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I am closing in on my 1 year mark with Matia, and while she originally thought I'd be symptom free in a year (which is not the case, but I'm doing great), I notice more and more that life is coming back to me. Today I am home sick with strep throat and have been emailing back and forth with Matia, and feeling so grateful that it's about a sore throat and not a sore bladder/urethra. I feel grateful for strep throat! These waves of recognition have been happening quite often, I felt some strange twinge of gratitude the other day when having a fight with my sweetie, grateful that I was crying about communication breakdown and not body breakdown!
This whole experience will make it harder to ruffle my feathers, I think. It just gives some valuable perspective on life in terms of what is important. Of course I'm truly grateful for many happy moments and experiences that I am able to grasp more fully the more pain moves into the background. And I am so grateful for Matia and finding someone that I can place my trust in. She is a saint to be sending me emails at 6 a.m. her time re: my sore throat. I hope that once I am better, I can contribute to the world with as much compassion as she does.
Anyone else feeling some gratitude? I hope everyone is feeling calm and okay today.
Claire
What a great post! Claire- I
What a great post! Claire- I am so glad you are doing well and I completely understand where you are coming from. I have been gaining some great momentum since the middle of January and have slowly but surely been able to focus on life rather than pain. My bladder has been gaining more stability and confidence is returning in my body's ability to heal rather than feeling like an out of control tailspin! The majority of my day is a 0-1 in discomfort. I have long stretches of the day where I forget about IC and am able to focus on projects, my kids ... whatever I need to! This treatment has certainly changed my perspective on life and I will never be the same. I am thankful everyday for the opportunity to learn a different and more joyful way to live.
Sending healing thoughts to all my fellow ICers;)
Katie
Thank you Claire
I'm so much better today and am happy that you are too.
Take Care
I love this post! Thank you
I love this post! Thank you so much for sharing :) Hope your strep throat clears up soon.
This makes me smile! Glad
This makes me smile! Glad your bladder is feeling better, and hopefully your throat will feel better soon!
Excellent post!
Yes! I often have felt grateful through this process. Today I'm grateful I'm having a good day pain-wise and that I went with my instincts to trust Matia. IC has forced me to grow as a person, to keep my thoughts positive, to calm myself down when I go off the deep end, to fully live in the now and to focus on what's going right as opposed to what's going wrong. When I come out on the other side of this, I know I will have skills I never would have developed otherwise.
Lauren
I am so grateful to Matia and
I am so grateful to Matia and this blog for opening a world of thought and knowledge along with a path to healing. Everyday i read or come across new information, it confirms Matia's approach and i have placed so much faith in her . I too have realized that i am more open, and more willing to get out of the shell i've been in, hiding while i am healing. I feel more outgoing, more open, more willing to be out and about, and that's only bc IC is falling back instead of driving my life as it wishes. I am still away from recovery, i still have urethral issues but i feel that overall i am getting healthier. I am 15 months into treatment, and even though, just like you Claire, Matia had thought i'd be symptom free in a year, recently due to my baby anxiety, i had to get my courage and ask her where she thinks i stand. I found out that i am only 45% which saddened me a bit at first, but then i thought, if i feel this way at 45%, things will get even better and that's so much to look forward to and be happy about. :) just have to be more patient. Btw, I also get a lot of strep throat and colds, which i think might have been die-off! Hope you feel better soon.
Hi Selichan, I can totally
Hi Selichan,
I can totally to relate to your post. I have only been in this treatment for 7 months, but I sure do have the baby anxiety. I still got time, I am 28, but it is hard to wait. I know how important it is for us to be healthy, and not pass on anything to our future kids. I asked Dr. B and she said possibly I could be ready by the end of 2012. But only time will tell. Everything happens for a reason though. And even if it takes a little longer, I decided I will just use this time to simply enjoy the quietness, and alone time I get. Because once I am finally ready, I know it's going to be busy, busy all the time....and once the time finally comes for us, we will just enjoy it even more because we waited for it, and worked for it.... Hope you get there soon Selichan, and keep us updated.
Nice to hear from everyone-
Nice to hear from everyone- still grappling with the sore throat over here but the herbs Matia has me on so far aren't bothering my bladder like she said that they would (fingers crossed that this continues).
Katie- I'm glad you're doing so well and thinking about life and other things including going back to teaching- I am thinking about the same, not sure yet, though. It's very exciting to reenter the world!
Denise- I hope you're doing better and better, I always like reading your posts as I feel like you have a great insights about the mental and emotional rollercoaster that IC brings.
Lindsey- Good luck with your appointment today! You'll feel so much more at ease once you get there and will be amazed by how awesome it is to talk to a healthcare provider who knows about what's happening to you!
Cprince- Glad you got a smile from this! I hope you're feeling good today- love the dog in your picture!
Lauren- I totally agree about the skills IC brings us (lucky us). I think that it's helped me mature in a lot of ways, especially learning to ride emotional waves and be able to calm down.
Selichan- That's awesome that you got up the courage to ask Matia about how far you are into treatment, and more awesome how you were able to reframe something that seemed negative at first and turn it around into something positive. Also good to know about the strep/die off thing. I wanted to add that I understand your baby anxiety (I just turned 34) and how hard it is when everyone is having kids and you're just kind of smiling and feeling a little sad. At the same time, I've started to feel really happy for others and am trying to really enjoy being around their kids and share their joy since I know that being pregnant or having babies at the moment would actually be a total nightmare for me. Like you (and Axl Rose) said, just a little patience.
Claire
Thank you for your kind words -you shine through them.
I hope you
are feeling better, Claire, with your strep throat. I had that last December, and it was pretty rough. I am still amazed that Dr. B brought me through it with only herbs. My whole family was pressuring me to go to the doctor as I was so sick, and I had just recently started with Dr. B. I read everything on the forum site concerning strep throat to my husband, and we decided to stick with her protocol. I am so glad we did, because I did get better. And I was so glad to hear that you are doing better with your bladder as well. I have been wanting to respond and tell you how happy I am for you. :)
thanks!
Thanks Mrs. A, you're very sweet. I hope you're doing well as well! My strep throat is still hanging on after almost 3 weeks so I'm a little nervous. Matia has been very responsive about it, but we just can't seem to kick it. Did it take you awhile to clear it too? Just curious. I don't really know what to expect treating it with herbs.
My strep
throat did take over two weeks to clear up. It does take a lot longer with the herbs I remember, but they were effective. I remember thinking I was never going to get well. But I finally did. The best part was my bladder wasn't annoyed by the herbs as it would have been on antibiotics. I think it might have even helped my bladder instead. Someone else wrote that once about being ill and the herbs helping their bladder even more, and I would have to agree. I hope you are well soon, Claire!
Please keep us updated on how
Please keep us updated on how the strep does, Claire. I have not faced this particular challenge yet, but since I am heading back to teaching in the fall, I am sure I will face many jimmy germs. I am curious as to how the herbs will be as an alternative to antibiotics if I should need them.
Feel better soon! I am sending thoughts your way;)
Katie
Update on the strep front
Hi Katie,
3 weeks later, my throat finally has felt better for the last 3 days. Talked to Matia on Friday, and she seemed to think ,after I described having a lot of wierd discomfort all over the left side of my body during the tail end of this strep case, that I may be going through a "healing crisis" of sorts and I didn't catch this strep from someone. She said it's unusual for it to take this long to clear and that she treats strep all the time. The left side pains may be stuff clearing through the lymph system and my left tonsil was the one affected. I thought this was interesting, especially since my bladder felt phenominally good during the whole time I was sick.
But yes, those "Jimmy Germs" sure are around! I found when I was teaching and dealing with IC, I still didn't really catch too many colds and such, but I did wash my hands to the point where I had bleeding knuckles! I think the best thing is just not to be afraid to take a sick day if you're feeling run down. Better that than having to take a week because you catch something nasty!
Claire
Thanks for all the updates
Thanks for all the updates ceb217, it seems like it might just be maybe a turning point, and maybe you are almost better and just all the bad stuff is coming out. It is very interesting, we all might have to go through this, or something similar.