Customer Reviews

Interstitial Cystitis (Books)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Grannum Sant's "Interstitial Cystitis" is an excellent resource for clinicians and patients seeking academic/research oriented information on IC treatments, pathology, epidemiology and much more! Contents include discussions on the history of IC, current research, diagnostic options, a wide variety of treatments and general issues, such as quality of life.

Of particular note is the insightful chapter "The Causes and Treatment of Pain in Interstitial Cystitis" written by Daniel Brookoff, MD, which has helped us convey the often underestimated need for pain management.

This book is a cornerstone to any IC library, including our own at the IC Network. Very well done and much appreciated by the patient community.

Most physicians are almost completely ignorant to the various aspects of and treatments for this disease. They should be ashamed! This book is a good beginning to developing an understanding. Interstitial Cystitis can be an absolutely devastating illness, robbing some patients of virtually any ability to enjoy life at all, wishing that life would end just to end the pain. Gnawing away not just at the bladder but at the psyche as well, it feels as if it's going to drive you insane. No other pain that I have experienced has a similar component. Simultaneously. it feels as if the lining of the bladder has been scraped raw with a razor and lemon juice has been poured over the surface. I've read that studies have been done with rodents which, when having had this disease induced, tried to eat their bladders out of their little bodies. I know just how those little critters felt!

Some have less severe symptoms and should consider themselves blessed if they can lead lives of any normalcy. Some of us void 45 to 70 times a day and voiding only slightly decreases the pain. We wake too often to achieve REM sleep, which affects the body and mind very negatively to say the least. Patients with IC are much more likely to have IBS, Fibromyalgia, Migraine Headaches, Rheumatoid Arthritis and to be Depressed. Restrictions to diet and stress can help but many have to resort to the use of very high doses of pain medication just to reduce the pain level and to endure this illness. These medications have side-effects. Depression is one of these side effects so we have a "double dose" degree of likelihood of becoming severely depressed. All of these illnesses and side effects must be managed concurrently by the patient and their physicians. This book is a great basis for the knowledge necessary to do this. Patients, their loved ones, Family Practitioners, Urologists and pain specialists really should be well acquainted with this text. It is the best and most thorough that I have read in my 35 years of experience with the illness.