Mep
Well-Known Member
- Messages
- 1,461
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Insulin
I had my hopes up with this 3rd urologist I've been seeing. I was hoping she could help me get my bladder symptoms under control. Sadly, she's being confusing both myself and my GP to no end. She has managed to tell us that I have the condition, I don't have the condition, I have a variant of the condition, I have a mild form of the condition.... her latest I don't have the condition. I have to ask myself how on earth do these 'specialists' get their jobs?
Meanwhile she has kept me on amitriptyline, wants me to do physio, and wants me to try a hormone cream to prevent uti's. Well that's nice, but you claim I'm fine doc! She then explains to me in the consult yesterday that my bladder is fine because it holds urine.... what the?!? (She gets dumbest comment award for that one.) She then explains uti symptoms to me and said I should look out for those and get tests when I have those symptoms. I'm thinking to myself is she stupid? So I then explain excuse me I'm here to see you because I have all those symptoms you just described every single day for almost 3 years and I don't always have uti's. In fact I don't have uti's most of the time as the previous urinalysis tests show. I asked can you explain why I have symptoms when I don't have uti's? She just smiles and shrugs her shoulders on me.... nice.
Well that's it.... I obviously live where urologists aren't too bright when it comes to identifying interstitial cystitis. I'm thankful for good online support groups who have been able to point me in the right direction with reading up on diagnosis requirements for urologists, etc. Here they seem to have 2 criteria only... you must have lost bladder capacity and you must have visible wall damage. The Amercian Urological Association guidelines mention no such thing... I would've thought Australian guidelines for urologists would be similar if not the same. As to living with pain, not being able to urinate properly, urgency, frequency, burning, reacting to food and drinks, not being able to walk or do activity without aggravating it.... who cares? The urologists certainly don't. All they can confirm for me is what I'm dealing with is chronic. The first urologist said I had interstitial cystitis but refused to acknowledge my kidney infections I had been hospitalised 3 times for.
I'm fed up! I'm now having to have a discussion with my GP who will be just as disappointed as me. Somehow I think I'm not going to find a urologist that knows what they're talking about... shame!
What that means for me is yet another condition that isn't controlled properly. It impacts everything else of course, including my diabetes. The pain of this condition isn't easy to control that's for sure.... some pain meds don't even touch the pain.
Meanwhile she has kept me on amitriptyline, wants me to do physio, and wants me to try a hormone cream to prevent uti's. Well that's nice, but you claim I'm fine doc! She then explains to me in the consult yesterday that my bladder is fine because it holds urine.... what the?!? (She gets dumbest comment award for that one.) She then explains uti symptoms to me and said I should look out for those and get tests when I have those symptoms. I'm thinking to myself is she stupid? So I then explain excuse me I'm here to see you because I have all those symptoms you just described every single day for almost 3 years and I don't always have uti's. In fact I don't have uti's most of the time as the previous urinalysis tests show. I asked can you explain why I have symptoms when I don't have uti's? She just smiles and shrugs her shoulders on me.... nice.
Well that's it.... I obviously live where urologists aren't too bright when it comes to identifying interstitial cystitis. I'm thankful for good online support groups who have been able to point me in the right direction with reading up on diagnosis requirements for urologists, etc. Here they seem to have 2 criteria only... you must have lost bladder capacity and you must have visible wall damage. The Amercian Urological Association guidelines mention no such thing... I would've thought Australian guidelines for urologists would be similar if not the same. As to living with pain, not being able to urinate properly, urgency, frequency, burning, reacting to food and drinks, not being able to walk or do activity without aggravating it.... who cares? The urologists certainly don't. All they can confirm for me is what I'm dealing with is chronic. The first urologist said I had interstitial cystitis but refused to acknowledge my kidney infections I had been hospitalised 3 times for.
I'm fed up! I'm now having to have a discussion with my GP who will be just as disappointed as me. Somehow I think I'm not going to find a urologist that knows what they're talking about... shame!
What that means for me is yet another condition that isn't controlled properly. It impacts everything else of course, including my diabetes. The pain of this condition isn't easy to control that's for sure.... some pain meds don't even touch the pain.