A possible wrinkle
I recently traveled to Monterey, California for a business trip. As I live in the Midwest, I had a longish flight. I found myself uncomfortable sitting for so long – not because of the interstitial cystitis, per se, but because of pain in my tailbone. I’ve often found my interstitial cystitis pain to be centered in my lower back, too.
Some people on the Interstitial Cystitis Network forums have commented that they had some sort of physical trauma which triggered the interstitial cystitis. I’ve been thinking about this. I injured my lower back – I don’t know how – back in November 2007. I remember thinking it was fibroids, but my doctor thought it was an injury and sent me to a physical therapist.
I started having symptoms of interstitial cystitis about 6 months later, in April 2008. (I didn’t understand what it was then – it just felt like pressure – but now I recognize that it was a symptom of IC.)
I’ve been doing a little bit of reading about coccydynia – pain in the coccyx (tailbone). A lot of people talk about seeing a pelvic floor therapist…funny, since those are the same muscles that should be exercised when you have interstitial cystitis. Moreover, it seems not unusual that back injuries could have an effect on one’s urinary system – from a quick search of medical literature.
I really think I might be on to something here. I have an appointment with my specialist in early December – I’m definitely going to bring this up with him. They have pelvic floor rehabilitation specialists in his office, so I may not even need to see someone outside of this practice.
In the meantime, I am going to try doing some of the exercises my physical therapist taught me back in 2007.
It’d be really lovely if I’ve found an answer. It won’t necessarily put my interstitial cystitis into remission, but if I’m right, I think I might experience a nice reduction in pain.
