News & Blog
IC Cannot Completely Control My Life
My name is Randy and I’m a 48-year-old male who was diagnosed with IC in 2007. For as far back as I can remember, every 3-4 weeks a doctor incorrectly identified my condition as prostatitis. The main problem all my life, including my childhood, was frequency. For about 40 years I woke up every 90 minutes to go to the bathroom. From 2007 to 2009 my IC was the worst it has ever been. Despite trying all kinds of medications, and constantly getting instillations, I was still getting many flares.
Nothing really worked except one thing – acupuncture. It didn’t help my bladder, but it really enabled me to sleep! Normally I sleep through the night for six straight hours now! After years of trying pelvic therapy, I finally was given two new medications which made all the difference in the world. I was given Atarax (hydroxyzine) and Fexmid (cyclobenzaprine), taking each twice a day. Of course it’s not a cure, but these two really made a difference.
Years of taking Detrol LA (tolterodine tartrate) didn’t really do anything for me. Then I tried Toviaz (fesoterodine fumarate), and again, it was not a cure, but gave me much improvement. I also take potassium citrate twice a day because I am the acidic type of IC patient. Of course I take Elmiron (pentosan polysulfate sodium) as well and Desipramine (related to amitriptyline).
In late 2007, because of my IC I was forced to do something which broke my heart – retire from being a PE teacher. The doctor who treats my IC wanted me to retire for a long time, but I had refused for so long. Finally I relented. Since then, I have developed many other serious conditions (not related to IC) forcing me to remain in retirement. Even though IC has often kept me from doing what I loved most, I have been fortunate to have found relief so that IC cannot completely control my life. My hope is that my story will help other patients to find the relief I have and to continue to live their lives, even if it’s not in the way they’d imagined.
Randy Robinson