I am the
director of MOARK IC, an Interstitial Cystitis support group for Missouri and
Arkansas. Our goal is to network patients and medical professionals throughout
the region.You can visit our website at
www.moarkic.com
.We understand that treating IC is very
individual and at times a long process. It is our hope to make this easier by
providing support to the medical professionals as well as the patients.One way we hope to do this is by letting you
know of any safe and effective IC treatments that are available.
I personally
have IC and some complicating issue that make getting and keeping it under
control difficult.Therefore, my doctor
and I have had to spend a lot of time and energy finding various coping tools
to help.One of the best of these has
been vaginal suppositories.Dr. Brookoff, a pain
management doctor who specializes in treating IC, was the first to mention, in
an ICN interview, that he was using these vaginal suppositories
successfully.Since that time many IC
patients and I are now using them and find they help significantly with the
spasms, pain, and burning, etc.They
also seem to help those patients with vulvodynia, urethral or clitoral pain, or
for before or after the physical relationship as well.I have read that Dr. Moldwin, author of the
“IC Survival Guide”, is also now including them in his treatment protocol for
patients.
There are
many different formula combinations of these; most contain diazepam and
lidocaine etc.My personal formula,
which we have found works the best is:diphenhydramine 10mg; diazepam 5mg; and lidocaine
2%.Any compounding pharmacy can make these;
however, we have found that Kevin Oberlander at Dakota Pharmacy has a real
heart for IC patients.He specializes
in making custom and personalized treatments for patients.He developed the one above for me. He prefers
to work directly with the doctor, custom-making the medications to the needs of
your patients, but will fill a request with prescription only.The great thing about using these is the
medicine is put right in the region that the medications are needed without the
side effects of an oral medication.
Recently, Kevin has also developed a very
helpful gel as well.This is made with
Silverbiotics gel, 15% MSM, and 2% lidocaine.This gel is able to be made preservative-free, as are the suppositories
above, since I, like some other IC patients, react to preservatives.Silverbiotics is a soothing gel that has been
shown to have anti-bacterial properties, (you can read more about it at www.americanbiotechlabs.com , MSM is
anti-inflammatory and the lidocaine is numbing to the area.
I personally use this gel on a daily
basis, as well as use the vaginal suppositories at night, on bad flare days or
before going on a long trip.It is my
understanding from another patient that Kevin also makes a cream using gabapentin
for those with vulvodynia, etc too.Any
of these coping tools are only available with a prescription.I hope you will consider using these in your
treatment protocol.
For more information or to send a script
you can contact Kevin Oberlander, at Dakota Pharmacy, 1-800-290-7028,
1-701-255-1881, fax # 1-701-255-7226.Kevin’s email address is , their website is
www.dakotarx.com . (We do not
receive any compensation from Dakota Pharmacy.I am sharing this information only because I understand the pain of
living with IC and want to help patients.)
You can also feel free to contact me for
more information, to be listed in our medical resources guide or to advertise
your support group meetings etc.There
is no cost involved to do so!Our goal
is to become a vital resource networking those here at home.Shelly Matthewson, www.moarkic.com, 417-255-1903, ,
Treatment options 
