Hi Ranjit,
So glad to hear you are getting help.  I also was taking Elmiron when I had my first appointment with Dr. Brizman.  I told her that I wanted to stop instantly but she suggested I speak with my urologist on how to wean myself off of it safely.  It took about 2 months.  I had a lot of anxiety about eliminating it because it was the only crutch I had to help me with my IC.  I was afraid the pain was going to return and that I wouldn’t be able to function.  I was soooo wrong.  Things did not get worse for me.  There are good days and there are not so good day.  For me, following the diet and taking my protocol has been more effective than any drug.  The best advice I can give you is to be very patient.  This is not a quick fix.  It is an extremely slow process with many ups and downs.  You are in good hands.

Hi I have been going to Matia now since October. When I started  I was using prelief which can be found on Amazon.com. It is just calcium and magnesium and when taken with food relieves the burning pain I had. Matia allowed me to use it for a couple of months cause of the pain and then she told me to wean myself off and now I never use it. The reason she wanted me off it was that my body needed to get it's natural PH balance going on it's own, alkaline vs. acid. And it did. I don't need it anymore. The same is true of the baking soda. But use it at first if you need it or the prelief and then as the probiotics, the herbs and especially the diet begin to relieve the severest symptoms you can get off of it. I wish you well and don't worry this really works with no nasty side effects like elmiron has. It will take time and consistenty in following the protocol but anything is better than that pain isn't it? God Bless, Julie

I was on elmiron for a year and a half and went off it before my treatment started. I did fine. I think if you follow the diet very strictly, and take the protocol you will feel good. At least I did.
Good luck!

hello. i am new here.i am 33 yrs old. i was just diagnosed yesterday with IC. i feel like my whole entire world  has been ripped out from underneath me. i have anxiety & have had this for most of my life as well. This combination is making me feel absolutely helpless. i was a given a novel of prescriptions in which i am forced to start taking at this point becuase of fear i will cause more damage emotioanlly or physically to this IC. i am scared. i have always been one to listen to my body & to my heart & to my soul & God. i apoligize if this is all coming of 'corny'. at this point, i feel that everything but heart & soul is useless. i am came across dr. Brizman's website. i can't tell you how many tears i have shed thus far, & i know that i will shed so many more. i am digging down into my soul in hopes that i too will be able to share my journey back to good health. i have 2 absolutely incredible children, who need me to be me & a husband who has the warmest & best soul i think i will ever meet. i want desperately to find a path that will lead me to the feeling of recovery that i have read so many of you have posted. reading these stories i see many similarities of my own story. it can't all be a coincidence. dr. brisman's office is closed until july9th, this leaves me a few days to manage my demons :( after reading the awful stories of procedures & artifical stims i feel that this approach may be my only hope. if any one has any advice to share with me i would be eternally grateful. thank you so much for reading this if you have. theres must be a bigger picture to all of this.
molly-