After years of struggling to cope with the ‘nameless’ abdominal pain for almost a decade, I finally was diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis in the summer of 2015. Finally having a name for what was happening in my body was a relief, but the medications and very restrictive diet were a challenge. I lost 10 lbs (which is a lot for a 5’2″ 120lbs female), my hair began to fall out from Elmiron, my strength began to weaken and so did my self-esteem. On top of it all, my pain was still there and becoming more frequent. I started doing research since this wasn’t working. I went to new doctors, a herbalist, a nutritionist, a chiropractor, and even a holistic doctor with no success. One of the doctors suggested this PT (which I won’t name), so I decided to try it. My first PT experience was miserable. She was very nice, but I left there in more pain than when I showed up for my appointment. About 6 months into PT (10 months after being diagnosed with IC), I went on full medical leave from my career. After a year of no results from PT, I had lost all hope. She told me that she couldn’t do anything more for me. That was a hard day. She gave me the name to Amy Robinson as another PT. I was so reluctant to reach out to Amy since I had no success prior. I felt like I had wasted countless hours and dollars for no results. I felt like I was going to be this way for the rest of my life. It took a huge strain on me physically, mentally, and emotionally. It was affecting my marriage, as my husband became my caretaker. After weeks of debating, I finally decided to make an appointment with Amy. I told my husband that I was only going to this ONE appointment so I wouldn’t be able to say “what if I went and I felt better?”. I expected it to be a waste of my time and money (just like the last one). But Amy was different. Her approach to helping me was completely different from my last PT. I left the appointment with a small shred of hope. After a few weeks of PT, I was starting to do better. After 2 months, I was able to have sex pain free. After 4 months, I started working part time with animals to get me out of the house a few days a week. This past Thanksgiving (2017), I looked back at how miserable I was last year compared to how I’m more independent this year. I’m by no means my old self. I still have bad pain days, but I have tools from Amy that help me manage my condition. I’ll always have IC, but I’m able to start living with it thanks to Amy.
J.J.
