Extended Care??

[keithkellersohn]

Hello everyone,

My mother is 74 years old. She had IC a year ago, and went into remission. But she got a bacterial infection and had to take Sulfa drugs, which brought her back to IC. This time it's WORSE than before. In 2 days she has slept 1.5 hours. She, my sister and I are at our wits end. My mother's pain is excruciating and she can't take it much longer. Does anyone know if there is a possibility of having a home health care nurse (evenings and nights) or some way to put her in an extended care facility until she gets through this? She has been having the distilliation treatments for about 4 months now with basically no progress. She has been on every pain medication known to humanity, and although it helps she grows immune to them quickly, and usually has bad side effects and has OD'd more than once.
Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. If you email me, just ignore the spamblocker.
Thanks
Keith

[ICNDonna]

It sounds like she needs to see her doctor as soon as possible. Not all bacterial infections respond to sulfa antibiotics --- she needs to have a urine culture done to be certain she's on the right antibiotic to get her over this infection. Has she been diagnosed as having interstitial cystitis? The reason I ask is that we don't usually refer to IC as something we "had" --- it's something that doesn't ever go away.

Is she following an IC diet? That can be extremely important. You'll find the diet at http://www.ic-network.com/handbook --- you can help by making sure she has some safe things to drink and eat.

If she's living on her own and is capable of caring for herself, she would have to be the one making a decision about extended care for a little while.

I hope she feels better very soon.

Donna