Meet Meet Randy Campbell

    This patient was compensated for
    his participation.

It was about a year ago when I started experiencing some problems. I started having an awful lot of pelvic pain while sitting. I do a lot of driving and a lot of sitting in front of the computer at work. It was particularly bothersome to me. I went to the doctor and he did all the normal stuff, checked my prostate gland and actually treated me for prostatitis. But that was not the issue. I kept going back and everything they would check would be fine. He did a urinalysis and an ultrasound, but found nothing. The pain medication that he was giving me, at best, was temporarily relieving my pain. I was starting to get really concerned.

Meanwhile, I was barely able to make the 4-hour drive to our lake house, and spending 5 or 6 hours sitting at work was torture. At the time my daughter was getting married and she wanted me to take a boat ride with them to see where they were thinking about having the wedding. Well, I couldn't go. I just knew that it was going to be too uncomfortable for me. I was beginning to get really worried about what was going to happen on their actual wedding day.

Finally my doctor determined that my problem could be something called interstitial cystitis and sent me to see a urologist. The urologist had me fill out a self-assessment questionnaire and performed a physical exam. Sure enough, I did have IC.

I had never heard of IC, but he explained that it's thought to be a breakdown of the protective lining of the bladder, which allows the substances in urine to aggravate the bladder wall. He also told me that IC is treatable and that a drug called ELMIRON^® may help.

When my urologist gave me my ELMIRON^® prescription, he told me that it may work gradually and might take 3 to 6 months to work. I was fine with this as long as it was going to help me with my problem. I started taking ELMIRON^® and went back for a follow-up visit about a month later. I hadn't really noticed much of a change, but he told me to stick with it. Shortly thereafter I really started to notice a difference, and the bladder pain and discomfort seemed to be improving.

Now, as long as I take ELMIRON^® as my doctor instructed, my symptoms don't bother me much at all. I occasionally have some discomfort if I've been sitting for a long period of time, but it's nowhere near as bad as it used to be.

Recently, I received a coupon and some really helpful information by enrolling in the ELMIRON^® Journey to Relief^® Program.

I cannot tell you how happy I am that my urologist prescribed ELMIRON^® for my IC.

NEXT: Living with IC