Anyone else have interstitial cystitis?

I was diagnosed with interstitial cystitis about a month ago. I have been prescribed medication and now have to catheterize myself once a week. I was wondering if anyone else has this and can offer any support. Thanks.

I was diagnosed over 10 years ago, it will tkae trial and error to find the right mix of medications and treatment therapies but it can be done. It cannot be cured but it can be managed. I lead a very productive, active life and take my flareups as they come. Stress is a trigger, menustral cycles as well. Find a good urologist and stick with him/her. Elmiron seems to be the most helpful but know that it can take 3 to 4 months for you to begin to see any benefit from the drug. Take is faithfully and it should help.

Diet changes are crucial as well, eliminate ALL acidic foods from your diet for 30 days. Makes for realllllllllllllllllly boring meals but ya gotta try. After 30 days, introduce 1 acidic food item back into your diet and see what happens over the next 24 hrs. If it triggers a flare, no more of that; if it doesn't, put it back on the menu. Keep doing this and you can usually isolate your major food triggers and reduce a great deal of the flareups.

I would also reccomend a support group. Helps bunches to meet with people who know what you are going thru and they can provide lots of new ideas.

Good luck!

For more information:

http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/p...

For support groups and where they are located:

http://www.ichelp.com/support/meetingann...

In researching this for the same condition in our cat, we found that there has been some studies that showed that amitriptyline was helpful in humans and cats with cystitis.

Our cat seems to get some relief when we give her this drug when she has a flare-up.

You might want to ask your doctor whether this would be appropriate for you or not.