said I could take both painkillers at the same time, which I immediately did! It did help tremendously with the pain. I am back on the strictest IC diet now, since I ate a grape and had an IC flare. My follow-up appointment with my gynocologist said that when a bladder infection is VERY SEVERE it can cause bleeding in the urinary tract. I did not know that. She said I still had blood in my urinary tract and I had been on antibiotics for three days at that point. I wondered if my bladder instillation may help? The marcaine is a painkiller used in childbirth, so I thought it may help my bladder to calm down, but she said to just let my bladder rest and not do any treatments until I had fully recovered. Has anyone else had a Bladder infection AND IC flare-up together? Did you react well to the antibiotics? My doctor and my theory is that I had the IC flare-up because my bladder hated those medications. Has anyone else gone through this? What did you learn?