Forums:
I've had IC for 6 months and have been in treatment with Matia for the last month. I came down with a UTI yesterday. I'm getting herbs to start taking but I was wondering if anyone can tell me what I might expect. I had started feeling pretty well and can only assume that the herbs with bother me. Thanks for your feedback
Tammy
Everyone is going to react
Everyone is going to react different so what may happen to one person is not going to happen to the next. You should stop having your UTI's as you heal. The herbs are usually balanced in a way to make things as plesant as possible. WHen the toxins begin to release sometimes foggy head, depression, obsessive thoughts and flew like symtoms can occur to say a few. THat doesn't mean you are going to get them though. Some people get rashes and some don't. It often happens in layers and some feel they are regressing but really it's just deeper serfaces dieing off. Try not to worry about it or compare yourself to anyone because your path is unique and although we all go through a lot of the same stuff your herbs and your protocall is unique to you. You don't want to expect certain things because they may or may not happen. The best thing you can do is nurture yourself and just know you are in the best hands.
Herbs for UTI's
I have been a my protocal for about 3 weeks. I come down with a UTI yesterday. Because I have had so many UTI's I asked Matia (at my appointment) what I could do if I got another. She gave me the names of some herbs to take and told me to stop my regular routine. I had Lynn FedEx the UTI herbs to me and they came today. I'm waiting for Matia to get back to me on the dose and method I should use to take them. I'm just apprehensive about what to expect from these herbs as I can only imagine they will make me flare. What I'm wanting to know is how other ICers have reacted to this situation. Thanks.
UTI
Thankfully, I've never had a UTI on top of the ic, at least not to my knowledge. herbs for flares always calm my bladder down, so I would think herbs for a UTI would do the same. In any case, I'd much rather take the herbs than the antibiotics, which can cause a horrid flare if you have yeast, or drinking cranberry juice, ouch!
This has been a wild ride!
I've only been in treatment for about a month. Going into treatment I had had three UTI's in three months. The last antibotic left me with constant urgency and frequency. It was really intolarble. I found Jane's recovery webite and started the diet immediately. Within the first week of starting the diet I felt about 90% better. I still had the urg/freq but it was managable. After seeing Matia I started on my herbs 4/1 (herbs/MegaD) and within the first hour felt an intense increase in my sypmtoms. I stopped and emailed Maita. She changed me to 1/1 ratio and overnight I felt great. My symptoms were hardly noticable. I started this 1/1 routine the day my period started. Towards the end of my period 3 or 4 days later my symptoms returned. More intense than before I started the herbs but not as intense as on the 4/1 ratio. Since then it's been a roller coaster ride. Then on last Friday I started feeling like I had another UTI. I went to my urologist and upon first inspection she said I was positive. Blood and pus was visable. She was sending the sample in for a culture. Matia tells me that with IC I can test postive but not be positive. I stopped everything yesterday and felt better. Today I started back on the herbs 2/1 ration. Within a couple of hours I started feeling bad again. I'm so confused at this point. I just don't know what to expect. A lot of the posts say that the herbs help them with urg/freq but cause other bad die off symptoms. I'm going to try to have a phone consult with Matia before the Thanksgiving break. I probably won't be very successful but will try. Any thoughts about what I'm experiencing?
Thanks Tammy
To Tammy
Hi Tammy:
When I started it took some time to find the right mix so that my urgency and frequency was not affected. I was constantly emailing Matia in the beginning and afraid that she would be upset or frustrated with me but she sure did not show it if she was. We did find the right combination that did not cause the urgency and frequency to be worse. All I can say is make sure you communicate with Matia and you will get to a point that you won't be feeling worse. I have been in treatment for 6 months. I still have to play with the dosages with Matia's direction of course but overall the urgency and frequency is becoming more manageable. I do have my times when it is worse like about the 8th day after the beginning of my perod. I also realized a few months into treatment with Matia's help that garlic was causing me problems so I cut that out what a differnece that made. All along I have been trying to take the fish oils for dryness and eye problems and this still causes me problems but it seems from others that it takes time for your body to heal and to become less reactive and accepting of these herbs and supplements. This may be a frustrating period for you but hang in there and I am sure it will get better and manageable before you know it. All the best Kriste.
Thanks Kriste!
Your reply has helped to ease my mind. I have been feeling like a bouncing ball. Feeling great then feeling bad. Day to day is so different. Then to get the UTI on top of it. I was really hoping that it wasn't an infection but today my left kidney started to hurt and I knew that I would have to take the UTI herbs. I was terrified! The antibotics always made me feel worse and I assumed these UTI herbs (which smell awful) would really make me flare. I've had three doses today so far and to my completed surprise my bladder feels great. I'm already feeling better over all and no urgency or frequency. IC is the strangest disease. Matia can hardly keep up with me. By the time she responds to one email my situation has changed. I'm so thankful for this website and for people like you that share your time and make this journey easier. Tammy
bouncing
Yes, you can definitely bounce back and forth! That is common. Esp in the beginning. I once had a terrible bladder flare and had to contact Matia often--I was afraid she would give up on me or be upset but she helped me through. And your hormones/menstrual cycle can have such a huge impact, causing symptoms to bounce back and forth. And I mean the whole month cycle, ovulation, etc, not just when you are on your period. I have had many times that one day I would be responding great to herbs, etc, and the next day my body would rebel. It made no sense. So I understand. Ultimately, the herbs won out, at least for meicnot4me
UTIs during treatment
I've had several UTIs during my 20 months of treatment with Matia. I keep a package of UTI test strips in my medicine cabinet at home just to be sure. Matia prescribes me chinese herbs for UTIs (usually dianthus) and I also keep a large bottle of that at home. It usually takes about 5 to 7 days for the infection to clear up. It was really scary the first time, but now I know that Matia can treat it and there is no need to go on those awful antibiotics.
Thank you for the reply
I took the herbs from Matia and the UTI cleared up in 7 days. I felt better quicker than when I've taken the antibiotics too. I'm keeping more herbs on hand in case I have another. This was my 4th in the last year. Do you usually test negative after the herbs? I keep testing positive. Matia tells me this is not uncommon with ICers. Thanks for sharing. Tammy
yes somtimes i do test
yes somtimes i do test positive after the infection is over, but i know the infection is gone because i feel much better. i think that when you have IC and chronic inflammation of the bladder there are always going to be some white blood cells in your urine and that's why you get a false positive.
Thanks, that is helpful.
That is helpful information. I was amazed at how well the herbs worked to clear up the infection. I wish I had know about them sooner. How long have you been in treatment? Do you still get UTI's? Have they diminished with treatment?
hey everyone. im a little
hey everyone. im a little worried this past week ive had frequency and urgency, feeling not much relief when going. ive never had this problem before and i worry its a uti or something? or possibly die off? has anyone gone through a period like this of just die off?
Toreyg
I have just gotten over a bout of mild frequency and I have never had frequency as a symtom until a little while ago. this was connected to some chronic bad constipation that cropped up. I could tell it was the gas and constipation what was aggravating and seeming to cause the frequncy which I guess was just a challenge I was dealing with for treatment. I thnk these kinds of symptoms can come up out of the blue too but I would tell Matia about it either way just to be sure. There are probably other indicators that it is a UTI than maybe just frequency? she would be able to tell you and change the formula if needed or maybe it will pass and go away. just check it out. Mary
Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference
at first. I've had both. My experience has been that the UTI gets worst very quickly. It will head to my kidneys within 2 days. Causing me back pain and I feel really bad all over. Fever and very tired. I've had die of that I thought was a UTI. Matia worked with me to figure it out. In the end she called it as die off and she was right. I would email her and ask what she thinks based on your symptoms. All the best. Tammy
Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference
at first. I've had both. My experience has been that the UTI gets worst very quickly. It will head to my kidneys within 2 days. Causing me back pain and I feel really bad all over. Fever and very tired. I've had die of that I thought was a UTI. Matia worked with me to figure it out. In the end she called it as die off and she was right. I would email her and ask what she thinks based on your symptoms. All the best. Tammy