Just curious if there are any IC patients out there (I've meant a couple here, just curious if anyone else was out there)- just thought it would be a nice way to talk about the symptoms and dealing with symptoms and on-and-off flares- from the perspective of anxiety. Until now, I've posted on this site due to emotions, feelings, or symptoms that were completely anxiety driven and would disappear as I calmed down and gained perspective. Now, I have the reality that even if I calm down the symptoms will be there until they run their course, however long that might be. As scary as that was the first few days after diagnosis, I'm dealing so much better now and wanted to talk to others who may not have IC, but have other chronic illnesses that they've dealt with.

Please understand this is completely new to me- before now, I thought my symptoms were truly anxiety driven (which they are to some extent) and nothing physically was wrong- now I'm transitioning to knowing and accepting that I have real lifestyle changes that need to happen so I can feel better, including medication. Just wanted others input, and if you'd rather PM than write on here, I'd love that too.

Thanks!

I have IC. Had it for 15 years or more. I have it under control now with Elavil. But I suffered for years with it and had horrible pain. You may already know of it but there is a great website for IC support. I know the lady who started it:
www.ic-network.com

I've had it for years and wasn't diagnosed until 2 years ago. But I also dealt w/ depression for a long time and most recently severe anxiety. It is a horrible horrible disease, at least for me. NO medications have helped. This is what caused me to have anxiety. Not that yours will be bad or untreated, there is a lot of treatment out there. I tried everything so in a month I am going to have interstim surgery. You should look that up. For me the problem is frequency, I have to go all of the time. I can say that the anxiety has made it 100x's worse, so getting the anxiety under control will help tremendously! If you can calm youself down the bladder usually follows. The only med that has helped me is xanax. Different people have different causes, but there are lots of meds to help, but the less anxious the less the symptoms. At this point my only hope is God's supernatural healing. Find a good urologist that has dealt with this and keep us posted. There is help.