How long did it take for you to experience your first flare?

[baaaby11]

This may be a hard question to answer but I was wondering, how soon did you start to flare? Like how long were you feeling minor symptoms for before you got a full-out flare?

[kadi]

My IC was sudden onset, went to bed July 9,2003 feeling fine, then woke up July 10th in a full-blown flare...

[ICNDonna]

Mine came on a little more gradually over the two months following a major abdominal surgery and reached it's peak almost exactly six months after the surgery.

Donna

[VickiB]

No gradual building for me, just wham, like a light switch.

Vicki

[SharonA]

My symptoms also came on suddenly. One morning, I was fine, but by bed time, I was in pain.

[Mrs. Peel]

I've had occasional bladder problems most of my life, but it didn't really hit me until I was fifty. Sudden onset, thought I was passing a kidney stone.

[BT2008]

Hey baaaby11,

What kind of flare are you asking about? Frequency and/or urgency flare, or pain flare, or both? From everything that I have learned about IC, there are different kinds of "flares."

In hindsight, I would have to say that I probably had mild to moderate IC, and the flares that come with that, for about six-years before it progressed into severe IC, which drove me to seek a dx. So I actually have two answers for your question!

Frequency/Urgency:
My frequency and urgency first started after a complex abdominal surgery in April 2002. Over the years I clearly remember that there were many 'flares' of frequency and urgency where I would go every 20-30 minutes for a day or more, but it would eventually calm down back to normal--which was still about every hour or so all day/night. But, I didn't know that anything was "wrong" with me at the time; I never even suspected a UTI because there was no urethral pain/burning at all. I just assumed it was the way my body worked, and it was a known fact with family and friends that "Beth pees a lot"!

Now, for PAIN:
One minute I was just fine, and the next minute I was hit with horrible grinding abdominal pain, like a really bad period (except I have not had a period since 1985!). Over the following months the pain continued to get progressively worse, much worse than a really bad period. I was dx in Sept of 2008 and began various treatments. Since I have yet to have a totally pain-free day in all of these months, I have to assume I live in a "flare" all the time; with 24/7 pain meds and regular bladder instills, my pain at its calmest is 2-3-4 but usually visits the moderate 5-6 pain level at some point every day.

This "normal flare" that I live in 24/7 can most definitely get worse though! In the past I often wrote that my "flare is in a flare"! But now I call anything over my norm 5-6 pain "super-flares" (pain level of 7-8) and if I can't stop that flare from getting worse with meds and a rescue instill, then I get a "super-nova-flare" (pain level 9-10+[off the charts pain, which has happened on way too many occasions]:(). I also always experience an increase in frequency and urgency when my pain escalates into the "super" ranges.

So, depending on what kind of flare you are asking about, the frequency flares took over six-years to develop into severe pain flares, and now my frequency and pain are all part and parcel to my everyday life.

Did my answers help or are you more confused than ever?? :bonk:

I hope you learn as much about your IC as I have about mine, because even though I am still disabled from this dastardly disease, I am much better able to cope with my illness on a normal, day to day basis, and my husband and I both know what to do when "super-flares" and "super-nova-flares" occur.

In the absence of a cure for IC--I can easily say that "Knowledge about IC is definitely Power over IC". So don't stop learning about your own version of IC so you too can better understand how to live your life as best as you can!

Hugs,
~Beth