The Roller Coaster We Ride With IC!!

Bat Ride at Lagoon in Utah

        I have come to the conclusion that living with a condition like IC, Interstitial Cystitis, is similar to being stuck on a roller coaster going around and around and around. 

        My journey has been wild and something like this: 

• The cranking sound of the click, click, click as the seat I am locked into drags me closer and closer to my diagnosis. 
• I reach the top and there is a moment of pause for it to sink in. 
• Suddenly I drop as the stress, pain an depression seem like a distant dream as I now have a name and a way to control my symptoms.  A drop of relief. 
• Then another slope upward as the battle begins. Finding out what triggered my condition and how to slow it and then remove most of my pain. 
• There is small reprieve of pain free bliss, where you can move, bend and stretch without any problems.  
• Then another twist in the coaster and I am upside down back in pain but holding on to my new lease on life.

         Before I know it I am back to the beginning loop again.  

         I only recently started to like roller coasters at the local amusement park but the roller coaster of life can sure get tiresome sometimes.  

         After my cruise trip I was able to get my condition under control, around 95%.  And then the passed week or so my pain came back due to changes in my diet again.  I thought I was doing so well and got kicked down when I started to stand straight.  Hence the roller coaster. 

        I feel I am heading back up on a high but since this is a life long condition I know sooner or later it will twist, turn and/or pullet again.  The point is that we can never predict what will cause us pain but we can control how we react and how we deal with it.  

        I try to be a positive person but after over a year and half of pain I found myself depressed, angry and basically a hermit.  Recently I noticed I was more frustrated by the entire thing rather than depressed or angry.  I refuse to allow myself back to the position I was in before, because quite frankly I hated that person I became.  Everyone who knows me understands that I hate being mean, I hate being angry and since my family has a history of depression I pride myself on being positive in any given situation.  
  
        Just keep in mind that no matter what part of the roller coaster you are on it will change.  Change does not have to be bad, scary or something that ruins all of your progress.  Expect change will come in many forms, in ways you can not predict or prepare for and do your best to be you.  Nothing else matters.  If you are not happy, choose to be happy or do something about it.  

        Above all #AlwaysKeepFighting