Urgency

[Claire_A]

Hi everyone,

I wonder if you could help me. My frequency at the moment is about 7-8 times daily drinking 1.5L water a day. This is with oxytrol patch, without the patch it is much worse.

I know there are deep breathing exercises to help with the urgency which I try to do as recommended by my pt but it really is not reducing the urgency for me. I feel like I am about to burst even with 250mls in me.

I have limited to no bladder pain as of the last 40 days (and counting ) but the urgency is really frustrating. Any advice to relieve this?

Thanks,

Claire

[ICNDonna]

Are you following an IC diet? That can be extremely important. Another thing you might discuss with your doctor is one of the smooth muscle antispasmodics. There are several available.

Donna

[Claire_A]

Hi Donna,

Yes I am ollowing IC diet. Although what I eat and drink does not seem to effect my bladder. I don't get pain or freqency (with the exception of coffee & alcohol) from any foods or drinks. My bladder just decides to spazm when it wants regardless of triggers. So I use the diet as more of a preventitive.

I am using oxytrol. I thought that was an antispasmodic?

[ICNDonna]

It is. If it's not working for you, you might want to talk with your doctor about trying a different one.

Donna

[Tura]

Glad oxytrol patch is helping you

Glad the oxytrol patch is helping you. I didnt think it helped me. Was still going to the bathroom as often.

[Lil Misfit]

My PT told me that going between 5-8 times a day is "normal". So, if you are going 7-8 times a day, it sounds like you have made good progress with PT. How long have you been going?

I have been in PT for a month. Initially I was urinating probably 20-30x a day. I am down to 8-12x a day and my PT says I am making great progress. The deep belly breathing and the stretching of my hip flexor muscles has really helped with my urgency.

[Claire_A]

Lil Misfit

I have been in Pt since october 2010, this was for vulvodynia. The IC pain started maybe a month afterwards and it has not made a difference to this. I did have trigger points around my ureathra but these are not sore anymore. Pain does not seem to be in proportion to trigger points.

Claire

[Lil Misfit]

I have been in Pt since october 2010, this was for vulvodynia. The IC pain started maybe a month afterwards and it has not made a difference to this. I did have trigger points around my ureathra but these are not sore anymore. Pain does not seem to be in proportion to trigger points.

Claire

Are you doing the stretching and breathing exercises daily? If it's not working for you, you may want to look into a different PT.

I'm sorry you are still having this problem

[Lil Misfit]

I also wanted to add that behavioral changes play a big part in recovery as well. I also struggled with urgency and frequency, but many of the times that I went to the bathroom I didn't produce more than a few drops of urine. And it always felt like my bladder was never completely empty.

My PT is awesome. She recommended, initially, just telling myself that I could wait 15 more minutes. That worked. I distracted myself, and got to 30 minutes. Before I knew it, I wasn't even thinking about the fact that I had to urinate anymore. Do you keep a voiding journal? If you don't, you should. It really helped me to see when I was voiding and the circumstances surrounding it. 3 days ago, I was finally able to report that I had only voided 8 times in a 24 hour period!!!! And I didn't feel urgency in between.

Stress is a big setback for me. If I am stressed, my pelvic floor muscles contract (along with all of the other muscles in my body). Are you under a lot of stress?

[Claire_A]

no stress

Hi,

Nope under basically no stress at all and do yoga 3 times a week. I don't keep up with the trigger point work daily as it makes my whole vulva burn. This has always been the case. I was doing it before work and leaving with so much rawness, I thought it was part of the healing untill I stopped doing it and the rawness was less. I saw the best PT in the country. He made sex comfortable again for me. I now see another lady who is good, but not as good. I couldn't keep up with the first guy due to cost.

I find if I try to hold on my pf muscles tighten and then my bladder spasms.

I am keeping a diary of voids. As of late not too bad 6 times between 7am and 10pm. Can hold 350mls at a push. have a lot of pain and pressure. Frequency has recently shot up to 10 times in that period. ( I ate grapes 3 days ago).

I really wonder if PT is making my vulvodynia worse by irritating the nerves.

Sigh.....

[cmclien]

Hi,
I switched from the oxytrol patch (5mg) to gelnique gel (10mg) of the same medicine (oxybutynin). I think it really helps me with spasms no matter what their cause. Spasms were one of the worse symptoms for me because they give that awful sense of urgency ( I don't have PFD). I found the patch just wasn't quite strong enough and I could barely tell it was working. The advantage of gelnique like the patch is it doesn't go through your digestive system so NO constipation or drying out issues. You rub it one designated areas once a day and thats it. I find as long as I switch locations and only use the same location once every 6 days then I get no skin irritation or anything.

[Claire_A]

Thanks

Thanks, I am seeing my uro on the 24th so I will ask to switch to Gelnique.

Hi,
I switched from the oxytrol patch (5mg) to gelnique gel (10mg) of the same medicine (oxybutynin). I think it really helps me with spasms no matter what their cause. Spasms were one of the worse symptoms for me because they give that awful sense of urgency ( I don't have PFD). I found the patch just wasn't quite strong enough and I could barely tell it was working. The advantage of gelnique like the patch is it doesn't go through your digestive system so NO constipation or drying out issues. You rub it one designated areas once a day and thats it. I find as long as I switch locations and only use the same location once every 6 days then I get no skin irritation or anything.