My husband was diagnosed back in November with IC after having epididectomies on both testicles in July '04 which did nothing but create more problems for him.

The first test the urologist did was to instill fluid into his bladder to test the bladder's capacity...my husband could only hold 150 cc instead of the 500 cc that is normal. He said it hurt having the tube inserted even though they nurse did inject some kind of numbing agent into his urethra before the procedure. The actual filling of his bladder was described by him as being uncomfortable rather than painful. A cystoscopy was done at this time also to make sure there were no tumors in the bladder.

He had his bladder stretched in out-patient surgery right before Thanksgiving. Urination was painful and bloody for several days (seems the stretching breaks some tiny blood vessels in the bladder). A biopsy was done also as IC can cause the lining of the bladder to thin and become a little hard.

He has been back for weekly DMSO treatments instilled in the bladder for the past 4 weeks. He has another treatment tomorrow and the last one a week from tomorrow. He is unable to relax for the urologist to insert the tube into his urethra, so the doctor has been giving him an injection of Valium into the vein before the procedure. He never realizes that he's had the treatment when its over. You must have someone drive you home after the Valium shot.

I had seriously doubted him ever being able to return to work prior to the IC dianosis as there was simply no improvement in his pain until he began the IC treatment. He was able to return to work several weeks ago after being off work nearly 5 months.

He wishes so badly now that he had gotten a second opinion before having the epididectomy and going through the pain afterwards. The urologist who diagnosed the IC (he was not the urologist who performed the epididectomy) told us several weeks ago that my husband had never even needed the epididectomy.

Let the doctor run the tests! Or, if you don't trust this doctor completely, find another urologist whom you feel you can trust.