the pain I've had since my bladder surgery this past Dec. I had a cystoscopy last week and it didn't show a problem.......then had a pelvic MRI yesterday and will get the results from it tomorrow. The bladder pain seems to makes the PN pain even worse.
I talked to my psychiatrist about trying Cymbalta for pain and depression. I'd tried it a year ago and it really bothered my stomach.......but wanted to try it again. So I'm on 30mg. once a day and still taking Lyrica as I did before. Next week I'll start 60mg of Cymbalta as long as it doesn't bother my stomach.
Also I talked with some of you about my heel/ankle pain. Well I had an MRI for that and xrays.....saw the Orthopedic dr. and he gave me the Cortisone shot and it's helped quite a bit. Then I saw a Podiatrist last week and he said my tendon is torn lengthwise and torn from the muscle. He ordered Orthotics for me and said this tendon will sometimes heal itself once the stress is off it....so I have my fingers crossed that it heals.
Sorry I haven't been around lately.....seems like I live at the dr.s offices!
I hope everyone is doing ok........I need to catch up on all the posts here.......Happy Valentine's day everyone! Tomorrow is our (me and Mike) 4 yr anniversary!

Glad to see you posting again, Roxie. Cortisone shots do wonders, it is getting one that is NOT too fun though.

Happy Anniversary to you and Mike and a Happy Valentine's Day.

I was wondering one thing, if you know. Is it possible to have PN of the bladder? I was told that they thought I had IC, but no biopsy was ever done. See if you can try Urelle, if you haven't already. Urimax was great for this, but for some reason, it is not on the market any more.

(This makes me suspicious, expecially when the company tells me they cannot find a supplier...) Hmmm. Supplier rhymes with LIAR...

Cathie

I've been worried about you as we'd not heard much since your surgery. I'm glad you are still kicking rocks, but not so about the pain...About that all, sure sounds as if you have been very busy trying to but a block to it all tho!
Yes, don't think that being depressed rite now is 'abnormal'. It is not! You have been thru a lot and still HURT a lot. Who wouldn't be depressed? 's good and kind person. I am pulling for you and not only hope but believe that some sort of peace with your pain will come soon.
We've survived this long, haven't we? - j

PS May YOUR valentine surprise you in some silly but small way. Those are the best.

Welcome back...I was wondering about you....I decided to call in sick on here....kinda like my job....LOL, but you guys don't yell at me....and I can't get fired.

Roxie,
I'm so glad to hear from you. But I'm so sorry you are still suffering. I just finished a urodynamic bladder test and am having problems. Reading your post realllly has me nervous. I sure hope you have some relief soon.

Billye

HI All good to hear from ya!
Cathie, not sure if the bladder can have PN but at this point I wouldn't be surprised! Nothing surprises me anymore! I've never heard of Urelle but will check on it.
Hi J! I've missed y'all just haven't had the energy to get on the site. I've truely felt like I've lived at dr. offices! And then once a week having my infusion.....I'm tired!
HI Cyclelops, You won't be fired....we'd miss you!

OH gosh Billye! I've had urodynamic done 4 times thru the years and hate it more everytime I have it done! I feel for you! I hope I have some relief soon too. I'm SO tired of all this pain!

I probably should know this, but what is a urodynamic bladder test done for?

I don't know how Urelle works, but if it is like Urimax, I think it might have methylene blue in it, which may cause some numbing. I don't know if that is right or not for sure, but it does help. In fact, I noticed that it seems to help with some of the overall burning, not just the bladder...

Hope you get some relief...

By the way, Roxie are you still working? I was wondering how your job was going for you.

Cathie

Cathie:

Hi, here's a link that explains the test.

http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseas...index.htm#take


Roxie, I have a question. When you say pain, are you talking about the pressure part of what you are experiencing?

I'm not referring to pain upon urination, I'm referring to the constant pressure "down there". I had that over 10 years ago, (probably more than 10). I had every test done known to man, and it all came up negative.

I remembered having chest spasms in my 20's (they would come and go). I knew when one would be coming, then the left size of the chest would "squeeze", and I'd yell out, then all would be fine. Drove me nuts.

But I was also extremely neurotic in those times. I just was, I was severely phobic, I stuttered. Yeah, I held a good job, but I had lots of fears.

I now believe those spasms were my body reacting to my fears.

Then, (and I was going through all kinds of stuff with my son, well, when my bladder started doing it's thing, I thought i would lose my mind. I walked around day and night with the "pressure", down there. I once marched into my doctor's office saying "please do something before I shoot myself". He immediately put me on the table, a nurse came in, the doctor palpated me, saying, well you are a bit hard (or something to that effect, really can't remember". they inserted a catheter, and a bit of urine came out. They said: "we are sending you for an ultrasound". Now I used to urinate just fine, during all this time. Never had a problem voiding. Never. I just had the "urge" to go all the time. Drove me absolutely nuts. Didn't take anything because they didn't know what to give me.

I had a trans vaginal ultra sound. I had cystocopies (the urologist was a lovely man who didn't hurt me one bit). I had this test, and that test, EVERYTHING WAS NORMAL. They didn't treat me like a nut job either.

But this was all the time. There's no quality of life, when all you want to do is pee, and then when you do pee, you produce a normal amount of urine, then you feel like you have to pee again. Like I said, drove me nuts. And this was YEARS BEFORE I HAD PN (in my toes). YEARS!!!!

I did go to a woman's gyno place near my home, told them what I had and they gave me samples of Detrol. Never forgot that. It worked for a few months. Then it stopped working.

So one day, I was in my primary dictor's office and I said 'what if it's spasms, what if there's really nothing physically wrong with me, but my bladder is 'SPASMING DOWN THERE??"

He looked at me and said "what if I prescribe you muscle relaxers"?? I said 'go right ahead". I mean, the only thing that had worked was the Detrol but then that stopped working so I stopped taking it.

So my doctor gave me a prescription for SOMA. I filled the prescription. I had the bottle in the bathroom, and I was about to take the pill. I said "take a nice hot shower, then when you get out, you'll take the pill".

Well, Roxie, I'll never forget what happened. I stayed under the hot water for a long time, letting it flow over my body. It was really hot. All of a sudden THE SPASMING STOPPED DOWN THERE. Just went away. I remember a feeling of such relief, I can't begin to tell you.

I never took ANY OF THE SOMA. Never did, never needed to.

Now I can only attribute this to it being my body responding to all the stress I was under.

They never did find anything wrong with me, physically, and believe me I went to various gynos, urologists, this doctor, that doctor.

But the day that my doctor prescribed the SOMA for me, (and because I knew it was on that bathroom shelf), and I went under the hot water, well, this tells ME that MY spasms were caused by my being under such stress, I can't begin to tell you. I remember talking to the doctor about Interstitial Cystitis. Some guys didn't believe it existed. And that's funny, because there's a whole organization devoted to people with IC, so how can it not exist. I remember asking a urologist. "Do you give the test for IC". and he gave me such a look and said 'are you kidding, we don't do that barbaric thing any more".

Oh, one more thing. I never had another chest spasm either. I cannot remember when the last time I had one of those. At least 15 years.

Now my story has nothing to do with your problem in your bladder. My story (and this is just my opinion but it makes sense). My body reacts to stress by spasming.

It also reacts (with PN burning in my feet), whenever my son calls.

I'll be honest, I'd rather have ANYTHING going on in my body, if I never have to endure those bladder spasms again.

I have a neighbor who lives across the street from me. She's 72, looks 50 and goes to work every day. She had the same thing. She even had a dropped bladder and they put some gadget in her that HOLDS IT UP.

And I had another neighbor who was about 40 when she started having the same thing that I had. THE EXACT SAME THING. They had to practically give her morphine for the pain (the pressure I mean). It drove her nuts.

The pain meds worked. Then it went away.

And we all didn't live in the same area when we had these problems. Mine started way before I moved here. My neighbor lived here all her life, and the one who had to go on pain meds, well she lived in a completely different part of the country when she got her spasms.

So I don't know what's going on with woman but I think stress in our lives makes our bodies react with painful spasms.

To me, when I got under that hot shower and I knew that there was a pill (muscle relaxer), right on the bathroom shelf, ready for me to take it, well my whole body just relaxed. I'll never forget that feeling. I went into that shower all tensed up, and when the hot water hit my body, my whole "down there feeling", just melted away.

If anyone has a better explanation for what happened to me, I'd love to hear it.