I’ve been diagnosed with lupus for just over two years now. After my first diagnosis, about 4-5 months later, I had my first really bad UTI. It was very painful and I had to leave school because of it. Since then, I’ve had frequent urgency and urinary tract pain. It would happen especially if I wasn’t careful about using the bathroom before I slept at night; if I didn’t, I would have pain and pressure in my bladder in the morning after going. This ultimately caused a lot of issues in attendance due to frequent pain, nausea, constipation, vomiting, etc. I almost didn’t graduate due to so many absences (but was avoided because it’s not uncommon for my high school to skip out on or miss doctor’s notes).

I know I shouldn’t google symptoms and such, but it’s been 1.5 years now and my symptoms were barely starting to get better, but it seems I’ve hit a dip. I looked into interstitial cystitis and its relation to lupus in some cases. So there’s that context and stuff.

I put this in advice because basically, I’m asking this - does anyone think it’s worth it to go to a doctor/urologist? I’m an adult but dependent on my parents and their health insurance so I’d have to ask if it’s okay to find a urologist or someone (because my parents also make the payments for my doc visits and I just feel it’s better to ask them first).

I appreciate any and all advice/comments and criticism. This is a serious issue and I don’t want to be overly paranoid/stressed! That in itself causes the flare of bladder issues unfortunately.

Thanks!