Interstitial Cystitis #2

I realized I had Interstitial Cystitis (IC) in about November 2009. My diet at the time was limited. I had IBS, lactose and gluten intolerances. I was a heavy coffee drinker.

I had been suffering from painful bouts of what I believed to be urinary tract infections. I was put on antibiotic after antibiotic. They did nothing and I started to have a low-grade painful bladder and vagina. My urine was brown and extremely stinky! My abdomen started to swell and everything ‘down there’ got red, inflamed, swollen, painful and hot. I couldn’t stand up straight. I couldn’t lay down straight and could only lay in one position – on my side with legs curled up. Sex became painful but luckily my boyfriend broke up with me anyway so I didn’t have to worry about trying to maintain a relationship without sex. Many women just have the sex and bear the pain that comes with it during and for days afterwards.

There are a lot of names for every area of the body that gets inflamed and red and often times ladies want to know if I had exactly what they now have. IC affects us all in different ways. I did not suffer for years and years like some women do. I never wanted to get the DMSO, Elmiron or interstim treatments. I didn’t have health insurance anyway and I don’t really believe in going to a medical doctor for healing.

I started to really focus on finding an answer and this became my driving force in life. I had been on those “support” sites where the first thing you read is how you can learn to manage and live with your excruciating pain for the rest of your life. I just didn’t accept that. Never would I be dependent upon drugs and the medical industry!!

So first I figured out that a body had to be alkaline in a lot of different areas of the body. I bought pH test strips to test my urine which was about 5 in the beginning. Having urine that is too acid wears away the inner mucus lining and so that made sense to me. My next question was how do I become alkaline? No pill can do it and no one seemed to know what to tell me. I already knew about the Master Cleanse which I tried for about ten days. I was shooting for fourteen but the lemon and cayenne made the pain so much worse! I started looking at the health section in the bookstore and found Vasey who wrote about eating alkaline soups and soup mash for about a year, if you were really acidic. That did not sound appealing to me. But I was taking steps and researching and finding out a lot of good information.

I moved during this time to NH to go through an accelerated Master’s program. Once situated, I started the research online daily. It wasn’t long before I found out about the world of juicing and blending green smoothies. I have always said that this unfolding of information for me…finding the bread crumbs….was as if everything was laid out for me to learn and to place together and to heal from. There was a feeling inside my body when I came across green smoothies that overtook me. Everything shouted a resounding yes and I literally got up and took all processed foods out of my cabinets that day. The next day I went out and got all the greens, apples and bananas. I had a $30-40 blender which lasted about two weeks max being used every day. I went through three cheap blenders before getting the Vitamix. I was drinking 64 oz. (not because that is some magic number – that is the amount my blender made at max capacity) of green smoothies per day and eating an all raw diet, staying away from all medium and highly acidic foods. I “hid” the fruit (only apples and bananas) in the green smoothies so they would be better tolerated by my body. I ate ‘salads’ of cut up avocado, cucumber, and fresh tomato. Sometimes I stir-fried veggies or steamed them. Sometimes I made homemade veg soup. These slightly sauteed or slightly cooked foods were my evening meals during a very cold and blustery NH winter. I drank only water. It was a very simple diet.

I was seeing such drastic results that another feeling came over me strongly – something I must do – was to document this journey. IC is SO PAINFUL and so many women are suffering and being told there is nothing that can be done. Some are even being told it’s all in their heads and are being told to go see a Psychiatrist!!! So I purchased a small youtube-ready camera and started to make videos of what was happening with me along the way. My channel is Go4Discipline on youtube. That was about 1 month or so into the change of diet and lifestyle. As soon as I put the videos up, I started to get feedback and others wanting my help. So I’ve been helping others and guiding others on my healing plan for almost 4 years now.

It took me 3 months to heal over the winter of 2009-10. I was so afraid of eating any foods that were off my healing plan because I didn’t want the pain to return so I took it slow and kept up with the green smoothies daily. I’ve labeled that phenomenon “food-fear.” Eventually I could eat citrus fruits like oranges. OMG I had forgotten the taste. It was divine. Lemons were like a monster to me so I stayed away from them for almost 3 years after healing. Now, I can’t get enough. Yummy!

Along the way, I learned so much. In April 2011 I went to Dr. Robert Morse’s Detoxification class Level I. I also went to his Level II the next year. I earned some certifications in Raw Foods too. I was homeless and moved around a lot in the years following my graduation from the Master’s program, finally landing a paying job as a teacher in 2012-13. I did not continue the path of school teacher for many reasons. When you are in transition so much, there is little time to go through the rest of the detox I’ve always wanted to. So little by little I have been buying products for organ cleanses (which I should have done initially) and herbals. Throughout this time my driving passion was to get the word out about IC and how we’ve been duped into believing we have to live with the pain. I started a FB group using my system of healing IC and it just grew and grew. We have many people in various stages of healing, some that are already healed, and some have healed and moved on! I spend my time in a volunteer capacity on FB.

I’ve been where I am now for a few months and I am in process of writing a book about my IC healing system which blends beautifully into Dr. Robert Morse’s healing system with fruits and herbals. I also have the chance to finally do the deeper cleansing I’ve had to put off for over 3 years now. Good thing is, I get to start on fruits and herbals right off the bat!! Often times the ladies in my FB group who have healed their IC continue detoxification through the use of fruits and herbals because I spend a lot of time educating others on healing this way, referencing Dr. Morse, and talking about the journey up through using fruits and herbals.

If you have IC and you are reading this testimonial, I want you to know that you can heal. There is a system and it works. In less than 6 months, you can heal and start living your life again.

Life has thrown you to the wolves but now you can come out leading the pack!!!

Blessings!! Namaste!! Yah’tahe!! Love & Light to all!