Tweet
Hi Everyone!
I just wanted to share a positive story about my IC and pregnancy. When I was searching for info the last few years everything felt scary and sad so I wanted to put a little sunshine here and hopefully it can give at least someone hope!
I was diagnosed young (23?), on Elmiron consistantly for many years, successfully. When I was younger and more recently diagnosed I used to read all of these scary posts about not being able to have children due to many reasons and got comfortable with the fact that I would adopt one day. Now that I'm married, my husband (while OK with adoption) wanted to see if we could try to have our own kids naturally. About a year and a half ago (age 35) I started seeing an amazing Uro here in San Diego (I think he's on one of those top ten lists on this site) and I'm so glad I did.
I'm definitely one of the lucky ones, meaning I don't have terrible pain associated with my IC and the doc said because I caught it so early, I have been able to manage my IC very well. He even upped my dose from 3 times a day to 4 pills to try and knock out those last few symptoms that creep up. I started asking about the possibility of getting pregnant and he didn't even flinch! I thought for sure I would be "high risk" or there would be some terrible warning or I'd have to get off Elmiron (impossible), but he told me that Elmiron is safe to take while pregnant AND breastfeed, which I then confirmed with two OBGYNs. (The molecules are too large to pass through the placenta). I'm now 17 weeks pregnant (age 36) and aside from the very occasional "didn't I JUST go to the bathroom" feeling, I have felt no increased IC symptoms! YAY! I started drinking more OJ to get the vitamin c and calcium and after awhile I had to pull it back because I felt like maybe it was going to cause an issue, but even then, it didn't turn into a flare.
A few weeks into the pregnancy, I thought I might have been having a flare...I had to pee about every 45 minutes, but after like 10 seconds of research, MOST women go through this for a few weeks early on in the pregnancy and then it DOES go away, due to hormones, and mine did! Just like the books said.
I know it's still early and have just over 5 months to go, but so far so good! I'd love to hear other peoples positive pregnancy stories and answer any questions!
-Erica
I just wanted to share a positive story about my IC and pregnancy. When I was searching for info the last few years everything felt scary and sad so I wanted to put a little sunshine here and hopefully it can give at least someone hope!
I was diagnosed young (23?), on Elmiron consistantly for many years, successfully. When I was younger and more recently diagnosed I used to read all of these scary posts about not being able to have children due to many reasons and got comfortable with the fact that I would adopt one day. Now that I'm married, my husband (while OK with adoption) wanted to see if we could try to have our own kids naturally. About a year and a half ago (age 35) I started seeing an amazing Uro here in San Diego (I think he's on one of those top ten lists on this site) and I'm so glad I did.
I'm definitely one of the lucky ones, meaning I don't have terrible pain associated with my IC and the doc said because I caught it so early, I have been able to manage my IC very well. He even upped my dose from 3 times a day to 4 pills to try and knock out those last few symptoms that creep up. I started asking about the possibility of getting pregnant and he didn't even flinch! I thought for sure I would be "high risk" or there would be some terrible warning or I'd have to get off Elmiron (impossible), but he told me that Elmiron is safe to take while pregnant AND breastfeed, which I then confirmed with two OBGYNs. (The molecules are too large to pass through the placenta). I'm now 17 weeks pregnant (age 36) and aside from the very occasional "didn't I JUST go to the bathroom" feeling, I have felt no increased IC symptoms! YAY! I started drinking more OJ to get the vitamin c and calcium and after awhile I had to pull it back because I felt like maybe it was going to cause an issue, but even then, it didn't turn into a flare.
A few weeks into the pregnancy, I thought I might have been having a flare...I had to pee about every 45 minutes, but after like 10 seconds of research, MOST women go through this for a few weeks early on in the pregnancy and then it DOES go away, due to hormones, and mine did! Just like the books said.
I know it's still early and have just over 5 months to go, but so far so good! I'd love to hear other peoples positive pregnancy stories and answer any questions!
-Erica
Comment