Hope for the hurting

I went in for my follow-up consultation with the progressive doctor yesterday. I was able to report to him, before we went through my test results, that I feel better (much much better) and have even lowered my Elmiron dose! (I'm taking only 100 mg a day now, and skipping doses without noticing!)

I've also started eating citrus again, with no negative effects. I love limes in my water, and I have an occasional orange!

He asked me why, and I think it was a combination of getting a strong source of protein and iron, and eliminating all grains. In fact, when I would eat a gluten grain, I would even start to feel a little sick. So my body is telling me what to avoid!
 

Changing my life...

So my last post was about the visit to the progressive doctor. I felt I had more musing to do about it, so here goes...

When I went to the clinic I think I had reached the perfect time to go. Any sooner and I might have thrown a file at the doc's head. Basically, part of being an IC patient is going through the stages of grief- loss of your former life and health. What you love is snatched from you. It's pretty easy to feel like a victim.

You don't deserve to feel this way. No one understands. There are no answers.

Hope

So, I know this blog is often overlooked. I live a very busy life, and my medical conditions have settled some, on the whole. I sometimes feel guilty for feeling as "good" as I do.

Anyway, I felt like an update was in order, as for the first time, in a long time, I have hope.

It started with a mild rant on Facebook. A friend posted about a progressive doctor, if I was interested. I was, actually. I later learned she worked for him, and after much discussion, I decided to go to a consultation with him, and find out what he suggested.

The consultation wasn't covered by my insurance, and so we had to pay up front. With the investment made, we knew we had to go all in & do what they recommended to try to make this work!

I went to see him on Tuesday, and was impressed, and awed, by the fact that he might be able to help. Not "Here's another pill to add to your list" help, but REALLY help. As in, "we re-set your body & you may not have to live in continual pain" help!

"Pain is your new normal"

Sounds like something your sergeant would say during boot camp, right? Well, it has sort of become my motto these past few years! I told my Physical Therapist what I meant, and she got it. My pain threshold has been raised (or lowered, depending on how you look at it) so that I am used to living in the level of pain that I have on a daily basis- it is my new "normal", the new "me".

I hadn't really noticed how used to pain I was until a couple of days last week I realized I had spent a couple hours with NO PAIN (at all!!) and it didn't hit me until the pain started up again. Wow, I wasn't in pain! That's kinda cool! (It's also kinda weird, as it feels like something is wrong with me!) Made me realize how much PT has helped me, and how far I've come since being diagnosed. So I thought I'd do a post about how I came to this point in my life.

Diagnosis Aftermath!

So, you've just been diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis...

What do you do now?