Interstitial cystitis or OAB? Or candida ? Help please :(

[Sophs50522]

Hi guys, I am new to this website and after reading upon some posts I thought id register and see if I can get some advice ( I know your not doctors ) but at least some help would do me a world of good. Im 28 years old and got 2 beautiful daughters aged 4 and 1. Anyway here it goes ...
Back in August 2017 I started suffering with horrific anxiety,I had MS fears, cancer fears and the list goes on. I currently having councelling for PTSD at moment due to an event that happened last year. Anyway moving on .. I started having panic attacks now and then and the usual anxiety symptoms. Head pressure, dizziness, shakes, eye floaters.. all this started to fade away as i started to manage my anxiety and i was feeling great, it's now November and I'm feeling better than ever. Fast forward two weeks.. I start having these weird belly cramps. It felt like I was either coming on my period or I needed a no2 ( sorry for tmi ) so i stopped my pill and let my body sort itself out. Pains were still there and felt bloated and had the odd sensation that I needed a pee after just going. I assumed a mild uti and thought it would pass.. 2 weeks later symptoms still there so i went straight to gp. Gp said no infection just keep drinking water. Will send urine off for culture. That came back fine.. she then wanted bloods.. they came back fine.. symptom of urge was so uncomfortable I went back down to see gp. She said will do another urine sample and vaginal swabs. Swabs and sample come back clear again. Now I am on week 8 and awaiting renal ultrasound. She suspects OAB due to me having hardly no pain apart from first few days.
I done some research and found IC.. i thought it could possibly be that,so I did a strict week of water and bread. Nothing else. My symptoms remained exactly the same. So i thought stuff that.. and went back on my normal diet.. tea, fatty foods etc and my symptoms cleared. It went away for 1 week and then returned randomly. Frequency and urethal burning. I've since had lemon juice drinks, tea, curries with no change ? Surely if it was IC I would be doubled over in pain ?? I can also hold my urine for so long without having pain. I only get discomfort after I per. And it lasts for about 1 hour.
I'm so confused by it all. Its really getting me down. I was so healthy. I am annoyed now for having such anxiety for symptoms that didn't even bother me that much compared to this:( I am 100% certain this is not anxiety however anxiety probably isn't helping the situation.
I also suspect it could be candida? Yeast over growth.
Before all these bladder symptoms I had really bad indegestion and was out on omeperozle. Could this be a link?
I'm so fed up of it all now. Especially the struggle with 2 little ones.
Any help would be great.
Really sorry for the long rant.
Sophie x

I think they have to do
Ultrasound first. How interesting about the Chinese Medicine doctor saying that about your bladder lining! Mine is full of mucous filled cysts apparently proving lots of hidey holes for infection to take hold (Yak). The good thing is you’ve only had the symptoms for a few
Months so hopefully if you need treatment you are getting it before it’s gone on for ages and will be easy to improve. I really hope tho that the detox and powder sorts it out. If not just don’t just go
Along with a hasty diagnosis of IC unless they can really show that it’s definitely that. My first instillation was last tues but I had an infection so they cancelled it and I’ll go again this tues and hope to goodness they can do it. I did ask about long term antibiotics (a full course) but they didn’t seem to want to do
That. I will ask again tho as think it might be good idea to do both instills and that. It’s awful
When you have the urge to wee all the time and I’m xing fingers you are soon much better. Be firm and question why and what they’re proposing tho. Bloody wish I had done that.

Oh that don't sound too good that :( I hope that's the case, I'm moaning after two months and you've had it for two years!! I couldn't think of anything worse if this lingers for that long.
I will definitely keep on to them if nothing is found.
Do you have any idea how long recovery will be for you? You will have to check back in and let me know how you get on after your first instill on Tuesday :)
I hope it goes really well for you x

Aww thank you. The consultant said it could take up to two years of installations and that some women have treatments indefinitely . My friend with IC (she has rheumatoid arthritis and they reckon the bladder is inflamed as a part of that) has had the installations for about 10 months and she says she’s definitely improved. She also said it’s quick and painless to have them which is good. But I can’t help feeling that if someone had thought to do the rigid cystoscopy years ago I’d not be in the state I am now. Which is why I recommend not being fobbed off with an IC or OAB diagnosis if you do have a flexible cystoscopy which they say looks fine, but you still have symptoms. My friend is a hospital consultant (not urology) and thinks the ‘drying things up’ tablets are totally useless. I had them and have to say in my case they did nothing. Lots of luck and I hope you are soon over this. It’s very wearing and tiring (esp if you are up in the night a fair bit).

Indefinitely good to hear it's quick and painless though if i ever need to have them. I have heard IC is usually caused by another problem itself. This is what my gp told me. Unless you have other problems such as ibs etc then it's most likely not IC. I will leave that to a urologist to decide though.
I'm rarely in pain. Just discomfort really. I can manage it but its frustrating at times.
I get a better day drinking tea than i do just water!! Very strange. I do wonder if its neuropathic in my case but we will see.
I don't think I would take the medication unless I did have oab and my bladder needs relaxing. If it's IC I will try and manage it with foods alone or if its cystitis cystica I guess I will have to do what ever they advise. It is very tiring not so much being up at night as i go to sleep and wake up as normal until i have my first pee and it sets off again. But the anxiety and stress it all brings is definitely making me miserable.
Thank you anyway for your help. I really hope everything goes well for you too x

I've been going through something very similar ... constant feeling of needing a wee, having to go as soon as I have had a drink etc. Always suffered with cystitis so assumed it was that. My anxiety convinced me it was either OAB or IC.

I went to the GP and it seems it's being caused by severe constipation. Basically, from having children everything has 'moved down' and is essentially giving my bladder less room to fill and hold fluid, meaning it feels fuller quicker, therefore creating the urge to go more frequently. Where everything else is lower down and not in its normal position, it's not able to flow properly, causing constipation, exacerbating the problem as it's squashing my bladder!

I think this has been going on since having my dc's (same age as your dc's) as it's never been quite the same down there!

I've been prescribed some sachets to clear the backlog, then it's a case of re training everything to work properly somehow?!

Very very common apparently!

Hey Soosiesoo,
Do you know what .. I convinced myself my constipation was causing the problem. As ive had it ever since the bladder problem.
I thought it could be pelvic floor dysfunction ( as that causes constipation) or yeast overgrowth causing it. My gp prescribed orange laxative drinks and I've been on them two weeks now, symptoms still there. But they are so mild some days I can forget about it.
I'm just baffled by what it could be. I had pain at the start of it all like period cramps and now nothing for 2 months but frequency and slight urethal burning ( not when peeing ) just in general or during intercourse.
I wish i didn't have to wait so long for all the referrals though. Making me so stressed with work and two daughters under 5! Arghh x

Did you ever get to bottom of this?

Sadly no! Although.. it's definitely no where near as painful as to what I remember. I'm convinced it's still candida and stress related.. flares up now and again. I take amitryptaline now for it, only a lose dose at 10mg but it has worked absolute wonders. I barely even notice some days I have it now!
My advice would be though.. don't have a cystoscopy. It will do nothing but give you horrific UTIs. Had mine and as expected.. showed nothing. Had specialist treatment with Prof JL in London and that also done nothing but made me worse.
Hope it gets better for you soon!

Did the London team put you on antibiotics? Sorry to hear this although glad it's better for you eith the amitriptyline. Can I ask do you still have the pain and frequency? Like can you have sex and that still OK?

Yes he put me on high dose antibiotics, I did it for about 4 months and just knew it wasn't doing it for me. They emailed me once after having my results checked then recalled it back and sent another email but I had already read the original email and it stated on there to take a different antibiotic. When I mentioned why it was recalled they denied it was ever sent and that they didn't prescribe the original antibiotic mentioned in the first email. From then on I was skeptical about what they were even doing and just stopped it. It was all a bit odd.

Amitryptaline is honestly great, if your struggling take it! It makes you awfully tired though I must say.

I currently have 0 pain and 0 frequency. It do change now and again but it's something I know will pass. Just a flare. I increase my Amitryptaline during flares and just drink a ton of water.

Sex is absolutely fine! Nothing like it was before when my pee hole would feel at if it was on fire 😅