Forums:
I thought it would be good to revisit this idea of reporting the positive changes we are all going through. The original Little Things thread is already 3 pages long, so I thought I would start a new one. I love reading about the positive things that we are all experiencing, even if they seem small.
I am personally excited that my body is tolerating more probiotics and a little bit of Vitamin D. I love how Vitamin D makes me sleep better and be in a better mood, but my gut still can't handle even a full capsule per dose yet. I WILL get there though!
I'm going through some pretty tough die-off right now - bladder and VV pain is up - but I can handle it so much better now, and I know I need to go through it to get to the other side and start moving forward with the diet (I'm still on List 1 after a year and a half). You all will be the first to know when I start adding food to my diet because I will be sooooooooo excited!
I've been healing emotionally and spiritually so much through all of this. I don't think I would be where I am in that regard if it weren't for this treatment. It requires trust in Matia, and she is worthy of that trust. It requires faith that our bodies can heal when we give it what it needs.
There are many more positive things that I will write about another time, but I just wanted to get this thread going. Can't wait to hear from all of you!
Lisa
I would LOVE to keep this thread going! Please post if you can
I would LOVE to keep this thread going as I am just starting out! The older threads where people are talking about their slow progress was helpful to read!!
Lisa Ann, how is your bladder pain now? Are there any foods you have been able to add in from list 2?
Started list 1 two days ago. Still weaning off my supplements like magnesium and aloe vera. Not eve sure the aloe vera was helping but have been taking aloe for 3 weeks and I am better than I was 5 weeks ago when all this started. Next week is my first appointment with Dr. Brizman. I will be going off my acne products :( Kind of scared of pimple face. I had it in high school and it was horrible.
Please I hope people who are in treatment can PLEASE share their little victories!! It would help the new patients so much!!
I hate to sound like a downer but I already hate the diet so much. I am surprised that after 3 days I don't really miss the sugar, just the variety. I pray I will at least be able to tolerate grains. I pray for the day I can add in avocado and a little fruit and cheese. :) Mostly I pray for PROGRESS!!
Last night I slept without a sleeping pill. I had mild discomfort at night but only got up two times to pee. I can walk up to one hour per day with only mild discomfort. I am lucky I can leave the house. I am worried about my plane trip because the drive is one hour on either end and that is about my limit on needing to pee.
If we don't excel at health, the only other option is disease.
Hey Mimij! I wrote a reply
Hey Mimij!
I wrote a reply to your reply yesterday, but I don't know what happened to it! First of all, I'm so happy for you going to see Dr. B! I think the diet will be easier for you to feel good about once you talk to her. It does take a while to get used to. You are so blessed to have found her so quickly after your IC started. If I could do it all over again, I would have done the same. I didn't even know she existed when I got IC.
My bladder pain ranges from a 3-5 on a scale of 10, unless I try eating something new and then it goes up to a 6-7. I've been able to tolerate more probiotics lately though, so I think I will be turning a corner with food soon. I am still on List 1, and there are still a lot of veggies on List 1 that my body can't tolerate yet. When started with Dr. B, I was taking many medications that my urologist prescribed to help me manage my increasingly unmanageable IC (I've had it for 12 years), and because they were masking my symptoms somewhat, I could tolerate a lot more foods on List 1 and some on List 2. When I weaned off of the last drug, I had to cut way back on what I was eating because all of a sudden I was sensitive to everything. I didn't cut back in food portions, but in what I could tolerate. Dr. B has gotten me out of all of that and now I am working my way up on the probiotics. I'm so excited that I am able to tolerate more of them!
I know that getting off the acne medicine is scary, but your skin will eventually improve during treatment. Who knows, it may be sooner than later! And this time, your skin will be healthy on the outside because your body is healthy on the inside. I don't have a problem with acne, but I have had problems with majorly dry and cracking skin during the winter. After only a few months of treatment with Dr. B, my skin was so much better last winter. I also used to have almost constant redness and flaking skin on the end of my nose. That is gone!
How did it go with sleep last night? I used to take an allergy medication that would also make me sleep at night. But it wasn't too long after I stopped taking it that my body adjusted and now I sleep deeply every night. I don't sleep as long as I want to, but I sleep deeply. We are working on that. Vitamin D helps, but I can't tolerate a full capsule yet.
Keep us posted on your meeting with Dr. B and your progress!
Lisa
Hi Lisa Ann
My bladder pain increased yesterday afternoon to about a 6. Usually it is a 3. I had some potato chips with lunch that had safflour or sunflower oil so that might have been it? Looking for the olive oil kind at Trader Joes. I also wonder if it is because I have slowed down on taking the aloe vera capsules! That was my "medication" of choice so far. Also, in the first weeks I had so much anxiety, I took 1 Ativan in the evening around 5pm. I did not take any sleeping pills at night on those days. Yesterday I took another Ativan (.5ml-the lowest dose) but it makes me really groggy. I must stop because I know it is not good for me. I hope to be off everything soon.
I did NOT take a sleeping pill last night and slept about 9 hours with getting up twice to pee. I guess that is pretty good. It is scary going to bed with pain.
Hve you had die-off in the year+ of working with her? How did you figure out which foods from list one you could tolerate? It all seems so tricky. Are you able to have starches and grains?
If we don't excel at health, the only other option is disease.
Hey Mimij
I know this is a little bit of a scary time for you, but you will be okay. It's good that you are seeing Dr. B. She will answer all of your questions about the aloe vera, etc. Try to stay away from any ingredients (foodwise) that aren't on List 1. It's a paradigm shift to eat this way, but it is what you need to do to get better. Everything we put in or on our bodies has an impact on the amount of inflammation in there.
I have had consistent die-off throughout treatment. It happens as the toxins are released from my body. Sometimes it is painful (joint pain, headache, etc.) and sometimes it is just a different sensation (like my ear plugging up every other day or feeling dizzy). It was when I finally weaned off the last medication that the die-off really got going though.
I have always been able to eat potatoes with no problems, and I love them! I can eat limited amounts of organic brown rice and brown rice cakes. I eat everything organic except chicken, but the chicken I eat is free-range with no antiobiotics, etc. I also eat grass-fed beef. I buy a quarter cow every few months because it's much cheaper to do it that way.
Lisa
I wanted to give this thread
I wanted to give this thread a BUMP for the new year!!!
I am still symptomatic after 2 months in treatment. Still have urg/frequ, which is worse when I walk or drive. But my bladder feels relative calm in the evening hours. Two nights ago I slept 7 hours straight. Last night (kids at grandma's) I slept 9 HOURS straight!! What? I haven't done that in 20 years LOL.
I am tolerating 400 IU of Vitamin D3 per dose. I am tolerating yogurt. Very thankful for that. Hopeing my bladder will catch up with my food tolerances. Trying to be more patient.
Grateful that my 5 and 7 year old daughters are happy and healthy.
If we don't excel at health, the only other option is disease.
I'm grateful for my 3 kids...
I'm grateful for my 3 kids... My two older ones 10,7 are such good helpers & my baby is naughty but makes me laugh constantly! I have been in treatment for 5.5 months & am still in a good amount of pain but I am on list 3 sleeping pretty good sometimes 5-6 hours straight. I'm grateful for my parents who have sacrificed everything to take care of me & my family... She cooks us dinner every night !!!!!! & for my husband who is gentle and supportive during this last year mostly saying yes to everything I need because he doesn't no any other way to help:) I don't think I ever mentioned on this sight but we own 2 restaurants & my mom is a pastry chef so you can imagine how hard it is to coexist among them. It's kind of the universe having a big joke on me. Through this my mood humor and anxiety has been terrific & I know in my heart God is the guiding force in my journey to healing. Hopefully when we all look back this will be a small blip on the whole landscape of our lives an a learning experience that will change us all for the better:) when your still in pain it is hard to remind yourself of the positive things happening but I try to be present in everything I do and show gratitude for the good in my life.
Amy
Amy, thanks for your post. It
Amy, thanks for your post. It made me cry :) I am right there with you with the cooking family. My sister is Chef de Cuisine at one of the top restaurants in the country. My whole family are total foodies. My sister tries to be supportive but always says something insensitive about my diet. Ugh. I can relate! Thanks for sharing!!
If we don't excel at health, the only other option is disease.
Lovely to read all of your
Lovely to read all of your positives :-)
For me, there are many positives:
Two years ago, when i first got IC i had intense vaginal itching, almost every single day. Now this doesn't happen as much, a few times each month. I can manage it with vaginal probiotics. I am SO grateful for this improvement.
I used to have really bad pressure on my bladder, constantly!! It would feel like my bladder was really full, like it would burst, even when my bladder was empty. Now I only feel slight pressure in my bladder most of the time (apart from flares), and i can forget about it for a while. Great!!!
I am so glad that i have experienced that natural treatment of IC does work, i have made good, (but slow!) progress. It keeps me motivated to keep going and to be strict with the diet.
I enjoy reading all your posts so felt i wanted to contribute too, maybe give some hope to someone, like all of you have done for me :-)
C
Ally and C!
Ally and C!
Great to read your posts. I hope others will post too!! Especially some of you old timers that were stopping by to do a search on "Life after list 5" or something similar! ;)
I am eating blueberries! Wow! Yum. I made blueberry/yogurt/spelt scones. Recipe to follow soon. I divided the dry ingredients and added raw agave and lemon juice for the scones that I made for my daughters. They ate them all in two sittings!!
Dr. B upped my doubled my D3 dose and so far I am tolerating it. My progress is just so slow and I don't have any die off so sometimes this is harder than I thought it would be.
Thanks for reading and posting!!
If we don't excel at health, the only other option is disease.