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Hello everyone,
I am a 37 year old woman who went through both the 5 day interstim trial and the permanent interstim implant surgery. My permanent implant is now 1 month old. It has been 6 years since my official diagnosis with IC and PFD. The first couple of years I had success controling my symptoms with Ativan, Atarax, Elavil and Elmiron and Pyridium/Uribel/Urelle. As time progressed my flare ups grew more severe, and lasted longer. My symptoms were urgency/frequency (about every 20 min. on really bad days), abdominal preassure and pelvic pain. I went through several sessions of physical therapy for back pain, pelvic pain, and pelvic floor spasms. My Uro (who is awesome!) beleived that we had the IC under control, but we had to work on getting the Pelvic floor dysfunction under control.
I was referred out to a pain management center that specialized in female pelvic pain. There I did a combination of physical therapy, and weekly Trigger point injections in to the lower abdomen. It sucked! It was painful, but after the pain and soreness subsided I noticed that it was making the pelvic pain and the constant preassure I felt on my bladder feel a little better. After 4 of these trigger point sessions, the 5th went wrong.
The physician injecting me hit my bladder and it set off probably the worse flare up I have ever had! It was weeks, and weeks and the pain and discomfort were not subsiding. Even worse was the fact that I had to wait a month to go back in for a follow up. I made an appointment to see my regular urologist - I felt broken, hopeless, and defeated. I asked her about what else we could do - I needed something that worked, I needed releif.
My doctor spoke to me at length about Interstim. I received the brochure and the DVD about it. I did a lot of online research, and found out about the good and the bad. after a few weeks of contemplation, and realizing that I had done all the other less invasive things to help my IC and PFD symptoms, I decided to ask for the trial.
The trial was great! The temporary leads were placed at 10am, and by 7pm that night I was peeing less, and felt a little less cramping. After two days of using the left lead, I switched to the right lead which worked even better. As the days went on I used the bathroom less, and slept through the entire night! I did not have to use either Uribel or Pyridium. I went back and reported my experience to both my doctor and the Interstim rep. 1 week later the permanent implant was put in at an outpatient surgery center.
The surgery was a 7am. For the first part of the surgery I was under local anesthesia only. Once my doctor found what felt like a "good spot" in my back, I was put under. When I woke up I had my new friend...my Interstim. Both my husband and I were trained on the settings, and general functions of the Interstim Remote. The week before the surgery my frequency/urgency/pain symptoms had returned. on the day after the surgery I started to feel better. Less trips to the bathroom, less abdominal/pelvic pain, though still very sore at the implant site.
It has been one month. I have had to play around with the settings here and there, but I am doing very well. I thought I was going to be freaked out by being able to feel the battery under my skin, but it has had the opposite effect. I love this therapy. I love being able to have some contact with the device that has made me feel so much better. It took me years to get to this point, and I am happy I proceeded through all of my treatment options carefully, and cautiously. I know this is not supposed to work to deminish pain - but it did for me. I am very happy I had the surgery done. I am back at work, and though I still have soreness at the implant site, it is manageable discomfort. If any of you have questions, or want to talk I am happy to communicate with you. I was scared and had lots of questions. I know I wrote a lot, but I wanted to share as much as I could. And, I hope my post helps someone.
I am a 37 year old woman who went through both the 5 day interstim trial and the permanent interstim implant surgery. My permanent implant is now 1 month old. It has been 6 years since my official diagnosis with IC and PFD. The first couple of years I had success controling my symptoms with Ativan, Atarax, Elavil and Elmiron and Pyridium/Uribel/Urelle. As time progressed my flare ups grew more severe, and lasted longer. My symptoms were urgency/frequency (about every 20 min. on really bad days), abdominal preassure and pelvic pain. I went through several sessions of physical therapy for back pain, pelvic pain, and pelvic floor spasms. My Uro (who is awesome!) beleived that we had the IC under control, but we had to work on getting the Pelvic floor dysfunction under control.
I was referred out to a pain management center that specialized in female pelvic pain. There I did a combination of physical therapy, and weekly Trigger point injections in to the lower abdomen. It sucked! It was painful, but after the pain and soreness subsided I noticed that it was making the pelvic pain and the constant preassure I felt on my bladder feel a little better. After 4 of these trigger point sessions, the 5th went wrong.
The physician injecting me hit my bladder and it set off probably the worse flare up I have ever had! It was weeks, and weeks and the pain and discomfort were not subsiding. Even worse was the fact that I had to wait a month to go back in for a follow up. I made an appointment to see my regular urologist - I felt broken, hopeless, and defeated. I asked her about what else we could do - I needed something that worked, I needed releif.
My doctor spoke to me at length about Interstim. I received the brochure and the DVD about it. I did a lot of online research, and found out about the good and the bad. after a few weeks of contemplation, and realizing that I had done all the other less invasive things to help my IC and PFD symptoms, I decided to ask for the trial.
The trial was great! The temporary leads were placed at 10am, and by 7pm that night I was peeing less, and felt a little less cramping. After two days of using the left lead, I switched to the right lead which worked even better. As the days went on I used the bathroom less, and slept through the entire night! I did not have to use either Uribel or Pyridium. I went back and reported my experience to both my doctor and the Interstim rep. 1 week later the permanent implant was put in at an outpatient surgery center.
The surgery was a 7am. For the first part of the surgery I was under local anesthesia only. Once my doctor found what felt like a "good spot" in my back, I was put under. When I woke up I had my new friend...my Interstim. Both my husband and I were trained on the settings, and general functions of the Interstim Remote. The week before the surgery my frequency/urgency/pain symptoms had returned. on the day after the surgery I started to feel better. Less trips to the bathroom, less abdominal/pelvic pain, though still very sore at the implant site.
It has been one month. I have had to play around with the settings here and there, but I am doing very well. I thought I was going to be freaked out by being able to feel the battery under my skin, but it has had the opposite effect. I love this therapy. I love being able to have some contact with the device that has made me feel so much better. It took me years to get to this point, and I am happy I proceeded through all of my treatment options carefully, and cautiously. I know this is not supposed to work to deminish pain - but it did for me. I am very happy I had the surgery done. I am back at work, and though I still have soreness at the implant site, it is manageable discomfort. If any of you have questions, or want to talk I am happy to communicate with you. I was scared and had lots of questions. I know I wrote a lot, but I wanted to share as much as I could. And, I hope my post helps someone.
. Thanks for listening 
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