Interstitial Cystitis

[contentuser]

Questions to Ask Your Doctor about Interstitial Cystitis(Free Handout)

Treatment


There is no cure for IC; the goal of treatment is to relieve symptoms. Often, treatment efficacy (effectiveness) wanes and a replacement must be found through trial and error. Most patients who suffer from IC find relief, usually with multiple, complementary treatments.


Medications

Medications used to treat IC are administered by different methods. They include:

Systemic medication – drugs tak...Read the full article

[81stStreet]

In addition to using Enablex or Detrol, I eat/drink specfic yogurt drinks or probiotic pills, which greatly reduced the inflammation pain of IC for me. How? Probiotics are good bacteria, or "live active cultures" that convert to lactic acid. Those good bacteria get killed off by antibiotics, and IC sufferers get antibiotics for UTIs or other infections. All U.S. yogurts have S. thermophilus and L. bulgaricus, and can have others too. I've found that L.casei (in Danon's Dan Active) works best for me, but I also use a yogurt with L. acidophilus or a pill. I've recently found that bifidusbacterium (found in Activia and Yoplait Yoplus) may CAUSE some urgency, so I avoid any with that type of probiotic strain. (Those with L. Rhamnosus give me a headache between the ears and it may be made with rye flour. I have headache problems because of gluten in rye, wheat, barley, oat flours.) Check the yogurts for what's in it. Try smoothie drinks, but check the ingredients. Start with the basics.

I also used Hydroxyzine or Benadryl successfully to reduce pain but quit them after a few months. I am not sure, but they may have contibuted to furthering muscle fatigue/pain and some problems related to that. I have been on many antibiotics for UTI's, surgery, ear and throat infections, and antibiotics kill off the good bacteria with the bad. It was after surgery that my IC was worse with bladder and pelvic pain and I was diagnosed with a pelvic floor dysfunction. But the yogurts later remedied that. I've found some information that pain killers may be the problem to increased inflammation and since I also used pain killers following the surgery, I can't be sure what caused the increase in pain. 9 months after the surgery I had some type of flu and ear infection, used some more antibiotics, and started with the antihistamines at that time too. Things got much worse for months and I additionally had muscle pain, increasing lethargy, and more. After almost 15 months, it turned around with Vitamin D supplements (3x day) after a deficiency diagnosis by an Internist. When I started the yogurts about a month later, the inflammation pain went away. I now equate the pelvic floor dysfunction misdiagnosis with fibromyalgia-type pain-- localized pelvic fibromyalgia due to "trauma" of the surgery? or was it just lactic acid defiency? I won't be able to know because it's now over. My gynecologist gave me the clue about lactic acid when I told her my inflammation pain went away with L. acidophilus.

While multiple things are usually involved with every IC sufferer, I know for sure that it was the lactic acid (yogurts, acidophilus pills) that really made my IC life better, in addition to the Vitamin D and Enablex. I hope that others will try adding lactic acid and pay attention to how you feel that day or the next. Many IC sufferers report that it "comes and goes"....are they yogurt eaters and haven't made the connection? IC doesn't have a cure, but I've found that I now more control over my IC. I've been taking the Vitamin D and yogurts for 4 months now and life is much better! I'm trying everywhere to tell this story and hoping that it helps others. Maybe doctors will also take notice and begin to check for Vitamin D deficiencies and seperately offer patients the simple lactic acid solution to see if pain levels can be reduced. They might encourage pelvic floor dysfunction patients to try yogurts or fibromyalgia sufferers too. I still HAVE to use Enablex, as nothing is permanently fixing my IC.