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I met a woman with IC last week who had a wonderful story to share. It gives me hope that we can all achieve remission no matter how bad things are. We just have to keep trying to find the treatment that works best for us.
"I was originally diagnosed in 2002 after several Doctors. Once diagnosed it took 2 urologists before I finally found relief. Both urologist stated I had one of the worst cases they had seen which resulted in my bladder shrinking due to be so hard and rigid. At my worst I contemplated a leave from work as doing anything besides staying in bed became too difficult. The first Urologist wanted to do weekly instillations directly into my bladder. Other doctors I saw tried several different pain blocking medications which resulted in several unpleasant side effects, but no relief. So I got a second opinion and for me some relief did come from diet, exercise and baking soda baths, but it was a medication combination of Elmiron (3x's/day) combined with Hydroxizine at bedtime that brought complete relief within 2wks. The Elmiron did not work without the Hydroxizine which is an antihistamine consistent with the theory that IC may be an immune problem, as I initially tried Elmiron by itself. After 4 yrs I was able to reduce the Elmiron to 1x/day. In 2008 I stopped the Elmiron completely and in 2009 I stopped taking the Hydroxozine. No symptoms at all including my frequency and ability to hold my urine. In 2003 I met another IC sufferer who was about to have a radical surgical procedure to have her bladder removed and after we spoke her doctor put her on the same cocktail of drugs and she had the same results I did."
"I was originally diagnosed in 2002 after several Doctors. Once diagnosed it took 2 urologists before I finally found relief. Both urologist stated I had one of the worst cases they had seen which resulted in my bladder shrinking due to be so hard and rigid. At my worst I contemplated a leave from work as doing anything besides staying in bed became too difficult. The first Urologist wanted to do weekly instillations directly into my bladder. Other doctors I saw tried several different pain blocking medications which resulted in several unpleasant side effects, but no relief. So I got a second opinion and for me some relief did come from diet, exercise and baking soda baths, but it was a medication combination of Elmiron (3x's/day) combined with Hydroxizine at bedtime that brought complete relief within 2wks. The Elmiron did not work without the Hydroxizine which is an antihistamine consistent with the theory that IC may be an immune problem, as I initially tried Elmiron by itself. After 4 yrs I was able to reduce the Elmiron to 1x/day. In 2008 I stopped the Elmiron completely and in 2009 I stopped taking the Hydroxozine. No symptoms at all including my frequency and ability to hold my urine. In 2003 I met another IC sufferer who was about to have a radical surgical procedure to have her bladder removed and after we spoke her doctor put her on the same cocktail of drugs and she had the same results I did."
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