Monday, July 11, 2011

IC Healing with Raw Food Testimonials

Don't just take my word for it!

Since I had such great success with healing my IC through a raw food diet, I decided to start a Facebook group called "Healing Interstitial Cystitis Naturally". We're always accepting new members if you'd like to join! It is a private group, so no one will see what we talk about there unless I have approved them as a member. Through this group, I've met quite a few people who have healed their IC with a natural, plant-based diet, and holistic approach as well. Some had already started the healing before joining the group and others had success after trying methods we suggested. I asked them to share their stories.

Are you healing from IC with natural methods? Please contact me so I can add your story to this wonderfully inspiring collection!

(This page will be periodically updated...)

My IC Story
The Rev'd. Jan Olandese, M.Div., B.C.C.


I'm sharing my story in response to Melissa's request for experience of people who have found alkaline diet healing in terms of their IC symptoms. I can only speak for myself but changes I made really, really helped in a matter of months. I hope you have good results, too!

Let's back up. I was not diagnosed until 2003. Prior to that I recall having, at times, frequent and really uncomfortable UTI's and bladder infections. I had several in 1999-2000, living in England as a student at Oxford. I used National Health....which uses the less expensive drug first...so I would get an herbal remedy that did nothing, and then go back to the clinic and get Cipro....and recover.

I saw a urologist a lot when I was working in San Francisco in 2001-2 as an Episcopal parish priest. I worked under very stressful circumstances...my boss was hostile to those in her employ....so it ran up my blood pressure and probably set off the UTI's...also, I had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and treated with surgery and radiation in 2001....that could have been a factor, too.....I had UTI's (lots of them) in December of 2002 I began my residency in clinical training to be a Board Certified Chaplain at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, a fine medical school and research center....with a urology department that knew IC. I had my usual UTI's and they decided to do the surgical procedure to determine whether I had it. I did. Their ideas for treatment, such as self-catheterisation, didn't make sense to me, seemed barbaric and a danger in terms of infection, and exacerbated my symptoms. I couldn't tolerate Elmiron, Elavil, or other drugs (other than hydroxyzine) prescribed for IC.

For the most part, I got better. I loved my work and the rigourous but wonderful clinical residency program. I proceeded to hospital work as a professional and again, loved it and did well. I had meanwhile become a published academic writer and started teaching continuing education online....both were fulfilling. My UTI's were not so frequent but still happened every few months.

In 2010 I remarried (after a long time being single), stopped work, focused on writing and teaching and also caregiving for my 90 year old mother. Life was good til August.

In August I had what I thought was a UTI. I did all the usual stuff, got the tests, got the Cipro...and no dice. It didn't go away and very uncomfortable, painful symptoms set it. I realised after a couple of months and reading on the internet that I had what must be my first IC flare. Having clinical training was very helpful both in assessing the problem and in observing what worked and what didn't to heal myself.

At the time I was seeing an endocrinologist to regulate my hypothyroid condition ... something new with aging ....so....I want to point out that one thing I observed was, when I switched to a doctor who is extremely expert about thyroid and got on the right dose, other medical issues cleared up......so I see a connection between thyroid irregularities and IC. If you have IC, do have your thyroid levels checked *(by someone who knows a lot about thyroid, the standard test may show you to be normal to an average doc who is not expert in this area....and I had better luck with my internal medicine primary care doc than I did with the endocrinologist....so it depends on the person's experience).

In November, I developed a yeast overgrowth. This was mouth candida, not a vaginal yeast infection. I had never had this before. It was stubborn and I was on diflucan, a yeast medication, for about 6 weeks. My symptoms cleared up! I tried to continue on it but the urologist said while sometimes yeast can affect the bladder, it was not the right treatment for IC. I did get a urologist to prescribe some antibiotics including diflucan to see whether they would help. They helped a little.

I looked at my diet and changed from regular coffee to cold-brewed (look up Toddy coffee makers) which is acid free. I quit drinking sodas. I cut out obviously acid foods such as tomatoes, tomato sauces, orange juice, etc. I think Melissa was the first to steer me towards alkaline diet on one of our Facebook groups. I also liked the raw foods idea. I don't eat a totally raw diet but have added raw foods such as fresh fruits, carrots, etc .. in studying the material on the internet, I read a post by an Australian physician who reported that a patient told her about spirulina, a seaweed, which is very alkalising, as it turns out. I had some on the shelf so I thought, what the heck? I reordered a greens supplement I took which included spirulina as a main ingredient and daily I drank a glass of water with baking soda and spirulina mixed in. This is what I clinically observed to have made the biggest difference for me. I'm not kidding. It worked. That and adding raw foods, avoiding acidy foods....wow. Now, once my thyroid got regulated I think that was a major player, too. At first I had to drink the baking soda and water frequently...now, once or maybe twice a day (on a bad day!) does it.

Benefits:
Almost no IC symptoms, ever! And when I get them, much milder!
My blood pressure is now low, and for the first time in many years I don't take any medication for it....I don't need it!
No stomach issues, no more Prilosec!
Got rid of several other medications I took and now down to very few
I feel better overall.

I clinically observed that regulating my thyroid correctly, and the alkalising effect of baking soda and water and spirulina made a big change for me, so I looked at more raw foods and alkaline foods. As a result, I went from a state of suffering earlier this year to being virtually healed now - in a few months!! I do keep a medication on hand 'in case' I have a stubborn flare which doesn't respond to baking soda/spirulina....(with my doctor's approval). For me, cyclobenzaprine, a mild muscle relaxant, stops my IC symptoms immediately. I read that it can be effective for IC because of the way it works on the nerves. I don't do pyridium any more. And I don't use pain medications at all.

I am able to have a cup of my almost acid-free cold brewed coffee in the morning....I am able to have a glass of wine occasionally. I'm living a normal life and not running to the bathroom all day. (I can tell the difference between a flare and a UTI because of my symptoms). I'm having fewer UTI's.. My toilet paper bill went down! Life is good!!

I know that for each person, different things are helpful, or not...."all IC patients are different" is the mantra we hear all the time. (and is used as an excuse for not really stepping up to bat for us! A doctor friend told me once "Unfortunately, many doctors don't like you IC patients. You frustrate them because they can't heal you and there's no easy fix.") I suspect, based upon my clinical observations, that alkalinity in the system can heal IC symptoms .... many people other than I have benefitted! That's evidence!

I hope by sharing my experience I can save some of you the aggro I went through. I joined a local IC group but they all seemed to have much different/worse cases than me and were doing interventions I'd refused. And frankly it was depressing. I read about and tried many herbal remedies. Most of them were not especially effective for me, but it's an expensive process trying all these things which are touted as cures. If I were to select the ones I think may have been helpful for me, I'd say Quercetin and Serrapeptase....possibly. Aloe made no difference....neither did D-mannose...neither did all those bottles. The expensive calcium didn't help....I just use the regular kind now....Frankly....nothing worked for me as effectively as water + baking soda + spirulina. I also started taking glucosamine chondraitin which my urologist said was helpful for some people, and I think it may be a contributing factor. Again, easy to obtain on your drugstore shelf. I stopped taking multivitamins as I read that they could be a culprit...I do take calcium + vitamin D, magnesium, fish oil, and glucosamine chondraitin. I take a 'greens' supplement with algae, spirulina, and other beneficial alkalising contents.

I'm 62. I was diagnosed late and I read that one 'expert' in IC thinks that people like me ("old!") who don't get on Elmiron just go downhill and can't ever get back. I beg to differ. If Elmiron or other drugs work for you, great. For me....the natural way is less expensive, far more effective and has improved my overall health. After months of pain and discomfort and all the IC stuff....it was surprising to me as well as happy news to see the best results from such simple remedies.

Thanks to Melissa, Sunny and other advocates of raw foods and alkaline diet whose words inspired and guided me. And I hope my experience is helpful and encouraging for those of you who may be feeling hopeless .... I wish someone had shared this stuff with me earlier. I'm fortunate to have found such good guidance via IC groups on Facebook, and a lot of consultations with my favourite specialist, Dr. Google.


Missy Dufourq

The year was 2005. I had just turned 18 and returned from a family trip overseas. I had started to get lower back pain. After a trip to the doctors, I was told it was simply muscular and to start doing some back exercises at home. Nothing really touched the pain though which by this stage, had begun to wax and wane. It would be present for a week and then disappear, only to come back the next. Eventually, I started to notice burning during urination. Heading back to the doctors, they diagnosed me with the typical UTI. I never bothered to question or ask what bacteria was causing the infection. I just accepted that fact that, "Hey, I have a bladder infection."

I was prescribed antibiotics, obviously. And they worked. That was only to start with though. By this stage, I was getting a UTI every other week. It was prescription after prescription of antibiotics. This went on for nearly two years. I had a kidney infection in there too, somewhere. At one stage, I was put on preventative, long-term antibiotics but the problem only persisted. Until something odd happened. My cultures started coming back negative. Sound familiar? All the symptoms of a very severe UTI but no bacteria present! The doctors were confused. And when that happens, the specialists are usually called in. By this stage, I was having some gynaelogical issues as well, which confused the doctors as to where the pain and problems were coming from. So, this happened to side-track my progress to a definitive diagnosis. I went in for a laparoscopy which found nothing. By this time, my pelvic pain was constant. Every single moment of every single day, I was in pain. And I'm talking over 7 on the 10/10 scale. Pain in my pelvis; pain in my back.

After the lap, the doctors had no idea what to do with me. Because I was also getting more severe bladder symptoms by this stage (bleeding, pressure, urgency), they decided it might be time to see a urologist. This was the one of the worst times in my life. I remember that at this stage, I just couldn't sleep. I was up around 8 times or more a night to void. I couldn’t fall asleep as I’d always have a full sensation in my bladder and would make multiple trips to the bathroom before I even dozed off. And the frequency lasted all through the day. I had a constant sensation of burning - not just in my bladder, but through my whole body. I had to quit my job because my symptoms were constantly causing me grief. I would often get this weird increase in symptoms where I would get waves of nausea, heat through my back and searing pain in my bladder. I couldn't walk and felt like I was going to pass out. I learnt later that these were 'flares'.
So there I was, in the uro’s office. So young; so naive. I had no idea what was going on with my body and assumed that this very expensive doctor would. He mumbled a few technical words and explained I'll need a cystoscopy to confirm the diagnosis of what I learned later would be Interstitial Cystitis. Into theatre I went, not too many weeks later. And I tell you, it was a nightmare. I believe I was actually traumatized from the pain that I experienced during this time. Just writing about it now brings me to tears. My heart rate accelerated during the op, when they filled my bladder. Obviously, I bled a lot from the pin-point bleeding on my bladder walls. When I woke and tried to void for the first time, I passed out from the searing, shocking, excruciating pain. I'm sure you know the type of pain I'm talking about here. The traumatic kind that is forever etched in your memory. When I was stable enough to speak, the uro explained I had Interstitial Cystitis. A rare, incurable disease that in his words was, "Horrible to live with, especially for someone so young." And that's what I was left with. He rambled that I should avoid coffee and tomatoes. And that's the extent of the nutritional advice that I got.

I returned to see him in four weeks, nervously armed with a few things I wanted to try for this seemingly strange condition. I had by this stage discovered the large amount of resources for IC on the web. I had taken note of some non-invasive treatments I'd discovered. To my shock and horror though, the only treatment he deemed as worth trying for IC was instillations of general anaesthetic. It sounded barbaric to me but I was desperate. Absolutely desperate to escape the pain. I lived on prescription pain-killers just to pull me through the day. I wasn't sleeping because I lived in the bathroom. It was hell and I wanted out. So I did the instills. And what happened? They made me worse … and I didn't even think that was possible!

Giving up on the instillations (and the uro with the bad bedside manner), I started becoming what you might be right now. An IC researcher, collecting every morsel of information on current and future treatments. I also started following the IC Diet to a tee. And then began the long process of trial and error for different medications. I won't bore you with the details, or all the doctors I saw to help me achieve all this, but here is a breakdown of what I tried, over the course of three, painful, depressing years. Mind you, this is what I can actually remember, because they either had some positive effects or very negative effects. There are more, but memory fails me right now:

> Marcaine instillations (a horrible, traumatic experience)
> Endep, or Elavil as it's known in the states (helped with the pain, but left me with awful retaining issues)
> Tofrainl (helped me sleep a little better at night; did nothing for the pain)
> Elmiron (made me bruise extensively all over my body; did nothing for my symptoms)
> Vesicare (made my frequency worse)
> Anti-histamines (didn't do a thing)
> Prescription pain-killers (helped take the edge off my pain, but left me numb)
> Lyrica (worst medication I've ever tried; I felt like I was out of my head every time I took it)

Lyrica was the last drug I tried and had disastrous effects on my body. I was so discouraged and sick by this point. This was about a year ago now. I had pinned my hope on this drug giving me my life back. I had also been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia the year before that and I hoped it would help there too. My body was literally falling apart. I felt sick all over, not just in my bladder anymore. My gut had also started to play up and I was now having gastric reflux/heartburn, something I'd never had in my life! It was absurd. And somehow, something clicked in me. Something was no longer making sense. If my bladder was sick, why was I feeling sick all over? Why was my body falling apart?

At this stage, I had lost almost all my faith in doctors and the medical community with providing me with answers. It was just disappoint after disappoint, every time I left their office. I couldn’t stand the lack of compassion either anymore. Or, having to explain what IC was, for that matter. In my understanding, if I had to tell the doctor how to spell the condition, chances are, he won’t know how to treat it!

I started to do more research myself. And it took me down an interesting path. I started to read a lot on the bacteria theory of IC. I became fascinated with the concept of there being something that causes IC! I just couldn't handle that there was no known cause. And as long as there was no cause, there could be no cure, in my eyes. If you've ever heard of United Medical Laboratories in Virgina, US, you would know that they do a special broth culture, urine test for bacteria in IC patients. They then can recommend what antibiotics will work against the bacteria. This is based on the theory that there is a bacteria present in the bladder that isn't being detected in standard testing.

So, I had the test done. Not a cheap endeavor, taking into consideration I live in Australia! It cost hundreds of dollars to accomplish this. But then again, I was desperate. My results came back inclusive. It was suggested that it could have been heat damaged during transit which skewed the results. I was gutted; I couldn’t afford to do this again. I'd had a plan about this, too. Find the bug and treat it! But it didn't work out that way. By this stage though, I was heavily involved in researching and talking with others about the bacteria theory. It made the most sense to me than anything I'd ever read before. People I spoke to about it, across the globe, recommended following a yeast-free diet when following a long-term antibiotic treatment, such as what I would have done if my results had come back conclusive. But they hadn't. That didn't stop me though, from deciding to give the anti-yeast diet a try!

To explain what happened next, I'll add a little snippet from my current blog:

"I wanted to share my theory of how I believe my IC was caused. I started getting sick in August, 2005 with repeated UTIs. These carried on for some time. I would get one, go on antibiotics and feel great for the two weeks that I was on them. Then as soon as the course stopped, my symptoms would come back and I'd be diagnosed as having another infection. I was on so many antibiotics. At one stage, I was put on long-term antibiotics for three months as a preventative measure. But the same situation would always occur. I'd get better for a few weeks and as soon as I was off the antibiotics, the infection would come back. Eventually, I even developed a kidney infection. This was treated as usual with antibiotics. I was listening to the doctors and taking my cranberry juice all the time (never realizing just how much damage this could be causing).

The symptoms I would have with the infections were: back pain, flank pain, pelvic pain, urgency, frequency and burning. Pretty much IC, right? Sometimes, I would get fevers and nausea -- these are symptoms that reappear in a flare today. Now I might add that during the whole time I was sick with infections -- potentially 1-2 years, on and off, I never changed my eating habits. Expect, of course, to add the good ol' cranberry juice and tablets! And I might add that I had a 'not-so-good' diet of energy drinks, soft drinks, chocolate and take-away. I was only about 18 when I started getting sick and I was working full-time -- my health wasn't exactly a priority, sad huh? It was just something I took for granted. At the time, I'll admit that I was a highly-stressed individual. I had a lot of personal/emotional problems I was working through.

So for me, I believe my IC was caused by a 'chain-reaction' that panned out something like this ... like I mentioned, at the time I got sick, I was very stressed out. Then I started to get the bad UTIs that wouldn't go away. Then I had a kidney infection. Then I was pumped with antibiotics. I believe my body became overwhelmed with a yeast problem (from a high-sugar diet and antibiotics causing an imbalance in the body) and that my acid/alkaline balance was also thrown out. The stress and these other factors left me open to repeated infections. Then add a very bad diet of processed foods that weren't doing anything good for my system and I had a recipe for IC! So I think it is a bunch of things, really. I strongly believe in there still being an overwhelming bacterial presence in my bladder right now (that doesn't show up in conventional urine tests) but I feel the reason bacteria is an issue is because my body is in a perfect state for infection to thrive. Once I get my body into an alkaline, yeast-free state, no disease can survive!"

So there you have it; I'd discovered why my whole body was out of balance, not just my bladder. So I started on the anti-yeast diet. First things first, let me tell you, it wasn't easy. I had to cut out fresh, gorgeous smelling bread. But lo and behold, I started to feel a little better. My pain eased off, even though my frequency was still bad. I did research and discovered a great probiotics, made in the US to help support my gut to rebalance and get the good stuff back, after years of antibiotics. Adding these was a winning move because my health continued to improve. I don't know how but somewhere in all of this, I remembered a book an IC patient wrote that discussed how IC is like a puzzle and is not just one specific problem to solve. She focused on how we can support the body to heal, through food and behaviors. When I first got diagnosed and was searching for material to read, I thought she was crazy to think that food could affect how I was feeling. So instead I skipped past her book on Amazon and bought the "Interstitial Cystitis Survival Guide." Now, I look back and wish I’d bought hers instead!
Through recently rediscovering her book, I was introduced to what is known as the acid/alkaline balance. I got my hands on a non-IC book that discussed it also, by Christopher Vasey. Of all the books I have read so far, this one helped me the most to understand what was happening to my body. And it never mentioned IC, although the bladder and the urinary tract systems came up often. I began to understand that food DOES affect how I feel. I now included the acid/alkaline approach to my anti-yeast diet. It seemed to me that my food choices were becoming more and more limited and my goodness, I was scared to try another way of eating. But I kept on reading success stories of so many people who had followed this protocol and had success.
At first, my meals were limited and very boring. But, having already been on the IC Diet, I was used to this. I understood that what I had to do was restore the alkaline balance in my body, by limiting or avoiding acidic foods. And to help my gut, I need to avoid yeast. I also had come to realize, that I was sensitive to dairy products. In fact, I found that more and more, I was eating less and less types of food as my bladder was getting angrier and angrier. Here is another snippet of my blog that will better explain what happened next (you're doing well if you're still reading; I promise you, it's worth it!):

“IC is one tricky nut to crack. One moment you think you've got it figured out and then all of a sudden, it doesn't make any sense again.

Well, lucky for me, today is one of those days where it is making sense so I thought I'd write down my thoughts before they got away from me.

I've been reading The Acid-Alkaline Balance by Christopher Vasey and although it has no direct content on IC, this books has made the most sense to me, more than a lot of IC books have in the past. It's helping me to understand why diet is so crucial with IC -- and I don't just mean for symptom prevention, I mean for HEALING.

There are three main food groups. Your biggest are the ACID food group and the ALKALINE food group. They have affects that are simply either acidifying or alkalizing, respectively. The third group is more complicated and it is known as the WEAK-ACID group. The Acid food group contains such things as meat, grains, pasta, sugar and coffee. The Alkalizing food group contains those things as green vegetables, coloured vegetables, almonds, milk and dried fruits. The Weak-Acid food group contains such foods as whey, yogurt, unripe fruits, citrus fruits, tomatoes and honey. So how do these groups affect IC?

When we have a predominantly acid diet -- let's say for example, a refined cereal for breakfast, refined pasta or white bread with meat for lunch, a pastry for a light snack and white rice for dinner -- the body consumes too much acid and it throws out the acid/alkaline balance in the body. The diet above is often very typical of an ICer as all these foods are considered safe. However, the body can rid itself of only so much strong acids in the one day. The Acid group (or strong acid group) is the hardest of acids to expel and refined cereals and grains are such acid-forming foods. These acids are expelled from the body through the kidneys and the skin. The Weak Acid group of acids are expelled through the respiratory system and there is no limit as to how much can be expelled in the one day. However, problems occur in the body when there are too many strong acidic foods being ingested without counter-balancing alkaline foods added to the mix. Problems can also arise when Weak Acid foods are ingested repeatedly without a break to allow the previous food to be properly digested. Weak Acid foods are actually almost alkaline (they have a low acid content and therefore their alkaline content is high) and in some people, will have such an affect. However, for us ICers, I believe we have a difficulty metabolizing weak-acids, that's why we aren't able to tolerate foods such as tomatoes, yogurt and most fruits. The good news is that these weak-acid foods aren't completely unavoidable. They just must be ingested with a whole bunch of alkalizing foods and eaten every few days, rather than back to back.

When we have a primarily acid diet, the body tries desperately to re-establish the correct pH balance in the body. In doing so, the body will draw alkaline minerals from deep tissues to counter-balance and neutralize the effect of the acid content on the body. If it happens repeatedly, this is when it becomes dangerous. These tissue-stores, if repeatedly raided for the purpose of lowering the acid-levels in the body, can become severely compromised. They become weak and vulnerable and easily susceptible to infection.
To explain further about the acid/alkaline balance, I am going to add some quotes from Vasey's book:

"To maintain good health the body is constantly seeking to get rid of the excess acids that irritate the tissues and deplete them of minerals. One of the principle exits it uses for this purpose is the renal system (kidneys) ... "

"Problems occur, however, when the tissues are forced to relinquish their alkaline elements on a regular basis, every day or even several times a day. In this case the body's alkaline reserves inevitably gradually diminish. However, these minerals are components of the tissues themselves and fulfill a very precise role in that regard."

"Repeated withdrawls, therefore create a shortage of alkaline minerals in these organic tissues. The critical mineral loss becomes even more pronounced when the plundering is intense and prolonged. Modern lifestyle and diet encourage such exploitation of the body's buffer system."

"In people with this metabolic weakness, foods that would normally contribute a high quota of alkaline substances instead have the effect of acidifying the internal environment. The same food can have an entirely different affect depending on the body of the person who ingests it ... People afflicted with this metabolic debility must take additional precaution with their diets. It is essential that they carefully regulate the amount of foods they eat that are rich in weak acids."

-- now these following excerpts sounds very familiar to me and draw the connection between the acid/alkaline balance and how it effects our body's, presenting in symptoms of IC.

" ... the body becomes ill ... due to the harsh, corrosive nature of acids present in excess amounts within the tissues. Before they are neutralised by alkaline substances, the acid irritates the organ with which they come in contact. Inflammation, sometimes quite painful, results, as well as lesions or hardening of the tissues. This primarily affects the organs charged with the elimination of strong acids, such as the skin and kidneys. When the urine is overloaded with acid, urination is painful and the urinary tract 'burns', becoming inflamed and infection."

"The fragile state of the tissues resulting from the invasive presence of acid makes them vulnerable to microbial or viral infection as well. Lesions of the mucous membranes allow easier penetration by and multiplication of microbes in the tissues. This is aggravated by the fact that the immune system's effectiveness can also be impacted by acid activity, which lowers the production and strength of the white blood cells responsible for attacking microbes."

"Urine becomes acidic when the body's internal environment becomes acidic."

Pretty compelling stuff, huh? So now, to summarise and wrap this up.

I've been following this protocol of eating for just over six months. And I can say with complete honesty that NOTHING, and I mean NOTHING, has ever brought me this much relief. I am pain-free most days now; there is an odd day here and there where it's a little tricky but I always understand why I have symptoms. I am still improving through adding a more raw-food edge into my eating plans. More on that later though. Another success is that most nights, I either sleep through or wake once at the most. I'm sleeping again! Actually sleeping. It is a miracle! The last time I had a pain-killer was the first month I was doing this. Now, they're gathering dust in my cupboard. The first 3 months were the hardest as my foods were so limited to choice from and I became frustrate and angry quickly. But, the reward is this; now that my body is stronger, I can eat berries, bananas, apples, kiwi-fruit, mango and .... wait for it. I can now tolerate small amounts of tomatoes, curries, oranges and chocolate! Yes, it is truly remarkable. And writing this makes me realise just how far I've come. I'll also make note that I saw a pelvic floor therapist, on a one-off. She taught me exercises to do at home to help retrain my bladder to increase capacity and reduce frequency. I deem this as an equally important step to recovery.

Now 6 months on, I would say I am around 70% healed. I would say that I am fully recovered when I am able to return to full-time work. Right now, I am capable only of casual. I believe the longer we have IC, the longer it takes us to heal. Having IC for 5 years, I can't believe that in only 6 months, I almost have my life back. I thank God that I found the light and each day, I am ever more grateful that I discovered the path for my body to heal. And I have never looked back. For an idea, my diet consists of no processed foods and no take-away. I prepare most of my meals myself, where humanly possible. I drink vegetable and fruit juices for breakfast and I believe this step was crucial in my initial healing. I have lots of alkalizing almond milk smoothies. Salads form a big part of my meals. I eat mostly a plant-based diet. I have now also added in green smoothies as the second stage to my healing process.

You will find much more information on what I have done to heal on my blog: IC What's Going On Here. I wish you well on your healing journey. Remember, we are all different and we must take our own path. Remain open minded and take the information that sits well with you. Most of all, listen to your body. Keep a journal of your symptoms. If you watch how your body reacts and responds, you are already on your way to true health.

Best wishes,
Missy


Barbara from Rawfully Tempting
http://www.rawfullytempting.com/

Barbara is the creative force behind Rawfully Tempting and her Raw Vegan Recipe Blog. In her blog, newsletters, articles, classes, upcoming books and videos, Barbara strives to take the fear out of trying something new and bring simplicity to the surface. Barbara is a self-taught chef that has a knack for creating and writing recipes in an easy to follow format, complimented by mouth-watering photos that give her readers confidence that they can begin to create their own raw delights with ease. Diagnosed with an "incurable" disease (Interstitial Cystitis) over a decade ago, along with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome and difficulty losing weight, Barbara is on a journey to restore health and vitality. She openly and honestly writes about the everyday hurdles she encounters, along with her successes, and invites you to join her on this path.

Barbara says...
"I'm still working through healing the IC and FMS and CFS...I DID get into remission for 3 years by eating totally vegan several years ago..but fell off the wagon and lots of stress brought it back..now still under so much stress I'm working against myself..but..eating raw has begun to heal many things for me.

Used to have acid reflux...GONE. Allergies and chronic sinusitis ..GONE...bloating/digestive problems...gone...

I did try juicing and for me that caused more problems..taxed my system..too quickly and ended up with fibro and chronic fatigue..so now working on those too...

I don't often have the burning any more like I used to..but still have pressure most of the time...frequency..not so much, but can happen in a flare up.....but I believe I'm on the road to healing..and I know my body feels better eating raw........my boyfriend started eating what I do and he does not have health problems..but we noticed his skin cleared up BIG TIME and he lost 25 pounds..without trying. I also lost weight..but that has come to a halt..and I need to lose much more."

Rawfully Tempting also has an amazing line of nutrient dense, raw, gluten free cuisine that explodes with flavor. These treats are "decadent, nutritious and delicious." Many of these treats are also IC-Friendly. Barbara still strives to follow a raw, vegan diet to help heal her health issues. She's experienced the benefits once before and is working hard to keep them coming.


Sunny M.

Sunny has healed her IC through a raw food diet and speaks about it in her videos on YouTube.

Sunny's Bio in her blog

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