IC and Bladder Sling

[saptree]

Hello,
After 3 years with minimal to no IC symptoms, my bladder is up to it again. Meanwhile my new Gyn is a urogyn and is working me up for incontence surgery. I have been through 4 torture tests including urodynamics testing today. I just tried a week trial of Elmiron and it did me no favors, just worse pain. I had the same experience with it 4 yrs ago when I tried it for a year.
My question is... Does the bladder sling surgery work well for stress incontinence and how will it affect my bladder from the IC perspective? I'm 35 yrs old, had two kids vaginally and have been diagnosed with IC for 10 yrs.
Thanks,
Saptree

[lalarainbow]

I had a birch bladder sling done when I had my hysterectomy= it really did help the stress incontenence .. but a year later I was diagnosed with IC.. It has been about 7 years.. I still have no problem with leaking.. just the IC stuff
grrrr.. I had the urodynamics testing and that was not fun...the uro I had for that was so rude... I never went back to him..
It is hard to make decisions but I was glad I had the sling done.

[saptree]

The urodynamics test was torture but my dr and the two nurses were very nice and supportive. We did a lot of laughing. But of couse it burns when I pee and I feel a flare coming on. I have 2 days of antibiotics and 3 day of pyridium to get through. I guess I'm not worried anout the surgery, I'm more worried about the reaction my employer will have when i'm out for a week it two. Funny, I just moved for the job, was having irregular bleeding issues while on continous birth control, asked to see any gyn and ended up with a urogyn new to the area too. Perhaps fate has taken me here. I hope it all goes well. We discuss surgery next week.

[nanawaggs]

Hi, saptree ~
I have had surgery for the urinary incontinence, bladder suspension, and hysterectomy at one time. Unfortunately for me, the suspension caused a horrible amount of pain for 2 years (I do believe I developed IC during my recovery period from this surgery). I had to have the suspension mesh removed and 2 months later a more extensive suspension surgery due to vaginal erosion most likely because the mesh was way too tight. I am still having painful urethra pressure and my wonderful uro/gyn is still leaning toward removing the right side of the sling because it also is extremely tight and "bulky" and causes pain when that area it touched (it feels like razor blades inside me).

I'm sharing this because I really believe the doctor who did my surgery did not do the greatest job and I believe it's important to research your doctor, preferably getting a personal recommendation from someone.

I'm still in a state of disbelief that "1" surgery has already developed into "2 additional" surgeries with the possibility of 2 more, making a total of "4" major surgeries to correct the first one. Just yesterday I read my doctor's surgical notes from the removal of the mesh and he clearly stated what a risky surgery this was and I did lose more than the average amount of blood.

As for the correction of the problem of incontenence....I couldn't be a happier camper!!!! That little sling does the job that's for sure and I'm so apprehensive if the incontinence would return after the removal, making it necessary for that 4th surgery.

I'm sorry if this is discouraging....I'm probably a very rare case, but we all need to research the potential problems and be prepared that we just might be in that teeny tiny percentage.....unlikely, but possible.

Best wishes with your decision....no one should have to live with these problems now that they have medical procedures to correct them.

Blessings,