bladder symptoms .. feeling lost

I was diagnosed with Irritable bladder syndrome (IC) 7 months ago ... I found about TMS 2 weeks ago and and started reading about it, watching videos, doing meditation and journalling .. I want to believe its all psychological and I am half the way to it but my mind keeps destroying that ... hundreds of doubts :
what if my bladder lining is really damaged ?
I will remain in pain for the rest of my life!!
What if all this TMS Does not apply on my pain ?
What if there is a treatment why not to try new supplement or visit another doctor ?
and google search is not helpful at all .. millions of horror stories panicking me !!!
I am just tired from my brain .. my pain .. i was totally healthy and happy there was nothing wrong in my life !!!
I keep journalling everyday but each day I feel Iam worse

any advice would be appropriated

 

So sorry! And I do understand the feeling of being lost. I am not sure about your diagnosis. Irritable bladder is not IC. IC is interstitial cystitis. Irritable bladder syndrome is most likely TMS. IC ist often but not always TMS. That you worry about your bladder lining tells me that the diagnosis you have got is interstitial cystitis. Now, question is: how had it been diagnosed? Have they found thining bladder lining, bloody cracks? Or does your bladder look healthy and because they don’t know what else could be wrong, they call it IC. IC has become a diagnosis by exclusion, something that is highly problematic.

I had diagnostics that showed that noting is wrong with my bladder and my urologist told me that it is psychosomatic. If you don’t know about the diagnostics, ask again. And maybe you could visit a doctor with TMS experience to help.
Don’t dispair st this point. As soon as you know what’s going on, you will be on the path of recovery!

 

I'm so sorry you're struggling with this! I was where you are over 10 years ago. Irritable bladder syndrome is truly TMS! I know it's hard to believe when your body is telling you something different, ie "There must be inflammation, undiagnosed infection, nerve irritation, blah, blah ". It is simply a symptom that your wonderful brain has rehearsed/learned and then continued to produce painful sensations/symptoms. There is nothing wrong with your bladder! First and foremost, it is very important that you're kind and compassionate with yourself, and then tell yourself over and over and that you're safe, fine, that these symptoms are temporary and harmless (you may not really believe it at first, but remember that doubt is part of TMS). You can get through this! Also stay off of google search, as it only intensifies your fear, which intensifies pain!

 

My dr told me that my bladder looks fine, but another dr told me that it is impossible to diagnose ic without multiple biopsies and i am extremely anxious .. my new dr wants to do another cystoscopy and biopsies and iam really afraid to live like this !! there is no TMS doctor in my area

 

thanks for your kind reply, how did you overcome it, i am extremely worried

 

Dear LaraLakkis, understandable that you are worried. Urologists do not necessarily agree. Your in-office cystoscopy looked good. That’s already good news. Real IC usually shows already during this procedure. I had the full procedure, cystoscopy with Hydrodistension and biopsies. It was not that bad, took a week to recovery. But also not nice, no. Real IC is very rare, so it is most likely that you have a ‘stressed’ or pissed-off bladder.
Could there be any reasons, why your bladder acts stressed?
Oh, and I simply learned to accept the bladder pain as an indicator that I am stressed, anxious or being in another sort of emotional turmoil. Something I don’t notice without my bladder acting up. If I address the problem properly the pain disappears. But is a journey and I am still not fully healed.

 

Thank you so much

 

it's interesting that you make a distinction between IC and irritable bladder. I had the tests for IC nearly 30 years ago and the doc said my bladder lining looked like a rocky gravel road... had all sorts of treatments and still am afriad of tomatoes tho I use lemons and tangerines with delight since doing the
TMS work.
I believed them to be the same.
But then I haven't spoke to my doc about it in a long while. Seems they don't really know much about the bladder lining... the good news is that I haven't had symptoms in ages and ages.
There is so much hope here!

 

Hi Bodhigirl, these diagnostic issues are difficult. From my reading the literature and what I learned from the urologists I talked with I would sum it up like this:
- there is a severe condition of bladder tissue damage that is interstitial cystitis. Some think it is not just bladder lining damage but a neurogenic inflammation. Reason for this is unknown. I am skeptical that this is pure TMS, but these conditions are rare!!!
- there are other conditions where the bladder has structural damage, yet not irreversible. That could be TMS, there might be other possibilities.
- the majority who experiences bladder pain, urgency or frequency has TMS. This is chronic pelvic pain that is psychosomatic, the pelvic muscles might be tense, also the autonomous nerve system is unregulated which has a direct influence on the bladder nerves. Irritable bladder is one of the possible diagnoses.
I can’t say anything about your condition, but that you don’t have symptoms anymore seems to indicate that your condition was not irreversible. Most people with these bladder issues have TMS, for sure. Unfortunate the diagnosis IC is sometimes given although it is TMS, because the urology scientific community has agreed upon a very broad definition, they call it IC/bladder pain syndrome. Now urologists start to differentiate again between IC and bladder pain syndrome. It’s a diagnostic mess and the patients are caught in it. It’s really important to find a good urologist! Or a TMS doctor who is able to evaluate the diagnostics.

 

I’ve read that some healthy people also have the same “lesions” on their bladders. It’s like the stories we hear of back pain being attributed to X-ray findings, the same findings that many people have yet without any pain.