To be fucking fed up of my bladder

[LostittoBostik]

On holiday, lying awake with an irritable bladder AGAIN. On the loo every half hour.

It's not a uti - I'm now such an expert I can mostly tell the difference. But something has bothered me again.

I'm so sick of this. I lost most of my 20s to UTIs and IC. Then things got much better after pregnancy and birth.

Now I'm in my 40s and presumably due to hormones it's back to square one.

It makes me actually hate being away from home.

Young kids will be up by 6am and I've had 1 hour of sleep so far. Fuck it all.

Same, mine is endo on my bladder
Started amitryptiline to see if that helps

My GP put me on mirabegron tablets for this.
Complete game-changer.

I was told to do a trial for a fortnight of no coffee, no tea, no caffeine containing drinks, no alcohol and no hot chocolate. Unfortunately it took a week to work like a charm and was stuck with a permanent change to my diet. Also prescribed oestrogen cream. No only have I had no UTIs, no bladder irritations in the last 5 years, it stopped stress incontinence dead in its tracks. So I drink only decaff tea or coffee (spent time finding coffee I really like), only the occasional hot chocolate, and barely any wine, and I'm not having any cravings.

Might not be relevant to you, but worth throwing in the mix. I've seen an almost instant difference in my overactive bladder by cutting out sweeteners. I hardly get up for a wee in the middle of the night now, whereas I was going 2-3 times a night every night, even when I was stopping drinking fluids early.

Damn it.

I do think this works and may be the reason I was so much better during pregnancy and breastfeeding.

Also avoid tomatoes and peppers.. they flare my IC so much and I second the HRT

OP this thread is sadly timely for me. I'm having the flare from hell after literally years of no issues. Coffee and hot weather, spent days feeling like I needed to wee all the time and felt like there was always a few drops more, then suddenly boom, huge pain flare and I feel ill and exhausted. I also know it's not an actual UTI as there's symptom differences for me.

Solifenicin has helped my husband. It can cause constipation though so he has to be careful to keep every moving or his bladder reacts again.
He still gets up once in the night, but can manage a couple of hours through the day.

Fellow bladder sufferer here. Commiserations to you all!

I have IC but I’d honestly saying during pregnancy and breastfeeding it didn’t bother me at all. Finished breastfeeding my last 3 months ago and have been largely fine until the past couple of weeks and I can definitely feel the symptoms strengthening again. I think I’m
going to have to go back on an IC diet 😩.

I haven’t had any caffeine for years. That is my biggest flarer, but sweeteners, soy, acidic fruits and anything too salty or spicy are going to have to go again for me I think. And someone up thread mentioned Prelief. I’d forgotten about that. Amitriptyline does help with the urgency and knocks you out really well. Great for sleep but leaves me a massively grumpy arse the next day.

No advice really but just to say I share your pain.

Sympathies OP

I have fibroids, they're not bothered about these of course

I also am peri menopause and unfortunately I just dont remember to use the vaginal pessaries which is unbelievable given the amount of gip I get. YOu would think I would be motivated to use the things

Im going to look up prelief, never heard of it

Try Optibac for Women.

It puts all your internal probiotics back in sync. It worked wonders for me and sorted me out for years after just one box.

Ask the gynae to check for vaginal atrophy. If that's the cause, topical oestrogen cream can help a lot.

D Mannose has changed my life. I was in constant discomfort for about 15 years. Antibiotics from the GP did nothing.
Two D Mannose tablets a day for a couple of weeks (bought from a health food shop) sorted it out. I still take them occasionally when I feel 'the twinge' - sorts it out in a couple of hours.

I've stopped drinking caffeine as I found if I drink it after 3ish my bladder is so irritated I couldn't sleep

I had severe IC for five years when I was younger. I cured it using really high quantities of D-Mannose, basically taking a heaped teaspoon every hour, every day. I don't know if you're meant to take that much, but it was the only thing that gave me relief so I went mad with it. I was on continuous antibiotics for years and they did nothing - saw lots of urologists.

When I was on the mend, after a few months of D-Mannose, I also saw a gynae physio and they were amazing - relieved quite a bit of urgency and pain for me.

Also I'm in the UK and buy it from the waterfall D-Mannose website. Tried an Amazon brand before which had other ingredients too and it didn't work as well x

Jesus, life without coffee, tea and alcohol.

I sympathise. I had some medication from GP at some point for overactive bladder. I e had prolapse and surgery so all linked.

I have also had sleeping tablets. Linked to another condition I have, which have helped as I sleep through the urges.

My DH had a uti, this left him with an irritated bladder. Urologist showed him what coffee does to the bladder and it shocked DH.
DH can get away with one maybe two coffees and also he notices if he doesn't drink one litre of water a day he then has a flare up.
DH was told to take 6 ibruprofen when he notices the flare up starting. 6 throughout the day not all in one go, and to take them for 3 to 4 days.

Parson’s cocktail bladder instillation for painful bladder syndrome (interstitial cystitis): procedure-specific information

https://www.cuh.nhs.uk/patient-information/parsons-cocktail-bladder-instillation-for-painful-bladder-syndrome-interstitial-cystitis-procedure-specific-information/

These tablets changed my life dealing with UTI’s

I didn't realise constantly going to the toilet was linked to hormones, I thought I was just getting older 😮

Some nights I'm awake twice, others it's literally every hour. I don't have pain but I do have an overpowering urge to go.

See a specialist and wear continence pads till it's sorted.

Get a referral to a uroligist

For my IC i have parsons cocktails which is a painkiller straight into the bladder

Weekly for 6 weeks
Monthly for 6 months
Then they come up with a plan what suits you
I am currently having them every 6 weeks

I would honestly think about ending it without these. They help 90% of the pain

Iv also had my bladder stretched twice and meds put in under GI which has also helped

There are treatments out there

I use estriol cream, I couldn't be bothered with pessaries but I slather cream on after my last wee every night and it's amazing.