Is bladder instillations necessary

[Coleen]

I have been back and forth the past few weeks with flares on and off to my URO. Last week I was put on Levaquin for 10 days for a UTI. All he keeps saying is next thing to do is bladder iinstillations. After all I have read I dont think this is going to be an option for me. I cant take all the time off of work and then few days recovery time due to pain after the procedure??????? What to do? I dont know what other options there are..... Can anyone help?

[yvette]

Instillations aren't necessary but they are a good treatment to try first. If you feel you can't do thm at this time...then perhps try something else. I always tried to schedule them on a friday so I would have the weekend to recover....

If you feel like you are being *pushed* to do them....listen to your gut. I no longer do them and prolly may never do then. For me th end never justified the means. I got a short remission from my first round with dmso in the late 90's but never recaptured the same results when I revisited the treatment again in later years.

You could try different oral meds, acupuncture, bladder massage, strict diet modification, pain clinics, pelvic floor therapy, biofeedback, chiropractic....hmmm that's all I can think of for now....what are your symptoms....I had urgency and frequency but no pain to speak of, so I didn't look into pain managment or pain clinics.

Good Luck!
y. :)

[Ginny]

Yvette gave you some good advise. I just went through another series of installations. I did the same. Made by appt late in the day on Friday. I had to take a few hrs on Friday to run home and shower before going. Once in awhile scheduling was not possible on Friday so I did the same on another day but never had to take the day afterwards off.
If you have pain it is a option. If you just have frequency and urgency try Detrol or Ditropan.
I have had a total of 38 installations over the last 20 years and I can tell you they did not help me all that much. There are other options.

Ginny