Of course it didn't stay away forwever and around November the symptoms came back. Understandably I was upset, so I went to my gyn. She was unsympathetic as usual, but did give me the name of a uro-gyn that the had heard had had good results.

So...I made an appointment. It was the best thing I have ever done. She gave me an exam, did an ultrasound, asked questions, and *listened* to me. She knew what I was suffering from and immediately prescribed me Elavil and Elmiron, and set me up with some pelvic floor therapy.

It took awhile for the Elmiron to kick in - about 4 or 5 months, but it does work. The Elavil didn't do much for me except make me sleepy and I've since gone off it. The pelvic floor therapy was great and really helped me break out of the pelvic pain cycle. (i.e. pelvic floor hurts, tightens up, makes sex painful, hurts more, tightens up more, etc..)

I've been on the Elmiron for over a year and it works pretty well. I still get occasional flares and I know if I drink one Barq's root beer I'm fine - but if I have the second one I'm in the bathroom for the rest of the afternoon. I've also had a Bladder Hydrodistention/Cystoscopy, which wasn't pleasant, but did nail down the fact that I do in fact have IC. (The picture is floating around here on the site somewhere).

Overall? I feel pretty freaking normal.... :)