Severe Headaches from IC Medications

[icgennifer]

Hi Everyone,

I'm newly diagnosed with IC. Elmiron and Pyridium have both given me severe headaches.. they almost feel like a migraine. Does anyone else have this challenge? If so, what do you do to treat the headache?

Thanks so much!
Genn

[leelee88]

Pyridium Gave me headaches the Dr said it could have been the red/ orange dye in it.. Elmiron did not cause that side effect for me..

[teacherspet]

I did get migranes from Elmiron. I used tylenol 3 for the pain. My doctor took me off the medicine. I hope yours gets better. I lasted about 2 weeks and I had to stop. It was too hard to manage my family with pelvic pain AND migraines. Good luck.
Heather

[elamar]

try urelle or prosed instead of pyridium. They are much better for the spasms and are designed for long term use as opposed to the pyridium. I use the generic of urelle called utira-c. There is no generic for prosed so it can get very expensive. Your doctor should have free samples for you to try. My doctor gave me a two week supply of each to see if I could tell any difference. They both worked great for me, so we went with the generic to save money. I hope this helps.

[ICNDonna]

I had to stop elmiron due to headache.

Donna

[pj77]

I had some headache problems in the beginning with the Elmiron. Taking the pills out of the capsules and into a glass of water helped me with that. You can do a search on that, many people have had to do this for some reason. Sometimes it helps, it was worth a try for me.

I also had stress headaches- not saying that is what you are having , but I was so tense with anxiety I was having tension type headaches. Taking some meds for anxiety/depression helped me with that. This was years before the IC, but no over the counter headache/pain medicine would help with those and believe me , I tried every single one. Bought a whole book about headaches etc, was willing to try anything. I couldn't figure it out. In the end it was anxiety and I had to go on a med for that. And I don't have to tell you being diagnosed with IC is very stressful. So it's just something to look into.

It might take some trial and error to see what is causing them. You should talk with your doctor and see what they say. They might agree to you stopping one thing at a time and see what makes the difference. Or if you describe the way the headache feels, when it starts, how you feel elsewhere, they might agree it could be tension and prescribe something . It really is trial and error and you suffer in the meantime. BELIEVE me I sympathize with what you are going through headaches STINK!

Good luck you will figure it out and get rid of those headaches!