21 yrs old. IC and hating it

[NB]

Hey, i'm glad to find this site. I was starting to wonder if i had something masking itself as IC that no one took under consideration. I mean, i didn't no other young people like myself had this affliction.
Mine started with a bladder infection brought on by becoming sexually active again after two years. I wasn't being treated properly so it took 5 months and at least 7 new rounds of antibiotics to get rid of the bacteria. But now i'm bacteria free yet stuck with these symptoms. I think all the medicine did some wicked damage to my bladder lining, but the doctors just say that it's normal for the bladder to be traumatized after a bladder infection. I don't think so. I'm almost 21 years old and i'm annoying my boyfriend i'm sure by always having to pee. I'm astonished when i wake up and the sun is out and i realize i haven't gone to the bathroom once before i first got into bed. I really have no one who knows how frustrating this is, so if someone can relate i would really like to talk with you....

[Alexa]

Hi again NB! I responded to your other post under "Newly Diagnosed", just to let you know!

Hugs,
Alexa [img]smile.gif[/img]

[lilbetty13]

I was just diagnosed with IC and was happy to find this site as well. When I read your posting, it made me cry, the EXACT same thing happened to me. From Nov - Jan I was on 5 different antibiotics blah blah, if it was like my situation I never had an infection it was just an episode and because I was on so many antibiotics, it made it worse, so I have been in pain pretty much every day since then. I am 26 and having such a hard time, but I thought I would let you know that the same thing happened to me. I hate what I am going through and to make it worse am depressed all the time. I was a very active runner/exerciser but cant really run anymore. I had an eating disorder as well, so you can imagine how important exercise it to me. I have started taking this hot yoga called Bikram, for weight loss it's whatever but for managing my symptoms it is amazing. Well I hope you are doing well, if you have any advice I would love to hear it.

Best wishes and warm hugs -
Lauren

[Alexa]

Dear Lauren,

First of all, welcome to the ICN! [img]smile.gif[/img]

I'm sorry to hear you're going through such a rough time. I'm almost 26, and was diagnosed about 5 years ago. I'm glad you've found something to help your symptoms! Have you also looked into the IC diet? That has really helped me manage my symptoms. There is lots of great information on the ICN website, dealing with practically every aspect of living with IC, so I hope you get a chance to "look around"! [img]smile.gif[/img]

Take care,
Alexa [img]smile.gif[/img]

[lilbetty13]

Hey Alexa -

Thanks so much for the kind words. I have spent some time on the site and really feel lucky that I found it. Do you have any advice about what has worked for you besides diet, like maybe exercise or something else? I am trying to follow the diet better each day, but it is hard because everything I was eating was on the don't eat list. Thanks again!

Lauren

[Alexa]

Hi Lauren!

A medication named Elmiron really helped me with my IC symptoms. I was also on Desipramine for a long time, which is in the tricyclic family of anti-depressants which had the side effect of helping me with my pain and frequency. Those, along with sticking really closely to the IC diet helped me. But please keep in mind that IC is "interesting" because everyone's different and what works for one person might not work for another. It's a matter of hanging in there and finding out what medication or treatment (or combination) works for you.

Good luck! We're all here to support you!

Hugs,
Alexa [img]smile.gif[/img]

[noodlehead27]

Hi Everyone! I too have IC and I am 26. I have a little bit of everyone's symptoms. The weird thing is I first started out having this really bad back pain. I thought I lifted something that was too heavy. I went to the ER twice! They told me with the symptoms I was having that it was just a pulled muscle. And they gave me pain killers and muscle relaxers. I still was having discomfort. I even went to Physical Therapy. My back pain along with this UTI feeling was intense. The pain in my back was low almost like I thought I was passing a Kidney Stone. Then the pain started to kind of travel down to my tailbone at the last intense pain and then my back started to feel better but then i was still having the the UTI and Tailbone pain. I am a Tae bo freak, so this has been hard for me to workout. I don't have any back pain now just the UTI pain. The funny thing is was just a couple of weeks before that I was saying to my Fiance I have never felt more in shape in my life. I was feeling really good about finally feeling fit. I was saying I wasn't even this in shape when I was in High School! Then this! I hope they can find a cure for all of us! I want to give a hug to everyone and hold you tight when you are hurting. I would give a million kisses if it would make it feel better!

Yours Sincerely,
Emily

[april582]

I'm 20 years old, and I was just diagnosed with IC a couple weeks ago. Mine started with lower back pain too, then the UTIs, then the symptoms of UTIs with no bacteria. After my cystoscopy confirmed a mild case of IC, the urologist put me on Elmiron, I can't really tell whether or not it's working yet. They say it can take 6 to 8 weeks to kick in. Anyway, I'm still having the lower back pain off and on. [img]frown.gif[/img]

Well if anyone wants to chat, e-mail me at [email protected]


-April