Hi,
I am new to this forum - though I have been reading through it for the past couple of months, I have never got the courage up to post. I have finally decided to do it!
I am 27 weeks pregnant and only diagnosed with IC a couple of months ago (though was on multiple courses of antibiotics for weeks before my diagnosis for a non-existent UTI). As I am sure everyone does, I have been struggling tremendously with the diagnosis (pregnancy hormones don't help!) and worrying that I will be in this much pain for life and that nothing will help and how will I look after my long-awaited baby (IVF)....etc etc. It doesn't help that my husband is in the airforce and we got posted to a small town in Australia, and I have had to move 18 hours away to stay with my parents so that I can get proper medical care until I have the baby. I am trying to tell myself there are plenty of treatments that help, I just need to make it through the pregnancy, and not everyone's story is one of total despair.
I was wondering if anybody has any experience and/or suggestions for dealing with IC during pregnancy. I am having trouble finding ANYTHING that helps with the pain/frequency apart from bicarb soda and water (and an ice pack to distract me), and it seems to be getting worse the further along I get. I don't know how I will last another 13 weeks!!! I have been EXTREMELY stressed for the past year with fertility treatments, moving etc...and feel that this has definitely made things worse. I ended up seeing a very understanding doctor last week who is helping me with the anxiety (Zoloft - hopefully will kick in soon!) and she has also given me some very low dose sleeping tablets which help (i only get up 3-4 times/night instead of 10 plus). I truly think stress is the biggest trigger for me (though it's hard to tell as I am in a constant flare!). Apart from that I have tried:-
* IC Diet - have been sticking to bladder friendly foods only for the past 6 weeks and noticed NO change in symptoms. I even tried 4-5 days of nothing but chicken, rice and a few veges...didn't calm my symptoms at all.
* Stopped taking all vitamins - No change and ended up terribly anaemic and rundown so started taking them again (didn't seem to make it worse)
* Marshmallow Root Tea - am drinking it religously and hoping it is doing something.
* Filtered Water
Any other tips? I am so worried this will just continue to get worse and worse and not be treatable after pregnancy. The first (and unhelpful) urologist I saw told me there was no way I could develop IC during pregnancy as it goes into remission. Surely not everyone goes into remission? And it if gets worse during pregnancy, does that mean it stays that bad or does it sometimes settle a little once the weight of the baby has gone. It is so frustrating not being able to try any treatments - just makes me more stressed that i am doing irreparable damage.
Thanks for reading through this (if you managed to make it that far!) and I hope everyone is having a good day
I am new to this forum - though I have been reading through it for the past couple of months, I have never got the courage up to post. I have finally decided to do it!
I am 27 weeks pregnant and only diagnosed with IC a couple of months ago (though was on multiple courses of antibiotics for weeks before my diagnosis for a non-existent UTI). As I am sure everyone does, I have been struggling tremendously with the diagnosis (pregnancy hormones don't help!) and worrying that I will be in this much pain for life and that nothing will help and how will I look after my long-awaited baby (IVF)....etc etc. It doesn't help that my husband is in the airforce and we got posted to a small town in Australia, and I have had to move 18 hours away to stay with my parents so that I can get proper medical care until I have the baby. I am trying to tell myself there are plenty of treatments that help, I just need to make it through the pregnancy, and not everyone's story is one of total despair.
I was wondering if anybody has any experience and/or suggestions for dealing with IC during pregnancy. I am having trouble finding ANYTHING that helps with the pain/frequency apart from bicarb soda and water (and an ice pack to distract me), and it seems to be getting worse the further along I get. I don't know how I will last another 13 weeks!!! I have been EXTREMELY stressed for the past year with fertility treatments, moving etc...and feel that this has definitely made things worse. I ended up seeing a very understanding doctor last week who is helping me with the anxiety (Zoloft - hopefully will kick in soon!) and she has also given me some very low dose sleeping tablets which help (i only get up 3-4 times/night instead of 10 plus). I truly think stress is the biggest trigger for me (though it's hard to tell as I am in a constant flare!). Apart from that I have tried:-
* IC Diet - have been sticking to bladder friendly foods only for the past 6 weeks and noticed NO change in symptoms. I even tried 4-5 days of nothing but chicken, rice and a few veges...didn't calm my symptoms at all.
* Stopped taking all vitamins - No change and ended up terribly anaemic and rundown so started taking them again (didn't seem to make it worse)
* Marshmallow Root Tea - am drinking it religously and hoping it is doing something.
* Filtered Water
Any other tips? I am so worried this will just continue to get worse and worse and not be treatable after pregnancy. The first (and unhelpful) urologist I saw told me there was no way I could develop IC during pregnancy as it goes into remission. Surely not everyone goes into remission? And it if gets worse during pregnancy, does that mean it stays that bad or does it sometimes settle a little once the weight of the baby has gone. It is so frustrating not being able to try any treatments - just makes me more stressed that i am doing irreparable damage.
Thanks for reading through this (if you managed to make it that far!) and I hope everyone is having a good day

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