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So hard to endure flare-ups while at work all day...help
Hello,
I was officially diagnosed w/ IC in 1999 following a cystoscopy but went undiagnosed and suffered immensely for about 7 years prior to that.
I am fortunate in that I can go 2-3 months without a flare-up but then when I do have one, it's agony for 2-6 weeks. I'm dealing a flare-up now that started this past Monday. I just want to cry at work. I have an office job and I find sitting makes the discomfort all the more noticeable. I take Vesicare, Pyridium (know they stopped making it but I have a small stockpile of it still) and Ibuprofen when at work. When I get home, I take 1/4 of a Percocet along with 600mg of Ibuprofen and can't get into a hot bath fast enough. I'm finding that 1/4 of a Percocet has usually been just enough (I'm very sensitive to narcotics and taking too much makes me feel so nauseated and loopy, a horrid feeling), along with the Ibuprofen, to take the edge off. This past week I've found that 1/4 of a tab is not quite enough but a half tab is too much for me....so I take 1/4 tab, then split another 1/4 tab in half and take that extra half.
Wednesday night I was awake pretty much all night long, going to the bathroom to pee. The minute I'd get back to bed the pressure and agony was back. So hard to get back to sleep. Then an hour later I'd wake up feeling like my bladder was going to burst. This went on all night. I had to be up at 5:30am for work. I was almost nauseated all day from being so tired.
The same thing Thursday night. I had a very important business conference to attend that day for work (for the morning)...followed by a team-building event in the afternoon (curling, in a cold rink). I was so nauseated from being so tired and I couldn't stand the pressure feeling. I called in sick and then felt so bad about it all day. Some of my coworkers knew I'd been having a bad week due to the IC but they just don't understand. I try to explain to them that it's like having a raging UTI and you just can't get any relief and you're so limited in terms of what you can eat/drink.
I can't tell you how many days I've suffered at work....I'm sure so many of you can understand. You'd be the only ones who do.
Not sure if my boss will give me the gears on Monday for missing such an important day or not. She's in the healthcare field as are most of my team but I really don't think they understand or take any interest in reading up on IC.
I think in the 2+ years I've worked at my current job, I've missed one other day because of IC.
I obviously can't take Percocet at work and be able to focus (though early on in this job when I just started it and due to the stress of starting a new job, I had a bad flare-up that lasted 8 weeks and there were a few days I did have to take a 1/4 Percocet at work as I was in agony and just couldn't miss work in a new job or explain to anyone what I was going through. But my work volume is so high that I need to be able to be sharp and work efficiently, so would prefer to not be taking it at work.
I think this time it was yogurt that triggered it, along with stress. It's funny, I can go a few months and not worry about diet.....I drink coffee, have tomatoes, a lot of the common triggers and be just fine...but I guess stress then does me in.
How do some of you cope with the pain and agony of having a flare-up while you're at work? I try not to jump up and go to the bathroom everytime I want to (or it would be every 15 minutes).....sometimes it seems the longer I can hold it (2 hours), the more relief I feel when I go although it's short-lived. I feel like the more one goes, the more they feel they need to keep going.
Sometimes at night I am shocked by the volume I pee.......I try to limit my fluids in the evening.....but I'll go several times during the night and it's more than just a few dribbles....it's a good amount several times. Where does all that fluid come from when I haven't drank that much? Does anyone else notice this?
I sometimes feel very discouraged when I'm having a flare-up, I'm just not my usual self which is understandable. I hate having to tell coworkers that I'm feeling crappy because of my IC and I feel like they just look at me like I have 3 heads. Some of them have been blessed to never have even had a UTI in their lives so they have no clue and I feel like I must sound like a whiner.
Can you relate?
I was officially diagnosed w/ IC in 1999 following a cystoscopy but went undiagnosed and suffered immensely for about 7 years prior to that.
I am fortunate in that I can go 2-3 months without a flare-up but then when I do have one, it's agony for 2-6 weeks. I'm dealing a flare-up now that started this past Monday. I just want to cry at work. I have an office job and I find sitting makes the discomfort all the more noticeable. I take Vesicare, Pyridium (know they stopped making it but I have a small stockpile of it still) and Ibuprofen when at work. When I get home, I take 1/4 of a Percocet along with 600mg of Ibuprofen and can't get into a hot bath fast enough. I'm finding that 1/4 of a Percocet has usually been just enough (I'm very sensitive to narcotics and taking too much makes me feel so nauseated and loopy, a horrid feeling), along with the Ibuprofen, to take the edge off. This past week I've found that 1/4 of a tab is not quite enough but a half tab is too much for me....so I take 1/4 tab, then split another 1/4 tab in half and take that extra half.
Wednesday night I was awake pretty much all night long, going to the bathroom to pee. The minute I'd get back to bed the pressure and agony was back. So hard to get back to sleep. Then an hour later I'd wake up feeling like my bladder was going to burst. This went on all night. I had to be up at 5:30am for work. I was almost nauseated all day from being so tired.
The same thing Thursday night. I had a very important business conference to attend that day for work (for the morning)...followed by a team-building event in the afternoon (curling, in a cold rink). I was so nauseated from being so tired and I couldn't stand the pressure feeling. I called in sick and then felt so bad about it all day. Some of my coworkers knew I'd been having a bad week due to the IC but they just don't understand. I try to explain to them that it's like having a raging UTI and you just can't get any relief and you're so limited in terms of what you can eat/drink.
I can't tell you how many days I've suffered at work....I'm sure so many of you can understand. You'd be the only ones who do.
Not sure if my boss will give me the gears on Monday for missing such an important day or not. She's in the healthcare field as are most of my team but I really don't think they understand or take any interest in reading up on IC.
I think in the 2+ years I've worked at my current job, I've missed one other day because of IC.
I obviously can't take Percocet at work and be able to focus (though early on in this job when I just started it and due to the stress of starting a new job, I had a bad flare-up that lasted 8 weeks and there were a few days I did have to take a 1/4 Percocet at work as I was in agony and just couldn't miss work in a new job or explain to anyone what I was going through. But my work volume is so high that I need to be able to be sharp and work efficiently, so would prefer to not be taking it at work.
I think this time it was yogurt that triggered it, along with stress. It's funny, I can go a few months and not worry about diet.....I drink coffee, have tomatoes, a lot of the common triggers and be just fine...but I guess stress then does me in.
How do some of you cope with the pain and agony of having a flare-up while you're at work? I try not to jump up and go to the bathroom everytime I want to (or it would be every 15 minutes).....sometimes it seems the longer I can hold it (2 hours), the more relief I feel when I go although it's short-lived. I feel like the more one goes, the more they feel they need to keep going.
Sometimes at night I am shocked by the volume I pee.......I try to limit my fluids in the evening.....but I'll go several times during the night and it's more than just a few dribbles....it's a good amount several times. Where does all that fluid come from when I haven't drank that much? Does anyone else notice this?
I sometimes feel very discouraged when I'm having a flare-up, I'm just not my usual self which is understandable. I hate having to tell coworkers that I'm feeling crappy because of my IC and I feel like they just look at me like I have 3 heads. Some of them have been blessed to never have even had a UTI in their lives so they have no clue and I feel like I must sound like a whiner.
Can you relate?
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