Tomorrow, I start a new diet recommended by Matia Brizman, a doctor of classical Chinese medicine practicing acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine in Los Angeles who treats IC patients using her own integrative approach between classical Chinese and Western medicine. The diet is prescribed in order to stabilize the internal environment from pain, inflammation, and microbial overgrowth. At the beginning, the diet is most restrictive, and is broadened as the person improves his or her condition. I'll be starting with List 1 (the most restrictive), for about 3-4 weeks, then adding 1 food at a time from list 2 (to see if they are irritating my bladder). If the food irritates, I will take it out, go back to list 1 for a while, then add another and repeat.
List 1 includes the following:
Protein:
Most fresh red meats, including pork, lamb, fish, and fowl, eggs (NON OMEGA FED AND VEGETARIAN FED EGGS). Cheese should be withheld initially.
Vegetables:
Broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, celery, yellow squash, green cabbage, red cabbage, Chinese cabbage.
Fats:
Butter, olive oil (not extra virgin) is best to cook with and use in salads
canola oil is fine in ingredients of pre prepared food bought at the store.
Starch:
Potatoes, rice brown or basmati, white OK, but last choice. Bread: yeast and sugar free (spelt/kamut/rice preferably, rice cakes, rice crackers. Grains are often not well tolerated in patients at the early onset of treatment. If a grain is not tolerated, remove it from the diet, and try again after a period of abstinence approximating 4 weeks.
Spices:
Garlic powder that is pure without additives (eat cautiously, sometimes this is too strong for beginners), dried basil, salt (usually tolerated in most individuals). Salad dressing should be olive oil, dill, garlic powder (pure), basil.
Drinks: water, preferably spring, not distilled, low minerals.
Headed off to El Cerrito Natural to buy the veggies, spices, and the yeast-free, sugar-free bread for tommorrow!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
The journey begins...
I have IC (Interstitial Cystitis); I've had it since about 2001 or so. I'm not sure exactly how long ago, because it came on over time and took about 3-4 years to really diagnose. I started with a couple of bad bladder and yeast infections in 1999 and a debilitating back injury in 2000 (I am pretty sure EACH of those things are related to my IC). After trying physical therapy, chiropractic adjustments, cortisone and lidocane shots, with no success, I finally managed to stabilize my back injury with a combination of acupuncture and massage, and a regular yoga practice. The bladder problems, however, remained unchanged. I kept returning to the doctor, thinking I had another bladder infection, but the tests were coming up negative. I just was told to wear cotton underwear and loose fitting clothes, drink lots of cranberry juice, and be sure to go to the bathroom before and after sex.
At the end of 2002, my husband and I decided we were ready to have a baby, so I went off the pill. About 2-3 months after I stopped taking it, the bladder pain, frequency and urgency became much worse and flared more often. I was referred to a urologist, who figured that I had a low level infection, which wasn't showing up on the tests. He treated me with low dose of Macrobid for 3 months. End result...I developed a BAD yeast infection, which spread to the rest of my body, causing rashes to appear all over my face, neck and shoulders. I managed to treat the yeast with a strict 3 month yeast-free, sugar-free, allergen-free diet, combined with herbal antifungals and immune boosters. However, the bladder pain, frequency & urgency remained.
Fortunately, I went into remission when I got pregnant in 2003, which lasted until my daughter was about 6 months old. Slowly, however, I began to relapse, and the symptoms of pain, frequency and urgency began worsening over time. In 2005, I was finally given the Potassium Chloride test (OOOWWWW!) and diagnosed with IC.
I've been through some very dark times with this illness. The pain can be excruciating---like a knife or a razor blade slicing through my insides when I move. There is a feeling of anxiety, like I am being attacked. I break out in a cold sweat and get the chills. When it comes, I can't focus on anything else and still bear it. I have to stop, close my eyes, and just breathe through it.
When the pain became so strong and constant that I was unable reliably work or care for my home and my family, we had to leave our home and friends, to move across the country so we could live with my in-laws. I haven't been able to pick up and carry my daughter since she was about 1 year old. I've had to forgo sex with my loving husband or risk days of pain afterward. I have lived in fear of not being able to find a bathroom or going somewhere where there is no bathroom or I have to wait too long to use it.
But anyway...the past is not really the point of this blog. Well not right now at least. This week, I'm starting a new journey--a journey to healing. Up till now it was all about treatments. Well that's done. I'm not going to "treat" anymore, I'm going to heal (I hope). This blog will document my progress, my ups and downs and hopefully keep me sane in the process and give me an idea of what's working.
At the end of 2002, my husband and I decided we were ready to have a baby, so I went off the pill. About 2-3 months after I stopped taking it, the bladder pain, frequency and urgency became much worse and flared more often. I was referred to a urologist, who figured that I had a low level infection, which wasn't showing up on the tests. He treated me with low dose of Macrobid for 3 months. End result...I developed a BAD yeast infection, which spread to the rest of my body, causing rashes to appear all over my face, neck and shoulders. I managed to treat the yeast with a strict 3 month yeast-free, sugar-free, allergen-free diet, combined with herbal antifungals and immune boosters. However, the bladder pain, frequency & urgency remained.
Fortunately, I went into remission when I got pregnant in 2003, which lasted until my daughter was about 6 months old. Slowly, however, I began to relapse, and the symptoms of pain, frequency and urgency began worsening over time. In 2005, I was finally given the Potassium Chloride test (OOOWWWW!) and diagnosed with IC.
I've been through some very dark times with this illness. The pain can be excruciating---like a knife or a razor blade slicing through my insides when I move. There is a feeling of anxiety, like I am being attacked. I break out in a cold sweat and get the chills. When it comes, I can't focus on anything else and still bear it. I have to stop, close my eyes, and just breathe through it.
When the pain became so strong and constant that I was unable reliably work or care for my home and my family, we had to leave our home and friends, to move across the country so we could live with my in-laws. I haven't been able to pick up and carry my daughter since she was about 1 year old. I've had to forgo sex with my loving husband or risk days of pain afterward. I have lived in fear of not being able to find a bathroom or going somewhere where there is no bathroom or I have to wait too long to use it.
But anyway...the past is not really the point of this blog. Well not right now at least. This week, I'm starting a new journey--a journey to healing. Up till now it was all about treatments. Well that's done. I'm not going to "treat" anymore, I'm going to heal (I hope). This blog will document my progress, my ups and downs and hopefully keep me sane in the process and give me an idea of what's working.
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