Christopher’s Story – His OAB is in the past

Life got a little bit easier for Christopher the past few months. He no longer scans for the nearest bathroom as soon as he enters a store.

He can take a road trip and not stress about the distance between rest areas. And he can go to a concert – most recently Garth Brooks – and take his seat without first locating the men’s room.

For years Christopher dealt with an Overactive Bladder (OAB). “The urge to urinate came quick,” he recalls. “There wasn’t always time to wander around looking for a bathroom.” Big public venues were especially frustrating. He still remembers the long lines for the men’s room at a Jimmy Buffet concert at Riverbend. “Eventually I just didn’t go to places like that anymore,” he says of his four years with OAB.

Christopher had already endured three cystoscopies, two urodynamic tests, various medications, and years of pelvic floor therapy. They provided some relief, but what he really wanted was a permanent solution.

That solution started with Dr. Brooke Edwards at The Urology Group in Crestview Hills. You can blame OAB on your sacral nerves, she explained. They’re supposed to signal your brain that your bladder is full. But if you have OAB those nerves don’t work like they should.

“Dr. Edwards explained all my options in great detail,” says Christopher, including different medications, Botox, and a tiny implantable device called InterStim. The device regulates the sacral nerves, so the bladder functions normally.

Christopher decided to try InterStim. Within days Dr. Brian Shay, a colleague of Dr. Edwards’ with The Urology Group, implanted a temporary testing wire into Christopher’s backside for a trial period to ensure InterStim was right for him. The results provided the green light Christopher hoped for. Soon after, Dr. Shay removed the testing wire and replaced it with the tiny implantable InterStim.

Today, just two months later, Christopher describes InterStim as life-changing. “I’ve gone from going to the bathroom every hour to going every three hours or longer. And I can make it through the night without going,” he says. “I cannot thank Dr. Shay, Dr. Edwards, and The Urology Group staff enough for everything that they did for me. They will always have a special place in my heart.”

Here’s a short video about InterStim treatment: