Any advice/words of hope please

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I've been having terrible bladder pain since Christmas. I've just been told the operation I had for it hasn't worked and that they think it's early intercysticial cystitis. They say I have to have around 6 months of injections via a catheter into my bladder and I cannot ttc during that time. I don't know when they will start.

I'm turning 32. We'd been trying for about 2 months before this happened. Please can anyone offer me any words of advice or hope. It's been a terrible time for various reasons and this really is such a blow.

I'm worried about fertility/age (I know I might not need to be but I didn't want to risk it) and we really were so ready to start a family. I'm so upset. Has anyone had a fertility mot or have any suggestions around anything I can do/try please or any positive stories. Really sorry if this post is in any way insensitive to anyone having fertility issues. I really hope it isn't and it's definitely not intended to be x

Bump

Sorry to hear your plans have been hijacked. Its true you are still young and thankfully this is happening now rather than later. Maybe adopting a doggy or a kitty will help you both to feel like you are building a family until you are able to begin ttc'ing again? Good luck xx

I'm sorry you're going through all that pain

I know this is not 100% similar but we starting TTC June 2021 when I was aged 32. By July 2021 my husband lost his job (business shut due to covid), by August 2021 he had been diagnosed with a brain tumour which was rapidly removed.
Fast forward through all of the rubbish recovery time, June 2022 he got a new job and we also got our positive pregnancy test. One whole year of rubbish and life is back on track hopefully.

I think it is important to concentrate on your own health and wellbeing first. You never know everything might fall back into place, just not quite how you first imagined it.

Absolutely concentrate on your health first. You can get a complete fertility work up for you and him for about £600-800 private (semen analysis, scans, AMH, bloods) if it would put your mind at ease

I have IC and had it diagnosed about 8 years ago. I had the cocktail instillations and they worked miracles. Got worse to begin with but over time we tapered them off so I had them every 3 months. When I got pregnant with DD they stopped the treatment but all symptoms disappeared anyway. Something to do with hormonal changes I think. It's never been as bad since. I have the odd day now when super stressed that it's bad but I never ended up having the instillations again.

32 is still young to have a baby. I conceived DD when I was 34 (1 month off 35) and it took maybe a couple of months of trying.

Concentrate on getting your treatments and feeling better and do a pregnancy test each time before you have your treatments. You'll get there and this condition causes quite a few people to get upset and stressed as it's chronic pain. I'm sure it will all happen for you. Sending hugs.xx

Thank you so much everyone for your kind replies and useful suggestions. Can't tell you how much I appreciate it. I've booked a fertility scan to reassure myself. Knowing when the treatment might start etc would make things easier but I'm waiting to hear. Thanks so much again 💐💕

@dottyrobin thank you so much. I'm so sorry to hear you had such a terrible time. Really hope that you're all well now and that things are going smoothly after such an ordeal.

@Crazycatlady19 thank you so much for your reply. Do you mind if I ask, did you completely stop ttc whilst having the treatment and how painful/disruptive were the instillations - were you able to work, carry on daily life okay while you were having them? How long before you saw some improvement? Sorry for all the questions. Currently in limbo waiting for the nurse to call and no idea when that might be.

So glad you feel so much better now and congrats on your dd! Thanks again for your words of encouragement x

Hiya, I started the instillations well before TTC but I was still having them whilst we were.

The main thing is that the day I had them it made me really tired and also a bit worse than usual. I would prob be able to wfh but my boss used to allow me to make up the time in advance/after. The next couple of days were always sore then better the following week (I used to have mine on Weds and I got to the point where I was having them every 3 months in the end.

It didn't bother me whilst TTC but I was a couple of years down the line at that point. However each person will react differently so don't worry - you may find it easier than me from the get go. Mostly it used to KNACKER me.

I would make sure you have some decent pain killers for the first day after the treatment (I used codeine) and just see how you get on.