Hi, my name is. Lisé. I am 44 years old. I have been a patient of Matia's for 2 1/1 months now. Let me tell you how I came to be her patient.

I enjoyed normal health with the exception of a heart murmur until around the age of 18-19 years of age. I was very athletic, enjoying many sports and generally enjoying my life. When I was around 19, I began to get migraine headaches. They became more and more debilitating as time went on. I missed out on a lot of fun times, lying in bed in agony. I still enjoyed life when my head wasn't hurting. In the meantime, I was abusing my body with drugs and alcohol, which I am certain didn't help my health any. I finally got rid of the headaches at age 31 by getting a massage weekly and quitting my stressful job. I also stopped abusing my body with chemicals around this time. I developed panic attacks which came in frequently at first. I started noticing them when I was getting off drugs. After I was clean for a while, they went away. I found a great man, got married, and life went on.

I was tired sometimes, but didn't think anything of it. I noticed that my bladder was starting to irritate me from time to time, but just thought they were bladder infections. During my third pregnancy, it started bothering me even more. Of course, I thought it was just because I was pregnant. After I had my son, the bladder symptoms came and went. I went to a urologist who started me on a low dose of Macrobid. I was to take it every time I had symptoms. That worked for a while.

I was pregnant with my daughter a couple of years later and my body just rebelled. My hands became weak, I started dropping things, bumping into walls, knees buckling for no apparent reason, panic attacks, heart palpitations, bladder irritation, joint pain, extreme fatigue, ringing ears, cold hands and feet. I didn't have all the symptoms all the time, and never put them together as one illness.

After my daughter was born, the pain escalated in my joints, and my bladder had really begun to bother me. I was so tired all the time. I attributed it to my kids and my job. I went to the same urologist complaining of bladder irritation and frequency. He decided that my urethra was too narrow, and dilated it. FUN. NOT! That seemed to help with the irritation for a little while, but then it came back. I asked my gynecologist about it. He referred me to his colleague who was a uro-gynecologist. This doctor also believed after a cystoscopy (with NO anesthesia) that my urethra was too narrow. He proceeded to then dilate my urethra again, with no anesthesia. There were a total of three procedures over three weeks. After the second one, I couldn't even get out of bed to go to the bathroom without being completely exhausted. I was in extreme pain all over my body, and especially in the pelvic and bladder areas. I asked him if what he did to me would cause all this, and he said no.  

He referred me back to my regular doc, who ran many tests and could find nothing. This led to me seeing a rheumatologist, who diagnosed me with fibromyalgia. I was put on medications to control my symptoms, but nothing to get rid of them. I suffered for nearly five years this way, living with extreme fatigue, heart palpitations, panic attacks, ringing ears, horrid bladder, pelvic and abdominal pain. Some days, it was hard to make it through without wanting to die. I thought I was going to have to live this way for the rest of my life.

Fortunately, nearly three years ago, I found two people who started me on the path back to health. I found a massage therapist who understood fibromyalgia, and a chiropractor who uses applied kinesiology and homeopathic remedies. They both brought my life back to a level where I could be active again. It felt good to be back in the 'real world'. The two things neither one of them could fix was the bladder thing and the pelvic/abdominal pain. Back to the gynecologist I went. He decided I might have endometriosis. He did a laparascopic surgery about 1 1/2 years ago and discovered huge varicose veins feeding my ovaries and uterus. He decided to try hormone therapy to see if my cycles would stop and shrink the veins. I tried that for about 7 months, and couldn't take the way I felt. I was also on 25 mg Vioxx at the time to deal with the bladder/abdominal/pelvic pain. He felt that a hysterectomy would solve all my problems. I had the hysterectomy last June. I was so depressed after I started healing and STILL had all the bladder pain.

I went to another urologist, who finally diagnosed me with IC last November. I tried Elmiron and Cysta-Q, along with some dietary changes to see if they would help. In the meantime, I decided to learn all I could about IC. One day last November, I was talking to one of my vendors on the phone, who asked how I was feeling since my surgery. I told her I was recovering nicely from the surgery, but had recently been diagnosed with a bladder disease I was sure she would never have heard of. I told her it was IC, and nearly fell out of my chair when she told me she had recently been diagnosed with it. How weird was that? She told me about this wonderful support group and about Matia, and gave me some other websites to surf around on. She gave me the support group leader's name and number, also a patient of Matia. I called her up and we arranged to meet for dinner. She told me all about Matia.

I wasn't sure if I could afford to see her, but after some discussion with some of the other members of the Yahoo group, decided I would meet her and at least talk with her. I was a bit nervous, never having been to see an alternative practitioner, and never having had acupuncture before. I brought my husband along with me for my first visit, as he is always objective. I felt very comfortable with Matia right away. She has such a lovely, sweet spirit. My husband felt very comfortable with her, too. We decided that it would be good for me to keep going to see Matia.

I want to tell any of you out there who are hesitant that I already have seen results. I was in so much pain before I went to see her, even with modifying my diet. I have only had one really bad day in the last 2 1/2 months. I used to have really bad weeks at a time before seeing her. I am still experiencing symptoms - don't get me wrong. My symptoms wax and wane. I have good days and bad days. I am never symptom-free, but I am definitely seeing a difference. I have days when I can go for 3-4 hours without going to the bathroom - days when it isn't the biggest thing I think about. I also have slept through the night three times. Also unheard of before seeing Matia. The diet is a struggle - I still want my chocolate (but haven't eaten it). I just take deep whiffs of it for some weird sort of gratification. I am excited about my progress.

If you are suffering from IC, I strongly urge you to consider Matia's treatment. I have not looked back once, and I am certain I will be rid of this. It won't always be pretty - the die off is a little tough some days. It is all worth it to get where you want.

Update:
It has now been 2 years since I started seeing Matia. I have enjoyed a vast improvement in all my symptoms and can see light at the end of the tunnel. Most of my symptoms have diminished or altogether vanished. I believe it will just be a few more months before I can taper my treatments. I have turned a real corner during these past few weeks.

My bladder is getting stronger, the intermittent pain on my left side is not so noticeable, and my body is doing a deep cleansing right now. It is the first time I have had really bad die-off symptoms in about 8 months - and I feel so much better on the other side of it! I have been experimenting with spices and have been able to tolerate them once in a while now without any pain afterwards. We have changed my hormones to a bio-identical formula which is working quite nicely. I am sleeping much better - getting up either once a night or not at all.

I can wear jeans again - something I could never do for several years before seeing Matia. My previous wardrobe was all loose-fitting clothing with either drawstrings or elastic waists. I can do much more without fatigue, although there are still days I am tired. Overall, my symptoms are much less than before. I have many good days. I gauge a good day by how many times I think about my bladder, how much pain I am in and how my energy level is. I am able to raise my family, carry on a full-time job, lead worship at my church, take guitar lessons and sing in another band. I am also much happier now. It is amazing how miserable our entire countenance can become when we are in pain!

I believe absolutely in Matia's ability to help me and others get back to a normal life. I trust her implicitly and know I will be completely well soon. I didn't get sick in one day, and I won't get well in one day - it all takes time and discipline, which I sometimes lack. I encourage all of you reading this to make an appointment if you have never seen Matia, and not to give up if you are seeing Matia now and feel things are slow.

IT TAKES TIME - BE PATIENT, AND SOMEDAY, YOU WON'T BE A PATIENT ANYMORE!!!!!! You will be FREE!!!!