Pressure

[Ash11]

I've only been diagnosed with IC for about a month, and have been having some different symptoms than before I was diagnosed. One of them is that I feel like I have pressure in my vagina - this has only been happening for the last week or so, but it still scares me a little bit. It is better in the morning when I wake up, but seems to increase through the day. It's better if I lay down, and worse when I sit up straight. I have no pain, just slight discomfort. I've read a little bit about pelvic floor dysfunction, and I know that pressure is a symptom, but I don't know if that's a possibility for me. I have also been constipated (TMI, I know!) for the last week, and have been straining to urinate...this is because I just want to make sure everything is out when I go. Does anyone else have vaginal pressure as just a symptom of IC? I see my urologist in two weeks, so I'll be sure and ask, but in the meantime I wanted to see if anyone else had this problem.

I am very new to the whole IC thing...I still tend to get scared something different happens in my body and I imagine the worst possible scenarios...even though my dr told me I have only a mild case of IC. I am very good at freaking myself out!

[leelee88]

It could be PFD, but also it could just be IC.. IC causes imflammation therefore this is where the pressure could be coming from..

[Calinda]

Yes, I had the similar feeling of pressure/pain that seemed to get better when I laid down. I think it's really good that you are trying to be aware of what's going on. I was super scared too. I did end up writing some of my symptoms down, although it's hard to describe at times. The only thing that helped me was a heating pad. The diet helped me very quickly though--thank goodness. I think it's the hardest time is figuring out what is wrong--because your mind can imagine the worst. I hope all goes okay with you, and that you eventually get some resolution.

[bruegelfan]

I get the heavy pressure "down there" when I'm even a little bit constipated. It also flares my IC up something fierce! I've learned to take something at first sign of the pressure(laxative suppository or senna-stuff). I've wondered about the PFD possibility as well. But, it goes away after I've "taken care of things".

[Ash11]

Thanks so much! It helps to hear that I'm not crazy, and that it's probably just my IC. The laxative is probably a good idea...I will try that and see if it helps.

[Reannin]

Ash. I, too, am a newly diagnosed IC patient. My symptoms started out as just urgency and frequency back in July, then a month later, I started to get that pressuring feeling in my vaginal area like you're experiencing right now. Slowly, pain started to creep up with that pressuring issue, but it was just that pressuring feeling at first. Would you say it feels like something is pushing down on your vaginal wall? I described it like I had a baby's head pressing into my vaginal area and it was so uncomfortable. I've never been pregnant, but that's the only way I was able to describe it. Again, I started to get pain with that tightening/pressuring ache. This pressuring symptom would get worse when I stood up and/or walked around. Sitting or lying down eased it up a bit.....BUT NOT BY MUCH! I was still relatively uncomfy. Also, I would wake up feeling great as far as the vaginal pressure, but as the day went on, that symptom increased. I, too, also was constipated or had trouble having a bowel movement. I was straining to try and get it out. My pressuring feeling would get more intense when I had a full rectum.

I mentioned this to my uro last month, and she said it was nerve pain I was experiencing. I believe that pressuring feeling I was getting was my pelvic muscles tensing up at the reaction to pain and they might have been spasming because my bladder might have been spasming. Yours might just be tightening up because of the irritation of your bladder right now and it's spasming so it's causing your pelvic floor muscles to tense up (an automatic reaction of the body) to protect your bladder.... or you're really tensing your pelvic muscles in order to try and hold it because you feel like you have to go all of the time????? This is just a guess. I am not a doctor. At the time, I was only on Enablex and a very low dose of Elmiron. My uro and I decided to get me off the Enablex and replace it with Urelle, increase my dosage of Elmiron, and give me Elavil for the nerve pain. Within ONE WEEK of starting the Urelle and Elavil, that pressuring feeling was starting to SLOOOOOOWWWWLY diminish. It was not an overnight success. Week by week, and VERY slightly each week, my pressuring symptom was easing up. Through my experience, it was a combo of both Urelle and Elavil that got me to the point I am at now, and that is I NO LONGER have that intense pressuring feeling. It has only been a month since I started this new combo. I believe that both had to be used with me to ease the pressure. I figured this out because I would take the Elavil first, and feel a VERY VERY VERY slight relief...but not enough....and then I would take the Urelle, and it even eased it up some more. I even tried doing it the opposite way a few times just to see if it was the Urelle that was really doing the trick ....but I got the same results.....Basically, both had to be used to really ease up the pressuring feeling.

Also, I believe I contributed to my relief by massaging around this general area where I was feeling pressuring and I applied heat to my vaginal area many nights to loosen up the tense muscles. I was also making myself more aware of what was happening down there. I started to notice that my vaginal area was tensing involuntarily if I wasn't paying attention to TRYING to relax the muscles. This became more apparent once I got the pain under control. Every day, I try to make it an attempt to make sure I stay relaxed down there. It is much easier said than done. If I try and try and try, and my muscles keep wanting to tense, I wait till I get home, massage around the area and apply heat there.

So, overall, it's a combo of Elavil, Urelle, trying to stay relaxed down there, massaging, and heat that has gotten rid of this intense pressuring feeling....with me at least. I don't know if Elmiron is starting to kick in and it's also contributing....(I've only been on it for 2 months)????? Who knows.....
But, from the VERY FIRST night I popped Elavil and Urelle, I noticed a decrease in that pressuring feeling almost immediately. It was slight, but it was enough to be able to tell a difference.

Your body might slowly be trying to get to that PFD point. This is how it started for me, and then PAIN came....YUCK!!!! What you can do right now while you're waiting to see your uro AS WELL AS to prevent this from possibly getting worse is to stay on the IC diet, TRY to relax, DO NOT STRAIN WITH URINATION OR A BOWEL MOVEMENT.....this will only make it worse, and maybe invest in a heating pad. I, too, find myself wanting to strain to make sure I have every last drop of urine out. All I do now is go, and if I stop, I'll wait a few seconds, then push GENTLY for three seconds, hold for a few more, then repeat...etc. etc. etc. If nothing comes out, then I know I'm good. Also, I just wanted to mention that every since this pressuring has eased up, I'm no longer constipated and I have good bowel movements. I believe that it was that pressuring feeling (which was my muscles tightening) that was making me have a hard time to pass stool. Today, I got excited because I have noticed that I've had may successful bowel movements in the last few weeks after having so much constipation or a hard time going for a month. You can get very excited when you start to have normal bowel movements......I know...TMI....I'm sorry.

I really hope this helped!.......and yes....DO mention this to your Uro. Nip it in the bud now. I hope you find the treatment that helps with this new symptom you're starting to get.