Are you supposed to take Antispasmodics regularly or just with pain?

[Jax72]

I have a prescription for oxybutinin (sp?) twice a day. At the moment I'm only taking it when I have pain which is about once a day at different times. My gyno is surprised that it's helping me (does he even get what's wrong with me??) and thinks that if I take it for a month then all these urine problems will go away permanently. So maybe I should just take the antispasmodic twice a day regardless and see if that works?

Thanks
Jax

[kadi]

I take oxybutynin 5mg every night. If I skip one night, I'm ok, but if I stop taking it for longer than that, my sleep is not as good, so I think it does have a cumulative effect.
It's a fairly low level intervention for IC, why not try it as your doctor suggests? It would be great if that is all you need for your IC & if it turns out you need something more, then you & your doctor could go that route.
Are you following the IC diet? Many patients find relief from that intervention alone, other patients (like me) find that the diet lowers symptoms enough that the medications can work.
www.ic-network.com/diet/
http://www.ic-network.com/diet/dietcheatsheet.html

Hope you find relief soon!

[ICNDonna]

If you're having pain on a daily basis, my suggestion would be to take it as your doctor suggests.

Donna

[SharonA]

Stay ahead of the pain by taking it as your doctor prescribed.

[Jax72]

Thanks for the advice. The antispasmodic does help, but it certainly doesn't make me pain free. And I have been following the diet for about 6 weeks, but I don't know if it's worth it since I still have pain.

[dyno]

If you do have some pain, most IC patients do get some help from the diet. I would say most of us would be in more pain if we didn't watch our diet.

I also agree to take as your Dr. prescribed.

[kadi]

I didn't think the diet was working for me, but I followed it faithfully for a month. Since I was still having a lot of pain & frequency, I didn't think it was doing much. So, I had a half cup of weak decaf tea diluted with lots of milk. Wow, was I ever sorry! My symptoms spiked hard & fast. That's how I knew the diet actually did work.

I have found for myself that I still need medications in addition to the diet to manage my IC. The main thing is that my medications do not work if I'm not on the IC diet.

Good luck, hang in there, just keep trying...

[ophelia33]

Thanks for the advice. The antispasmodic does help, but it certainly doesn't make me pain free. And I have been following the diet for about 6 weeks, but I don't know if it's worth it since I still have pain.

Hi, Jax,
I have to admit, I'm like you are w/ taking meds. I too have pain everyday but I don't always take something b/c I'm trying to figure out my triggers and don't always want to cover something up if I am eating something that could cause me more symptoms.

For example, I still have pain when I take Urelle (antispasmodic/analgesic), so I wasn't taking it cause I thought it wasn't doing anything. Turns out that when I did take the Urelle, and after it wore off, my pain was greater so I concluded that it must have been doing something. I would suggest taking the med as your dr. prescribed it. You could always have a talk w/ your dr. to see if he really does expect your urinary symptoms to be gone after the month is up. If he does expect that, that may be a red flag telling you that he/she isn't totally understanding of IC and you may need to search out someone w/ a little better expertise in the IC area. I don't want to say "drop that dr." b/c its not always that easy, I do understand that. You do want to try for the best care for yourself. I didn't understand all this when I was first diagnosed but 2 years later I'm learning a lot more and I have switched to a more knowledgable dr. that I'm glad to have found even if by "accident".

As far as the diet goes, I just have to keep in mind that there is an IC diet for a reason and if it really didn't help at all, none of us would be trying to follow it--it's not always that easy--I do understand. That's the way I have to look at it tho. It may not solve anything but I believe it does help. Even if it helps a little, it's a little better that I may feel and you too.

The IC diet doesn't make my symptoms go away. I have noticed though if I do eat something "funny" (and it's no laughing matter), I have A LOT of pain. I cheated once on a quarter pound of slicing pepperoni and BOY did I pay for that one. :shake: I was wincing when Kadi mentioned the tea...ouch! Even something as benign to most people as YOGURT put me into 36 hours of fetal position pain and Urelle did not make that go away--probably b/c the pain was just greater than what the med could do and boy I don't want to imagine what it would have felt like had I not taken the Urelle. I may slip up w/ food experiments but there are a few I would not try again.

Best of luck to you. hugs,
Ophelia:hi:

P.S. Don't get me wrong, I am not a fan of diets and I too question it from time to time, but I keep trying even as much as I don't like it. It's not a diet of perfection and it does seem to be a constant work in progress.

P.S.S. I'm going to take my own advice for a change and take a Urelle. Maybe I'll sleep better too!