Hello!! My name is Quinn. I have had IC since last summer. It completely affected my life in a bad way. I found a ton of ways to cope physically and mentally! I am currently on the journey to treat what caused my IC in the first place- a large parasite living in my bladder. Here are some ways to help on flare days that I do: 1. Wear a skirt or dress instead of tight pants and leggings 2. Go to Physical Therapy!! I cannot stress this enough. Greatly improved my sexual health and got me exercising again. 3. Heat packs 4. A stem kit- it uses electrodes to stop the pain receptors from delivering to your brain. Perfectly safe and can be used at home 5. Stretches to calm muscles 6. Eat only safe foods on those days 7. Stay positive! This will pass, stress makes it worse so stay calm 8. Get support. It’s sooo important! I am here to talk with you!!

Thanks. PT for IC?

Yes ma’am! Some pelvic floor physical therapists see IC Patients because IC is known for causing pelvic floor issues, including tightened urethral and vaginal muscles as well as hip flexor and lower back issues. IC patients can go to pt to help with painful sex and other common IC symptoms.

Wouldn’t that be some really awkward exercises to do in the middle of a pt gym?

Nope! Physical therapists have private rooms for their pelvic patients. They are usually extremely respectful and talk through everything. I love my physical therapists! They got the constant burning I was experiencing to stop. I receive internals to relax the inner pelvic muscles that were giving me a lot of trouble , they even had my husband come in so he could learn how to massage my stomach and give me an internal!

I got to Drayer Physical therapy (which can be found in multiple states)

What’s an internal?

An internal is when the pelvic floor therapist inserted a gloved finger into your vaginal canal to either relax or assess inflamed muscles surrounding your urethra and hip flexers

Since my husband knows how to do it know, it is the go to procedure if I have urethral burning from IC

✋ hi I’m new to this app. What is a stem kit?

I usually eliminate anything that’s high in acid from my diet. Then I try to drink a lot of water. If it’s really bad, I will use a heat pack and take Phenazopyridine (azo) and that seems to help