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I've been seeing Matia for a year and 2 months now. I made slow but good progress, although i know i am not that healthy yet and my bladder still needs a lot of healing. I am on list 3, still have urethral pain. Sex is still painful but getting better. I know my immune system is not 100%, cause i've been getting colds/flu all the time. Actually because of that, i feel like my progress with the probiotics have slowed, where i had finally made my way up to Bifido, about 1 1/4 pills to now I am back to Mega only. I am so thankful for all the improvements but just a bit frustrated that we can't expedite this process, mainly bc i turned 36 this year, and seeing babies everywhere, and can't wait to give my husband a healthy baby. He is 42 now, and it makes me feel so guilty having all our friends with their kids growing up all around us, even those of our friends who got married after us are having babies. I know this is a question for Matia, and i am way ahead of myself. But just very curious, even though our paths are different, is there some common way to know we are getting there? Like is it reaching list 5? getting up to taking probiotics #3? Thank you for your thoughts...
Selichan- The answer I have
Selichan-
The answer I have heard from Matia is that it is best to wait until ending or towards the very end of treatment before becoming pregnant. Otherwise, it can be difficult on our bodies and lead to passing on our imbalances.
If you are really asking.... should I wait any longer or am I going to miss the opportunity to have children? This is a tough question and ultimately you are the only one that can answer it. I am sure you will receive answers all over the place on this one and at the end of the day, it only really matters what you decide.
I became IC symptomatic at 19, I am now 30 and have two little girls. So, I have done the pregnancy with IC venture.
I completely understand your feelings.... that biological clock can be a strong time keeper.
Katie
hi selichan, i know how you
hi selichan,
i know how you feel. everyone around us were getting married and having babies. they were dating less yrs than us and were younger also....so i get it. i was feeling like i was missing the train and now i have a almost 2 1/2 yr old daughter. my husband i were dating for 15 yrs and were engaged for 6 yrs and finally, i was expecting at age 34. ideally, i wanted 3 kids, but i don't know if that's possible due to my age by the time i'm done with my treatment. unfortunately, sophia seems unbalanced too and currently, she's under dr. b's protocal. definitely, i don't want sophia to be the only child. my younger sister and i are seven yrs apart and often i felt like i was the only child. she and i had nothing in common, but now i can't imagine life without her. as a child, i always wanted a sibling closer in age, but the gap has been closing in several years ago. therefore, i know one thing sophia will have a sibling...it's just a matter of 1 or 2.
selichan, i understand you feel bad for your husband and feel anxious of the unknown, but remember what they say the 40's is the new 30's. celebrities are having babies in their mid 40's and nowadays, women are waiting more and more to have kids because to establish their career or simply to enjoy their life. i also want to hurry up and get better soon. when sophia turned 1, everyone asked when am i having another one. if i wasn't in this situation, i should be delivering my second baby this year...so let your body take it's course because you are not alone. when it's time for you to become a mommy, your baby will be in much better place. :o)
This is a tough one -
I was speaking to two patients of Matia's recently - one currently in treatment and the other is an ex-patient. The ex-patient said that no-one in her family has shown any bladder issues at all. The patient currently in treatment said that her mum had had this for two years (not formally diagnosed) but it went during pregnacy and stayed away (she's now in her sixties and it still hasn't returned). This patient's brother is strong as a horse. My mum had what I think is this during the final three months of her pregnancy with me, then it went away and never returned (she's 67 and is showing some bladder issues now). The point is that we probably have a predisposition toward bladder weakness - whether this will translate into IC is another matter. The point I am trying to make is that utlimately, we'll never know if this can be passed on. This thing can take years to build up and then strike, with no indication at all that it's going to. Just prior to my most recent pregnancy, I have never felt better. I was healthy, exercising, eating well (we are and have always been a no junk household), happy, etc.., and then it struck. I actually have no idea what went wrong because everything was 'right'. I had been healthy for years, and had had other kids when I was asymptomatic. I assume that because I was asymptomatic, that the issues were not there. With kids, I don't think we'll ever know if they will get it - it can come out of nowhere or show signs early on. Matia thinks that it's categorically not genetic - my personal opinion is that we must have some sort of bladder weakness, and then the predisposing factors come together to induce it. The other thing is that if it does take years to build up, then the imbalance must be there, slowly becoming more imbalanced. Given how many people hve kids (!) and do things 'wrong' (smoke, drink, medications, birth control pills, etc), we'd see IC a lot more than we do (I think?). What do others think? It's such a difficult question.
My point is that the predisposition will probably be there but the factors that came together for us will probably not be there (or be the same ones) for your kids.
Hi Selichan, I have been
Hi Selichan,
I have been thinking the same thing! Every appointment I have with Dr. B, I want to ask her when do you think I will get better so I can get pregnant. It's been on my mind for months. But then I think to myself, I cannot rush this. Getting healthy again takes time, and I have to be patient. But then again maybe it would be a good idea to ask her, because then it would be something to plan and look forward to. If she says she estimates a year from now, then I would just try to focus on paying off credit cards, saving money, and just looking forward to it. Also, another thing is I spend a little more than $300 per month on this treatment. I would not want to be on this protocol while pregnant. I want to get better and feel good, and not have to take the doses 3x per day, and just have a normal life again.
Pregnancy is hard enough, we shouldn't try to do it while we are still sick. Maybe your health is only like 1 year away, if you have waited this long what's one more year?
Hey there, this one's a
Hey there, this one's a biggie for me too. I have a son with my ex-partner, and my partner has a daughter with his ex (everyone keeping up?!) but we really really want to have a child together. I'll be 35 in September and am feeling the clock starting to tick. I've been in treatment nine months now, on list3/4 (just tried butternut squash, which was fine - yay!) and have seen good progress - only remaining symptoms are occasional faint urge, and weird vaginal/vulval irritation/itching/tickling/tingling (you name it). Had a wonderful month in December/Jan but slightlier bumpier since then - still seeing many symptom-free days, but I know I'm a way away from being completely rebalanced - we still have lots of work to do (my IBS still comes and goes too so I know something's still up in my gut!). But if it weren't for the time-pressure of childbearing, I'd be pretty relaxed about my progress.
Anyway ... to cut a long stroy short, I got up the courage to ask Dr B straight out at my last appt, when I could expect to think about starting to try for a baby. She said, based on how I've done so far, that I could probably start trying by the end of this year. that was actually much earlier than I expected, and for my own head, I'm putting it more at the end of next year - but it was great to hear how confident she felt. So ... maybe just ask her what she thinks - she's much better on the timeline than we are!
Also, on another note - since having a more up and down month over the last month (nothing dreadful I hasten to add - just more like, one good day, one bad day sort of thing) I decided once again that the worst thing for me is the mental side of things - I get panicky when I have less good days, which then floods my body with stress hormones, which accentuate the symptoms, etc etc. As a result I've *finally* got serious about exploring therapy to deal with my emotions going through this, and meditation to tackle the panic it engenders. I'm seeing an incredible meditation woman, who's been HIV positive but drug-free and healthy for 23 years(!) all of which she ascribes to visualisation and meditation. I'm not looking for anything miraculous like that, and agree with Dr B that this is a physical condition, but it feels empowering and relaxing to take control of my mind a bit and support myself through the healing that I'm doing with Dr B. And it's helping me relax more about the pregnancy stuff too.
Phew! that turned into an essay. Just thought I'd mention the meditation stuff in case it spoke to anyone! It's helped me a lot to feel as if I'm bolstering my mind as well as my body!
lots of love to you all and hope everyone's having good days/nights xxx
Hi SarahC, Wow that is so
Hi SarahC,
Wow that is so cool that Dr. B said that you can start by the end of this year. I think that is one of the reasons I am afraid to ask her, because I am afraid of the answer... But she gave you a good one.
I like how you are mentioning that you are taking care of the mental side of it. I have been thinking about that every day. I know I need to get my stress, and anxiety under control. Especially with this protocol, I believe at times that it increases my anxiety, and stress. My mind just doesn't seem to be right. There is this place that my friend was telling me about that does all different types of meditation, but it's pretty far from my house, it's almost 2 hours away. And it's only on Saturday nights. I know I need to go, I just don't want to go by myself. I fell very strongly that I need to go. I guess it's just that I have never been, and doing anything for the first time gives me anxiety. I was actually going to write a post, asking others if they had tried meditation. So please update us on your meditation, I always want to hear more about it.
Hi Calieve, I am not so
Hi Calieve,
I am not so consistent on it, but i try to meditate at home alone. Just put up some candles, lower the lights, and signed up for online radio (Pandora) and created my meditation music channels. Then i try to just slowly wind down and concentrate on my breathing. It does help alot, it calms your racing mind. It's hard at first, i feel like my mind is like a small kid, all over the place, but as we get better at it, we should be able to come to that calm level faster and easier. My old yoga teacher has told me that 15 minutes of good meditation is worth a whole nights sleep!
That's wonderful news SarahC
That's wonderful news SarahC :)!!!! I am so happy to hear that you are seeing a lot of improvements. I think some of our problems linger around for a while but at the end Matia should help us overcome those too. I was holding my breath reading you ask Matia about it. I've been afraid to ask her that as well. I now know she has more than one patient who is anxious about being ready for pregnancy. Many expatients have posted that when the time is good, and we are ready, we will be able to go through pregnancy with little or no problem. I so hope and pray so!!! It's also great news that the timeline was less than you anticipated. Now you can just relax and if you need take all the extra time to get better :) At least mentally relax. I am sure the meditation and visualization is really helping. Would you care to share the information for your meditation teacher? I'd be interested to learn more about her as well. Thanks greatly for your response!!! I read it twice and really tried to absorb it all in.
Thanks girls! Even though I
Thanks girls! Even though I anticipated that I'd be good enough by now to seriously consider having a baby, I know I am not there yet. It'd be so much easier to deal with this mentally if there was any possible way to know that in a year or two, i can have a healthy baby!!! Then I could just take it easy and enjoy the healing process. I have a great gyno, but everytime i see her, she reminds me that by time it gets harder to get pregnant, and me having had a cervical laser treatment before, that it might be an issue to carry the baby, and so on. As sweet aand caring as she is, i am nervous on my visits hearing her nicely lecture me about it. She knows about IC but not too familiar about it being a body imbalance. Therefore, she thinks it's better to get the pregnancy out of the way before more complications arise.
Katie- You are so right. I know I should wait at least to near end of treatment, and i will. Maybe the best thing is to talk to Matia and try to get a more accurate timeframe as to my progress based on where i am now. God bless your little ones, i hope they are both healthy and symptom free :) How old are your girls?
Junie- It's exactly how i am feeling about my situation now. I feel a bit guilty cause i've always been a bit freaked out about pregnancy and child birth and postponed it a bit too long. I am so sorry to hear Sophia has some imbalances, I am absolutely sure Matia will treat all her health issues!!! She is very lucky to be in good hands. I wish there was someone like Matia when we were young as well. :) I hope from heart for you to heal fast enough and have more kids. I am sure you will. Like you said, 30s are the new 40s. I have been paying so much attention to celebrity moms, as most of them are having kids later on in life too. That gives me so much hope!!! We just have to deal with the anxiety and stop torturing ourselves.
Vin43-thank you for sharing that information with me. It was very interesting. I know IC takes years to build up and it's only logical it takes a while to heal, if at all we're lucky to heal
Calieve-Yes! I've been adding the question of pregnancy to my list of things to ask Matia, at least the last 3-4 visits but didn't get the courage to ask. It's almost like i don't want to hear her answer to wait another 2 years or something!!! But it's been on my mind the whole time. I think this time i'll go for it. I think i'll deal with it better if i know and relax instead of being anxious the whole time.
thanks all again!!!