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Well, after posting several messages and making uncalled for comments (LOL) I had better tell my story.
What brought me to this group was the apparent after-effects of a severe UTI I had about 3 months ago. After two courses of antibiotics the infection was gone but I was left with a lot of irritating residual issues: pain so bad that I couldn't walk or sit, bladder spasms, frequency and burning, extreme tiredness (getting up to pee 6 or 7 times a night will do that!) and feeling utterly depressed and hopeless. Anyway, every time I researched my symptoms on the Internet I kept getting the result "interstitial cystitis" but of course I didn't want to accept that, so I went into denial. I decided I must still have some infection, despite negative urine tests and urine that looked and smelled normal (sorry for the TMI). So I spent LOTS of money on various products: D-mannose, homeopathic medicine, uva ursi, AZO, Cystex, Uristat, etc, etc.
Then I read about Prelief, so ordered some of that. At the same time I decided to try cutting out a few acidic things - tea, coffee, lemonade, oranges, tomatoes (tried to give up chocolate but just couldn't!). After a week of taking Prelief three times a day, I can honestly say that I'm 90% better than I was before I started using it, and I'm only having to get up to use the bathroom once a night (woohoo!) plus there's a bonus - my IBS has calmed down too.
I've also discovered that if I drink lots of water to prevent my urine becoming too concentrated, then it doesn't hurt or burn when I pee. Also, when I start to have any spasms they stop if I take a Tylenol PM (which contains antihistamine) or any other kind of antihistamine.
This just about sealed the diagnosis for me, and then I remembered what I had been told 20 years ago. After years of bouts of cystits - three or four times a year minimum - my doctor got fed up with me
and admitted me to hospital for tests. I had one of those kidney x-rays where dye is injected, also an ultrasound of my bladder at various stages of fullness and after peeing, and then I was anaesthetised while they dilated my urethra and did a cystoscopy - oh boy, that was agony for a couple of days afterwards. Anyway, I was told that I had one deformed kidney plus the ureter on that side was twisted, and that my bladder appeared mildly irritated but no suggestion was made as to why that might be. The doctor told me most of my problems were due to the kidney/ureter deformity and that I just had to keep drinking lots of water to flush it out.
Over the next 20 years I had two or three UTIs but nothing that seemed to linger on. I was taking LOTS of cranberry pills and credited that with keeping me free of UTIs. So this last one really hit me like a ton of bricks. Antibiotics had always worked quickly to clear them up, so I just couldn't understand why that was no longer the case.
As a visitor to the US, I don't have insurance for the tests that are needed to confirm this diagnosis but I'm going to assume that it is IC because that's what it seems to be - if it quacks it's a duck, right?
I have a lot of other health problems that are mostly autoimmune and allergy related: Migraines, asthma, eczema, Hashimoto's (thyroid doesn't work at all), Von Willebrand's (type of hemaphilia), IBS, food intolerances, drug allergies, rosacea, polyneuritis, eustachian tube dysfunction, sciatica (from ruptured L5-S1 disc) and the urinary tract problems. I've also had a hysterectomy because of fibroids and abnormal pap smear, and I had my gall bladder removed when I was 20 years old. I've also had four late miscarriages due to severe Rh incompatibility.
Okay, that sounds like I'm a hypochondriac! But really, all I wish for is to have good quality of life and to be the kind of wife my husband deserves. Being sick takes away something from our relationship, so I'm hoping I can get this bladder thing under control because I'm managing to cope with the other stuff okay
I hope everybody in this group has big improvements in their health - wouldn't it be wonderful?
~jiriji~
(Aboriginal word for "owl" - I'm Australian and I love owls)
What brought me to this group was the apparent after-effects of a severe UTI I had about 3 months ago. After two courses of antibiotics the infection was gone but I was left with a lot of irritating residual issues: pain so bad that I couldn't walk or sit, bladder spasms, frequency and burning, extreme tiredness (getting up to pee 6 or 7 times a night will do that!) and feeling utterly depressed and hopeless. Anyway, every time I researched my symptoms on the Internet I kept getting the result "interstitial cystitis" but of course I didn't want to accept that, so I went into denial. I decided I must still have some infection, despite negative urine tests and urine that looked and smelled normal (sorry for the TMI). So I spent LOTS of money on various products: D-mannose, homeopathic medicine, uva ursi, AZO, Cystex, Uristat, etc, etc.
Then I read about Prelief, so ordered some of that. At the same time I decided to try cutting out a few acidic things - tea, coffee, lemonade, oranges, tomatoes (tried to give up chocolate but just couldn't!). After a week of taking Prelief three times a day, I can honestly say that I'm 90% better than I was before I started using it, and I'm only having to get up to use the bathroom once a night (woohoo!) plus there's a bonus - my IBS has calmed down too.
I've also discovered that if I drink lots of water to prevent my urine becoming too concentrated, then it doesn't hurt or burn when I pee. Also, when I start to have any spasms they stop if I take a Tylenol PM (which contains antihistamine) or any other kind of antihistamine.
This just about sealed the diagnosis for me, and then I remembered what I had been told 20 years ago. After years of bouts of cystits - three or four times a year minimum - my doctor got fed up with me
and admitted me to hospital for tests. I had one of those kidney x-rays where dye is injected, also an ultrasound of my bladder at various stages of fullness and after peeing, and then I was anaesthetised while they dilated my urethra and did a cystoscopy - oh boy, that was agony for a couple of days afterwards. Anyway, I was told that I had one deformed kidney plus the ureter on that side was twisted, and that my bladder appeared mildly irritated but no suggestion was made as to why that might be. The doctor told me most of my problems were due to the kidney/ureter deformity and that I just had to keep drinking lots of water to flush it out. Over the next 20 years I had two or three UTIs but nothing that seemed to linger on. I was taking LOTS of cranberry pills and credited that with keeping me free of UTIs. So this last one really hit me like a ton of bricks. Antibiotics had always worked quickly to clear them up, so I just couldn't understand why that was no longer the case.
As a visitor to the US, I don't have insurance for the tests that are needed to confirm this diagnosis but I'm going to assume that it is IC because that's what it seems to be - if it quacks it's a duck, right?
I have a lot of other health problems that are mostly autoimmune and allergy related: Migraines, asthma, eczema, Hashimoto's (thyroid doesn't work at all), Von Willebrand's (type of hemaphilia), IBS, food intolerances, drug allergies, rosacea, polyneuritis, eustachian tube dysfunction, sciatica (from ruptured L5-S1 disc) and the urinary tract problems. I've also had a hysterectomy because of fibroids and abnormal pap smear, and I had my gall bladder removed when I was 20 years old. I've also had four late miscarriages due to severe Rh incompatibility.
Okay, that sounds like I'm a hypochondriac! But really, all I wish for is to have good quality of life and to be the kind of wife my husband deserves. Being sick takes away something from our relationship, so I'm hoping I can get this bladder thing under control because I'm managing to cope with the other stuff okay
I hope everybody in this group has big improvements in their health - wouldn't it be wonderful?
~jiriji~
(Aboriginal word for "owl" - I'm Australian and I love owls)
And besides all that, i'm missing my tonsils, my gallbladder, my uterus and ovaries... and probably a gazillion brain cells 
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