My family got a kick out of these things. I'm happy that Tyson and I could bring a little piece of his familys' tradition into mine.IC THEORY
Overall, this holiday season was extremely hard on me mentally and emotionally because I'm in discomfort, and I couldn't really enjoy the holiday foods, but I made through it. I'm hoping that by this time next year, I will be feeling and living normally. Who knows. HOWEVER!!!!! I think I've finally come to a conclusion about my IC situation that will hopefully fix my issue. I think what caused my IC was a diuretic I took back in July. Today, it just hit me, and I was compelled to do my research, and now I'm fully convinced it was a stupid diuretic that has caused me all of my problems. Tyson and I have always had this thought back in our minds, but we weren't really sure. Well, today, I'm pretty sure. This is how I've come to my theory:
For the past few months, I've discovered that I'm having a lot of nerve issues around my pelvic floor that seems to be shooting down my leg to my feet sometimes. It's so random. The pain I was experiencing was nerve pain that was causing me to tighten my pelvic muscles (which causes more pain), and ever since I've been prescribed Elavil, that pain goes from being very mild to almost gone. BUT! The pain does spike when I drive in the car. The vibrations of the car vibrate on my pelvic floor nerves and stimulates the pain (I can feel the stimulation) which then sends my bladder into that feeling like I've got to go. Also, when I press all around my pelvic floor and thighs, I feel stinging or soreness like I've ran a marathon. ALSO! I've noticed, and have been noticing for several months, that I have an uncomfy ticking/prickling sensation in my bladder that gives me that constant sensation like I still have a little bit of urine left in the bladder...VERY UNCOMFORTABLE!!! I've attributed this to nerve sensitivity.
Well, back in July the day before we left to visit Tyson's parents in Austin, I remember going for my normal workout because I felt very bloated and wanted to sweat it out. When I got finished with my workout, I went and bought DIUREX to try and get all of my water retention to ease up. This was the first time I had ever taken this. That night, I was having to use the bathroom constantly, which is what happens when you take a diuretic obviously. However, I had only taken two pills throughout the day, but well into the night, I couldn't sleep because I had that constant tickling/prickling sensation in my bladder to have to go. I was thinking this was abnormal because I would have thought the medicine would have worn off by then.
For the following week while we were in Austin, I was frequently going with barely anything to go. The following Friday, I drank a TON of water (probably stirring up my nerves even more), then WHAMMO.....from that point on, urges and the tickling sensation were nonstop and unrelenting. It only got worse from there which I think had to do with the food I was ingesting because I now had very hypersensitive nerves and anything was going to irritate my bladder. For about a month, I never knew about the "special diet" so I was probably eating very bad foods that only made my bladder worse. Well, a side effect from DIUREX is hypersensitivity. I did my research and hypersensitivity included allergies to autoimmune diseases. IC is thought to be an autoimmune disease and has an allergic component to it which creates hystimines in the bladder thus causing a cycle of inflammation. I have put myself in a cycle of inflammation which led me to this IC issue. When the nerves are effected, it causes inflammation. The inflammation causes mast cell release of histamines (the bodies natural reaction to inflammation) and the histamines cause inflammation, and the inflammation irritates the nerves more, which then sends the EXACT same inflammation cycle over and over again. Basically, my body is attacking itself (autoimmune disease).
Now, I know many people in this world take diruetics (especially for cardiovascular related issues), and never have this reaction like I did. I do believe that I was predisposed to IC from some possible abnormal gene that creates a protein called APF which restricts cell growth in the bladder to maintain its lining, and it needed just the perfect trigger to set this all off. In MY case, it was the DIUREX. I do remember having more freqency issues for about a year or 2, but it was never bad enough to send me to the doctors with concern. I think my lining was slowly withering away. With this thought, I DO believe my bladder lining is pretty thin (now more due to the inflammation) which exposes all of the irritants to my bladder nerves, so I'm going to have to take my Elmiron (bladder coating) to restore my bladder lining to protect my nerves. I am a full believer that my issue is more nerve related because the VERY first night I took my first pill of my nerve med., A LOT of my pain settled down, and it's only gotten better since, BUT I think I've leveled off. Tomorrow, I'm going to call my doctor to schedule and appt. to share this theory and ask to either increase my dosage of my nerve med, or put me on something possibly stronger (what ever he thinks will be the safest). I am SO convinced I need to settle down these nerves even more, and that this will do the trick. I have so much research to back my DIUREX and nerve theory up that I want to show him.
DEATH OF A K9 OFFICER
Next topic....whew....are you tired of reading yet???? Last week, on Tuesday, an officer from Pct. 4 (who will remain unnamed) was called out to bring his K9 dog, Bleck, to track down two guys who burglarized a home. While tracking, this officer tripped in the woods and lost the long line that Bleck was on. Of course, the way Bleck is supposed to do, Bleck kept tracking and ran off to continue to do his job he was trained to do. Of course, the officer lost sight of the dog. Well, this officer and others finally found the dog unfortunately dead. This was so unexpected and no one had a clue how this dog could have died. They took the dog up to A&M for an autopsy (which Pct. 4 was told that they wouldn't have the results for a couple of weeks), but they all had speculated that he was killed by the two guys that broke into the home. They were thinking Bleck had found the guys, attacked like he was supposed to, but the guys teamed up and probably choked him to death from his long line. He had blood in his mouth, so that is what lead to this conclusion. Well, sure enough, the two guys were caught a couple of days later and they admitted to killing Bleck. We know that Bleck didn't go without a fight though because the guys were REALLY banged up.
Pct. 4 officers and Blecks owner were really torn up about this when they found out that Bleck had randomly passed during a track. Tyson and I were even torn up even though this wasn't our dog. All we can think about is this dog just doing his job, struggling to fight, all while being choked to death. It's been a very emotional week, and I can only imagine how the K9 officer felt about his dog's death. This has really been a touchy situation. The news showed video footage of the night that Bleck and this officer were tracking, and all I could think about while I watched the video footage was that this dog and officer had no idea what they were about to run into. Well, I just about lost it and burst into tears while watching this footage and Tyson's just about ALMOST lost it himself for a couple of days last week once we discovered what had happened. I've maybe met the dog and officer once at a K9 training, but it is Tyson that knows this dog and officer better than me. I know some of you are probably laughing or saying, "Good grief, it wasn't even your dog," but what you don't understand is that this leaves a lasting impression when you actually own a dog who is like a Bleck. These dogs put themselves out there in harms way so that the police officers can be more safe. This made us think about Rosco and if we were ever to lose him in a situation like that.
All of last week, Tyson and I have cuddled and given SO much attention to Rosco. It's made us extra sensitive. I think Rosco is noticing the extra attention so now he's pretty much acting like a big baby and demanding it. He's been putting his head in our laps and looking up at us with the "please pet me" look on his face that you can't resist. When we're sitting on the floor, he tries to be a lap dog by trying to get his entire body up on our laps. He's been cuddling with us, etc. etc. etc. He's basically acting like a big weenie. Here are some pictures of Rosco doing things to demand our attention.
Tyson immitating Rosco's "happy boy" smile.
Rosco trying to get ALL of himself up into Tyson's lap.
Rosco had come down and lied next to me. He then put his head in my lap and closed his eyes. Tyson got up to take a picture, but, of course, Rosco was more interested in the camera.
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