small adrenal glands may cause IC

[butterfly79]

I don't really know where to post this,
basically my boyfriend found this article because
I am honestly too depressed anymore to research
ic :( I'm sure some of you can understand this way
of my thinking, but anyways, here is the article he found


http://www.ichelp.org/research/CatR...indsICClue.html


so basically I was wondering if all of you would consider yourselves nervous people to begin with before you got ic?
the article states that we may have smaller then normal adrenal glands that can't produce the hormones needed to turn off our fight/flight response, in other words we don't have enough of the stress hormones to take our bodies off of overdrive once in awhile, especially if we lead stressful lives, or mentally let the stress affect us emotionally to get worked up about it,
so I was thinking maybe we all should work on getting
meditation techniques together as a group, and work on suggestions to ease our stressful lives,
perhaps hobbies suggestions ,etc...
anyways,
after reading this article I thought maybe when we get scared of the flare itself that's what brings it on stronger!?
please let me know your thoughts
thanks,
Heather

[windwalker]

Hi Heather, I couldnt open the link, but figured I would answer your question about nervous. I am not a nervous person, however I am a high stress, easily frustrated kind of person, let me rephrase this, MOST of the time, I am overly laid back, but if something is out of sorts for me, I stress real quick. But it does sort of fit what you were asking. I try to do a little meditation at night, but I tend to fall asleep during it lol. ;) Stress does seem to bring on flares for me. Yes, I believe if you stress about flares, it could bring on a flare. Kinda like something I had read a long time ago, if you believe something, it happens, such as, you feel a little sniffle, if you keep telling yourself you are going to get a cold, chances are you are going to get a cold, if you tell yourself you are healthy, ya have at least a chance of staying healthy, so yes, I believe if you keep thinking about a flare, you bring up your stress level and COULD flare. All depends on the person. ;) Gotta use that positive thinking :) Take care!
Dawn

[Mishka]

Hi Heather,

That's very interesting. Years ago, I was suffering from intense muscle weakness/fatigue etc. A naturopath told me I had overactive adrenal glands. I was constantly in a "fight or flight" state, and my body just got exhausted., Now I have IC....hmm!

[crystilclear]

Yah I would say I am high stress. Let's see 3 kids at age 25 with lots of health issues yah very stressed. That sucks too because I have the HARDEST time trying not to friek about certain things. I have tried biofeedback and notice when I get upset my blood pressure shoots through the roof. A lot of us also have axiety problems and I am one of them. I was also diagnosed with PTSD. Crazy but maybe there is some validity to it. I couldn't open the page either. I just thoght I'd add my two cents worth. take care - CHris :flower:

[atkinsonfmaily]

I found the article Heather is referring to. I will try to post the link also. I think there is a similar article here on the IC Network.

http://www.ichelp.org/research/CatResearchFindsICClue.html

I am very prone to anxiety. In fact, my IC started at the same time I started having panic attacks and generalized anxiety. Of course, I didn't know what IC was at the time and was treated with therapy and antidepressants for the anxiety. I didn't realize it then, but I have thought alot about it lately -- when my anxiety was under control with antidepressants so was my IC.

For me, I think the panic and bladder issues are inter-related somehow. I just wish I knew how.

I think you are right Heather, especially when you are anxiety prone, when we worry about something happening...like an IC flare...we often make it much worse. I know this and yet I still can't seem to relax!

Heather, too

[butterfly79]

thank you all for replying to my post ((Hugs))

Heather,
I am very surprised that when you
take antidepressants your ic is under control,
I say this because I took zoloft and it actually
is when I first started to notice bladder problems,
so I'm wondering
what anti-depressant are you on that seems
to help the ic???
I hope to hear from you soon,
Heather

[atkinsonfmaily]

Heather,

Actually Zoloft is the antidepressant that I took. When you started it was it because of anxiety or was it for IC symptoms? How long did you take it? I am just wondering because if you started taking it because of anxiety it may have been the hormones released by your adreanal glands that caused your bladder to act up and you may not have taken the Zoloft long enough to get the symptoms under control. I don't remember how long before my bladder stopped bothering me. I just remember now thinking back that at some point it no longer hurt. My IC had just started and all I knew was that it felt like I had a bladder infection, but the labs kept coming back with no bacteria. After the anxiety was under control, I stopped taking the Zoloft. It wasn't until about 3 months later -- when the bladder pain came back -- that I sought treatment and was diagnosed with IC. I didn't think about the Zoloft helping at that point. I stuggled with the pain and saw a few different doctors, tried Elmiron and was prescirbed a host of other meds -- Elavil, Atarax, Detrol -- that I never bothered to try. I started suffering from another anxiety disorder, OCD, about 2.5 years after being diagnosed with IC. At that point my bladder was in pain, I had this strange "lump" type sensation in my throat that made me constantly swallow -- which only served to agravated it further, and a host of other annoying physical problems. I again started taking the Zoloft and experienced the longest remission I have ever had. I still didn't contribute the Zoloft to the bladder or indigestion relief and the remission continued even after stopping the Zoloft. Of course this time I had taken it for 1.5 years straight and the time before I would say it may have been 5 months at the most, probably not long enough to correct and restore a serious seretonin imbalance and "calm" my system enough to maintain a greater length of pain relief. I am now 24 weeks pregnant. My pain and pressure came back at 10 weeks PG, after atleast a 2.5 year remission, where I ate anything I wanted -- including tomatos and chocolate. I even got brave enough to try diet soda and it didn't bother me a bit. When the pain comes back it is a little like going insane -- you have forgotten how absolutely horrid this disease is. When I started hurting again I tried to figure out why. What was different? The only things I can come up with are the extrememly high levels of hormones and the stress response that my body is so familiar with. During the remission I would occassionaly have twinges of IC starting 2 days before my period. It happened maybe 3 or 4 times and was after I stopped taking the Zoloft. It went away and stayed gone for the rest of the month. This leads me to believe that the hormone level changes caused my bladder problems, which I think is extremely common in IC -- just the fact that more women suffer is reason to believe that there is a very strong hormonal link. I also suffered alot of anxiety at the beginning of the pregnancy. I considered starting the Zoloft, but wanted to wait until after the first trimester. Thankfully by the time I got to that point the anxiety had disapated to a manageable level. The bladder pain/pressure have returned and I continue to be a terrible worry wort. I started researching pain and stress levels and there is a huge correlation. A recent study suggest persons with panic disorder are at a much greater risk of getting diseases like IC. There are also studies that suggest stress response causes an increase in mast cell formation which causes inflammation in places like the bladder. I found another PG mom that could not function without Zoloft for her IC pain so she has continued to take it throughout her pregnancy. I can take it also but I worry about the baby, gee go figure! I guess I just feel like my suffering for the next several months is something that I can do to ensure a healthy child. Now if I were having unbearable anxiety as well as bladder pain - I can assure you I would take the Zoloft without question - the pain alone is sometimes more that I can bear. And after the birth I will take the Zoloft and even if it doesn't work as I suspect it will, I can take pain meds. Sorry for the long, long story -- but I was hoping to maybe help. I am sure that it is not the answer for everyone, but with my history it makes a lot of sense to me.

Heather