Four months in is still early. You sound like you are making good progress in such a short time. I was where you are at 4 months. Most days around a 1-2. Today I am 13 months in and most days are 0, now I mark days in .25 to .50 increments. I feel 90 - 95% better at this point. Don't worry, it will work, it just takes a long time. Hang in there.

Christine is right (Hi Christine) 4 months in is early. The thing that I've learned, and am still learning, for me, is that IC has a huge emotional impact. Or, rather, the emotional impact has been the breeding ground for the IC? As my body has dumped the toxins, it has spewed out a lifetime of emotional garbage. In all honesty, I'm not sure where one starts and the other ends. If you're anything like me, everything is starting to come crashing together and you're just plain pissed that you have to deal with it and it all scares you to death - and you just want to find a pill to fix it NOW! I've spent a lot of years running around trying to do the quick fix so that my world can be safe. Most of my fixing has been sweeping it under the carpet, stomping on it to flatten out, and putting a pretty potted plant on it - yep, the queen of fixing. So, now, here I sit with a disease that has no quick fixes and an incredible new therapist that isn't offering me any quick mental fixes either....scarey and hard and I sure as hell don't want to do it. However, I've chosen to join the rest of you, kicking and screaming, and am damned proud of all of us. So, Bonnie, yell, holler, reach out for help, and we're all going to get there...unfortunately without the beer and cake :(

Christine is right (Hi Christine) 4 months in is early. The thing that I've learned, and am still learning, for me, is that IC has a huge emotional impact. Or, rather, the emotional impact has been the breeding ground for the IC? As my body has dumped the toxins, it has spewed out a lifetime of emotional garbage. In all honesty, I'm not sure where one starts and the other ends. If you're anything like me, everything is starting to come crashing together and you're just plain pissed that you have to deal with it and it all scares you to death - and you just want to find a pill to fix it NOW! I've spent a lot of years running around trying to do the quick fix so that my world can be safe. Most of my fixing has been sweeping it under the carpet, stomping on it to flatten out, and putting a pretty potted plant on it - yep, the queen of fixing. So, now, here I sit with a disease that has no quick fixes and an incredible new therapist that isn't offering me any quick mental fixes either....scarey and hard and I sure as hell don't want to do it. However, I've chosen to join the rest of you, kicking and screaming, and am damned proud of all of us. So, Bonnie, yell, holler, reach out for help, and we're all going to get there...unfortunately without the beer and cake :(

Eating out is difficult for everyone with IC.  Just do the best you can and don't worry about.  Ask the waiter a lot of questions.  Most restaurants will try to accomodate you if you tell them you have food allergies.

Whenever I eat out, I try to choose a fresh mexican restaurant because they usually don't use sugar or yeast in their food. Dr.B okayed me on corn tortillas since I was on list 1 because I have never had a reaction to those. So most of the time if I have to eat out, I get steak tacos on corn tortillas, with nothing on it, just the meat.
If it's not a mexican restaurant then I usually do okay with a steak and potato entree. I just make sure to ask if they marinate the steak, and usually they say no, that they just use salt and pepper. It's also best to choose a high quality restaurant, chain restaurants seem to give me a problem.
Another option is ordering a salad with no dressing or cheese(unless you have been approved for the cheese). If it has meat then ask if it is marinated, if it is, then just order it plain. But most of the time if it it steak, the just season it with salt and pepper.