Cherish your life

One year ago, I noticed something strange going on with my body. I had been experiencing some pain on and off in my lower abdomen and bladder area for a while and had had a lot of tests done at the hospital to make sure that it wasn't anything "life and death" serious. Suddenly, one afternoon back in March of 2015, I doubled over in severe pain and was rushed to the hospital. After a night of many more tests, we were told that it was just a virus. "Just a virus." Yeah, sure. That "virus" proceeded to keep me lying on my couch for 2 weeks. I could not attend my classes and ended up having to quit my job at the mall because I kept calling out and wasn't sure what was going on. Nothing we tried worked at making me feel any better. We were starting to get very scared. I was constantly in and out of the ER having every test under the sun done; I saw every doctor we could think of and still there was nothing. No answers. Every day was a new experience, sometimes without severe pain and sometimes it was agonizing. This went on for 9 more months.

Finally, in December 2015, I was brought to the MediQuick because I was scared I had a UTI. It was the only thing we could think of that was left. They ran some tests, only to find out that I was UTI free. While sitting with the doctor on call, she asked me if I had ever heard of something called Interstitial Cystitis. I told her no but I actually had seen it on WebMD a few days before. I thought that I could have that, but didn't want to diagnose myself. So I said nothing to her and just listened as she told me about it.

IC is a bladder disorder that is most common in women ages 20-35 and it can last for the rest of your life. There are many ways that it can be caused, I was told that mine was most likely from too much radiation around my pelvic and bladder area. This caused my pelvic walls to be damaged. The walls never fully healed due to the fact that I was consuming a lot of foods and beverages that were damaging them further. As she told me about this disorder, it all seemed to make sense. Which, with me, seemed to good to be true. I went to see my GI doctor per her recommendation. After having an exam done by my GI, she concluded the same diagnosis. I had IC.

I have been diagnosed for about 4 months now and am still struggling with this. There is really no medication for this and no cure has been found. There is, however, a bland diet that is meant for the disorder, and as confusing as it is, it works. It's trial and error with most of the foods, except for the bland foods, which is why I struggle so hard. I have been trying this trial and error diet since I was diagnosed and every once in a while, a slip up happens. That, mixed with my acid reflux and over active bladder (OAB), causes a domino effect of drastic proportions.

Since this is not getting better and I have to live with this for the rest of my life, I have decided to change my lifestyle for the better. From now on, I am strictly sticking to the bland diet, except on my once a month cheat days, and am exercising daily to make my pelvic and bladder muscles stronger. As difficult as these life changes are, they are necessary. It is still possible to have a life with IC, it just takes a little extra effort.

Hopefully someday they will find a cure for this awful disorder. But until then, I have to make the best of my life!