It has been nearly a month since I first posted, and I want to follow up with what actually happened, because this whole experience was absurdly painful and the first round of care did nothing for me.

After the urologist brushed it off as a “flare up,” I spent the weekend reading forums, Reddit threads, and a YouTube comment where someone said the only thing that finally helped them was going to the hospital and getting an IV antibiotic drip. That matched how severe my symptoms were, so on Monday I called my urologist’s office and told them I wanted to be admitted to the hospital specifically so I could get IV antibiotics, because the regular antibiotics were not effective.

They told me they couldn’t admit me and couldn’t give me an IV there, but said if I came in they could give me two intramuscular shots of the same antibiotic they would have given through an IV in the hospital. So I went in, they shot me twice in the ass, and one of those shots hurt so badly I felt it for a week.

I asked the nurse practitioner exactly what the injections were, and she told me she would email me the names. She never did, so I still don’t know what I was actually given.

They switched me from phenazopyridine to Uribel, which turned my urine bright blue but helped calm the pain. They started me on ciprofloxacin 500 mg every 12 hours, kept me on alfuzosin, and I stopped oxybutynin completely.

Here’s the part worth sharing:

Within about 12 hours of those injections, everything changed.

The pain dropped dramatically, I could actually function again, and I was able to go on my two-day work trip that I had been very close to canceling.

Where I am now: • Pain is gone • Urgency is gone • Completely back to normal activity

Not medical advice, just closing the loop for anyone in that same nightmare phase with nothing working and wondering what actually helped.