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After 5 months of attempting to medicate a recurring UTI, I was diagnosed a week ago with IC. From meandering around the site (thank you so, so much!) it appears I'm a prime candidate, having begun with a UTI, taking a bad fall off a horse, and living off soda, coffee, candy, margaritas, and anything I can microwave. Now, I'm having difficulty accepting, for several reasons.
Firstly, my PCP has been a huge letdown right from the beginning. Over the course of five months, I have visited her 4 - 5x, of which I think I've seen her for five minutes, total. She never did an exam. They recommended bloodwork after I insisted on a urine culture, thinking I might be diabetic, at which point I realized they had lost my file, as I had had bloodwork less than a year prior. It's been very, very trying working with my PCP. Then after a few rounds of a sulfa drug, Cipro, and Amoxi, I always ended up with a yeast infection. After the most recent urinalysis, I waited for 45 minutes to describe my symptoms to the nurse, then was sent home, at which point I received a letter three days later recommending a urologist of their choice, of course, male.
What I learned last week is that I absolutely cannot manage a male urologist, and that I have IC. What my primary concern is that the day prior to my visit to the uro, I had taken a second dose Diflucan for the yeast I just can't get rid of. Then per usual, 5 days after, the yeast symptoms returned, and I called my PCP begging for another Diflucan. I feel like my visit to the urologist wasn't nearly as productive as I would have liked, and not nearly enough for me to figure out how to manage IC.
I've been following the diet to the letter, with the exception of a 1/4 can of ginger ale Sunday (I dumped the rest). My symptoms have been consistently getting worse since my visit. The initial reason for the visit was pain (for 5 months) at what I would consider the opening of my urethra (I had to google that just now, I wouldn't have been able to explain where the pain was coming from to my uro last week). So I scheduled an appointment with a gyno, as that was really the only symptom I was having. Now, I have lower back pain/abdominal pain x 2 days, but while it seems to be worse immediately after I urinate, my appetite has been horrible, and I think it would be possible that it's gastrointestinal.
My other concern is that I'm wondering if it's really possible to diagnose IC based on a physical exam and my pathetic attempt to describe symptoms while the only thing I'm thinking is "oh my god, this old dude is going to poke around in my thing." I also have no problem holding urine - quite the contrary. I can manage without urinating during my entire work day, no matter how long it lasts, although the urgency is always there (seems to be urethra-based rather than bladder).
My plan now is to visit my gyno about this stupid yeast infection, and schedule an appointment with a female urologist. But I feel like I've had to take this entire thing in to my own hands, and I really feel like I need to know what I should be asking for, or if I even should be asking for anything in terms of diagnostics.
That sounds like an enormous rant, and I'm feel like I really need to just accept it, snuggle up with my heating pad and my 24yo teddy bear, and cry for a few more days, and that's fine. But any suggestions would be dearly appreciated.
Sarah
Firstly, my PCP has been a huge letdown right from the beginning. Over the course of five months, I have visited her 4 - 5x, of which I think I've seen her for five minutes, total. She never did an exam. They recommended bloodwork after I insisted on a urine culture, thinking I might be diabetic, at which point I realized they had lost my file, as I had had bloodwork less than a year prior. It's been very, very trying working with my PCP. Then after a few rounds of a sulfa drug, Cipro, and Amoxi, I always ended up with a yeast infection. After the most recent urinalysis, I waited for 45 minutes to describe my symptoms to the nurse, then was sent home, at which point I received a letter three days later recommending a urologist of their choice, of course, male.
What I learned last week is that I absolutely cannot manage a male urologist, and that I have IC. What my primary concern is that the day prior to my visit to the uro, I had taken a second dose Diflucan for the yeast I just can't get rid of. Then per usual, 5 days after, the yeast symptoms returned, and I called my PCP begging for another Diflucan. I feel like my visit to the urologist wasn't nearly as productive as I would have liked, and not nearly enough for me to figure out how to manage IC.
I've been following the diet to the letter, with the exception of a 1/4 can of ginger ale Sunday (I dumped the rest). My symptoms have been consistently getting worse since my visit. The initial reason for the visit was pain (for 5 months) at what I would consider the opening of my urethra (I had to google that just now, I wouldn't have been able to explain where the pain was coming from to my uro last week). So I scheduled an appointment with a gyno, as that was really the only symptom I was having. Now, I have lower back pain/abdominal pain x 2 days, but while it seems to be worse immediately after I urinate, my appetite has been horrible, and I think it would be possible that it's gastrointestinal.
My other concern is that I'm wondering if it's really possible to diagnose IC based on a physical exam and my pathetic attempt to describe symptoms while the only thing I'm thinking is "oh my god, this old dude is going to poke around in my thing." I also have no problem holding urine - quite the contrary. I can manage without urinating during my entire work day, no matter how long it lasts, although the urgency is always there (seems to be urethra-based rather than bladder).
My plan now is to visit my gyno about this stupid yeast infection, and schedule an appointment with a female urologist. But I feel like I've had to take this entire thing in to my own hands, and I really feel like I need to know what I should be asking for, or if I even should be asking for anything in terms of diagnostics.
That sounds like an enormous rant, and I'm feel like I really need to just accept it, snuggle up with my heating pad and my 24yo teddy bear, and cry for a few more days, and that's fine. But any suggestions would be dearly appreciated.
Sarah
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