Prednison to help with flare?

[calirose]

For starters, I have to let you know that I currently can only see a primary for my medical issues due to the fact I don't have real insurance, just a county medical card. I love my primary, but i don't think she knows a whole lot about IC (seems like she's not alone on that) but she's been doing everything she can and has put me on a bladder control medicine (detrol la) that was helping up until I hit this flare. She mentioned it'd be nice if eventually i could see a urologist but she'll do everything she can until then. A few weeks ago I hit a bad flare which I'm still not out of (i'm grateful i really don't get the pain, just the frequency). I caved in and went to see her after a couple weeks because I'm currently getting no more then two hours of sleep at a time and that's not counting the amount of time it takes to fall back asleep in between each potty break. I found myself hoping this was a bladder infection instead of a flare and thought how silly that sounded. Who hopes for a bladder infection? I just did because it'd be easier to treat and make dissapear. That wasn't the case, though. Anyhow, I mentioned that by taking a naproxen (which she suggested i take during a flare to help with swelling that comes from the IC and gets worse during a flare) I can sometimes get in an extra hour of sleep before i have to use the restroom so she decided to try a five day round of prednisone to see if that would help even more to get me through this flare. Has any one else tried something like that? It hasn't really helped much, but it did give me a little more energy and i occasionally got a little extra sleep but I still long for more then three hours straight (actually i'll settle for three right now lol). I'm also going out of town in a couple weeks so all the more reason to hope this goes away soon. Just curious if any one else tried something like prednisone to help out before.

[ICNDonna]

Prednisone might help with your symptoms, but it's usually only prescribed for a limited time. Have you tried the IC diet? You'll find the link to the food list in my signature below. Some people with interstitial cystitis find that single step helps more than anything.

If at all possible, it would be good for you to see a urologist.

Sending healing thoughts,
Donna

[calirose]

Yeah i did a five day round of prednisone. Good to hear someone else say it may help even though it didn't help much for me, I was curious if others had tried it. The diet change has been the biggest help but also the most difficult. I'm already a vegetarian and have to be careful how much fat I eat as I don't have a galbladder either but that's not too bad anymore and i don't worry about it much. I'm still messing with the IC diet. It takes time, I guess. As soon as I can see a urologist I will, but it won't be 'til after I get ssi and medicaid. Thanks for your reply :).

[irfran]

I've never tried prednisone but I agree it just might help.

I noticed you took naproxen during a flare. I believe naproxen, aspirin and ibuprofren aggrevate IC symptons for some of us. You might be one of the lucky ones who can tolerate it. I know I can't........ during a flare it would make me worse. I have taken ibuprofren for a headache one time and I was okay with it. Of course it was only one pill and I wasn't in a flare.

I believe most of us have no problems with Tylenol.

[Mothergoose]

I have tried prednisone at times ussally no more than 2 weeks at a time, it does help you feel better but I am not sure if it is specific to helpping the flare or just overall feeling.

MG

[darlene]

I have Crohn's disease and have been on prednisone for a few months. It did help my IC, but has too many side effects to stay on if for very long.

[Charisse]

I was interested in trying a short course for my IC but my urologist said no. I ended up developing some asthma like symptoms recently from all the terrible allergies we've been having here in CA so my allergist just prescribed me 10 mg twice a day for 6 days and then taper down to just 10 mg for four days. So far it's been 2 days and I don't notice any difference in my bladder but it is certainly helping my lungs.