Men and Elmiron

[So Frustrated]

I am hoping to hear some success stories from men who take Elmiron. I have looked around the forums and see the majority of posters and Elmiron success stories are from women.

This is great to hear of course. It's always helpful to hear that people are finding relief from something. I would just like to know that the ratio of men finding success with Elmiron is close to the ratio of women being helped by Elmiron.

Thanks

[IC4MEN2]

I am hoping to hear some success stories from men who take Elmiron. I have looked around the forums and see the majority of posters and Elmiron success stories are from women.

This is great to hear of course. It's always helpful to hear that people are finding relief from something. I would just like to know that the ratio of men finding success with Elmiron is close to the ratio of women being helped by Elmiron.

Thanks

Until recently Elmiron has worked great for me. My flares were few and far between. However back in May the pain got horrible and didn't let up. My prostate was shutting me up and no doubt aggravating the IC. After surgery the agony remained. Then I saw that Elmiron wasn't available due to bad formulation (or something). My last Rx was from the first week of May (right when the supply disappeared). I'm pretty sure I had a bad batch. I'm just about done with a year old(good) backup emergency Rx(one month supply) and I'm doing so much better. I should have a new batch coming to me pretty soon. Now sometimes I can sleep up to 4 hours at night before needing to drain. I went 2 1/2 hours today between restroom breaks. I don't know how bad your IC is but for me that is great.

Bottom line is if the manufacturers problems are solved, Elmiron is a wonderful drug for me anyway and hopefully it will work for you too. I'd definately recommend you give it a try. It gave me my life back.

[Barbm]

Help for IC

I have recently had a terrible IC flare and seeing that I am an Internist , I have reviewed just about all the medical literature. Here is what I am doing:
1.Elmiron 100mg TID to "coat" the bladder
2. Zantac (ranitidine) 300mg q day. There is a recent study done at Northwestern using mice that shows this H2 blocker works best to decrease pain in IC--- and it is of course over the counter!Worked better than hydroxizine and Benadryl that are H1 blockers.
3. Amitryptilline (Elavil)-- studies show it decreases the pain
4. IC diet
5. Cystoprotek- basically Chondoritin/Glucosamine to help increase the GAG layer. This is also OTC.Studies show benefit- but not double blind controlled studies- sorry!
6. Doxycycline 100mg q day. This is the antibiotic that teenagers take daily for acne. It has antibiotic and anti-inflammatory action and at least one study showed markedly decreased pain. It is safe and well tolerated.
7. Pelvic exercises and stretches- basically Yoga!
8. Installations with Heparin/lidocaine- they didn't work for me.


To make a long story short - when I started the Doxycycline and Elmiron- I was 95% better within 2 days! I still feel great! Read the literature- go to Pub Med and search Interstitial cystitis and do everything SAFE that you can do! Good luck!

[MaryJo]

rantidine

. Zantac (ranitidine) 300mg q day. There is a recent study done at Northwestern using mice that shows this H2 blocker works best to decrease pain in IC--- and it is of course .......

I'd really like to read more about rantidine can you tell me where you got your info about this.

MaryJo

[Barbm]

Information on Zantac (ranitidine)

Here is the article "Pharmacologic attenuation of pelvic pain in a murine model of interstitial cystitis" Charles N. Rudick. You can get the whole article at Pub Med.