Potted history: 21 years old, had my first bad flare roughly 3 months ago. It was probably the most excruciating pain I've ever had and kept me up for days and days. It felt like a constant fire within my bladder and all the way along the urethra. Urine cultures were, of course, negative. Prostate massage found nothing abnormal, and no bacteria was found in prostatic secrections. The default course of Cipro was, of course, useless. In the 3 months since my initial flare the condition has wavered all over the place, sometimes disappearing completely for a few days, then returning mildly. Strangely I also get occasional breaks of normalcy that last only an hour or two. Today it flared badly again for the first time since the intial flare (which is why I'm up writing this instead of sleeping). So I'm attempting to get my toughts together and come up with a decisive course of action.
The only areas I ever seem to have a problem with are my bladder and urethra. Urgency, frequency, flow et al are all normal. I've never had any lower back pain, perneium pain, testicular pain or penis pain (outside of the urethra). I know if damaged nerves are involved I can't be sure exactly what the source of the pain is, but the pattern of pain seems to me to suggest IC more than any other label. Right now the pain in the bladder/urethra is intense, but when I'm not having a flare it is mostly unoticable during the day, just becoming slightly worse after urination (about 90% of the time) and occasionally after ejaculation.
- General lifestyle changes
1) Anxiety - I'm a terribly anxious person, and no doubt far more stressed than I should be. The pain this flare is causing me is only causing me more and more stress, so this is something I need to deal with. I am seeing a psychotherapist that my doctor refered me to, hopefully this will result in improving my anxiety.
2) Diet - I'm a little weary of dietry causes. I eat a fairly balanced diet and have not changed my eating habits in the past few years. I don't quite see why my body would suddenly decide to have a problem with certain foods, but I don't deny it is possible. I will attempt an elimination diet and see what kind of results I get. Could someone explain to me exactly how the food we eat can effect our bladder? I would've thought solids would cause problems elsewhere if they were going to.
3) Exercise - Like many of us, I spend most of the day sitting (I now use a cushion from the IC-Network shop, but I don't notice any difference with or without it) and I currently get 0 exercise. I have found a well-qualified local personal trainer who I will be using to get some exercise. I will explain my condition to them so as to avoid any exercise which may worsen things (cycling for example).
-Tests
Now that I've had tests to rule out bacteria, what more is there left to do apart from a cystoscopy? I believe my doctor would refer me to a uro for a cystoscopy at this stage if I asked him, but I'm a little wary of it. I would consider having a flexible cystoscopy done under a local, but I believe here in the UK they insist or doing it under a general, which I really don't want. And aside from ruling out strictures, I really don't know how helpful one would be in my case.
-Treatments
1) I have a copy of "A Headache in the Pelvis" on order, and if any self-help techniques are described in the book, I will employ them. It's not feasable for me to travel to California however.
2) Progessive relaxation. I find it near impossible to get into the required relaxed state, but I will keep trying with this.
3) ProstaProtek - will try a 3 month course.
4) any accredited quercetin product - should ProstaProtek prove ineffective after 3 months, I will try the same with Quercetin.
Any other suggestions for my list? There seems so little one can actually DO about this condition
