Late Night Incontinence

Well it's a little after 1 o'clock in the morning. I have not gone to bed yet which is pretty normal for me. I tried to go to the bathroom about an hour ago and was unable to. This happens to me sometimes a couple of times a day or maybe as little as once a week. My doctor (urologist) has told me it is because my bladder muscles are weakening. It is very frustrating for me when this happens because if I cannot urinate it causes me a lot of pain. When there's urine in my bladder it irritates my bladder so not being able to get it out just causes me more irritation and pain. On top of the pain there is this constant urgency to have to go to the bathroom.

I also started my period yesterday. This causes my bladder to begin to flare. When I have my period though it's a different type of flare. It is a much deeper and more sharper pain than my other flare ups that I have. I can tell when I am on my period my urethra especially hurts. It feels like there are deep cuts in it like someone is poking me with needles. My back is really hurting me right now as well. This is not just because of my period. I get this symptom all the time as a side effect from the IC.

I hope I can go to the bathroom soon because if not I'll have to wake Rich up to help me cath myself. I can't stand holding it in much longer and I'm starting to have bad spasms because of this. I can't fall asleep until I relieve myself one way or the other. It's kind of a vicious cycle because once I finally fall asleep I get up all night to go to the bathroom. It's really not fun.

Ok well I hope to get some sleep. I just want to thank everyone that has read our blog so far. We have really been encouraged by so many of you. To be honest we had no idea if anyone would even be reading our posts. lol We just hope to show other IC'ers you aren't alone and to bring awareness to everyone else.

Goodnight. <3

Welcome

Hey everyone. We want to thank you for taking the time to read our blog. We started this blog because IC is very important to us as I suffer from this terrible incurable condition and my husband is right there by my side going through all of this with me. We hope to expand awareness for this painful condition, and help people get a better understanding of what it is to live with IC.

Interstitial Cystitis is a very painful condition of the bladder. IC causes the bladder to be severely inflamed hence it's name. When the bladder fills up with urine it causes to crack the bladder walls causing it to bleed and make it more irritated and inflamed. IC also causes burning sensation, pelvic pain, pressure, urinary frequency and/or urgency, vulvadynia, migraines, irritable bowel syndrome, systemic lupus erythematous, allergies, endometriosis, and even fibromyalgia. Can you believe one organ can cause so many problems?

More than 4 million people in the US alone suffer from IC and another estimated 1 out of 77 may have IC. Women are 10 times more likely to have IC than men. They do not know why. Even though so many people suffer from this incurable condition hardly anyone knows about it and I'm not just talking about you and I, I'm also talking about the medical field. There are two great websites on IC you should visit. The first is IC Help and the second is the IC Network. We really encourage you to check both of those out and better familiarize yourself with IC.

Both Rich and I will be posting on here about what we struggle with and how we deal with IC in our family. <3