Interstitial Cystitis Flare Up...HELP

Bugs that cause cystitis usually stick to the bladder wall. Cranberry and blueberry juices have been proven to stop them sticking - but I believe you need to drink a litre of juice daily, of the kind that is not loaded with sugar or sweeteners, or other added ingredients - read the labels. If you choose to take this as supplement then make sure you drink 2 litres of fluid daily.

Excessive sugar consumption - that is more than 3 oz of sugar (in any form) can make it worse by suppressing your immune system, specifically those cells that engulf bacteria. Also excessive alcohol consumption not only upsets blood sugar levels but increases the potential of bacteria to enter the system through the gut wall, by allowing them and food allergens to get into the bloodstream. Food allergies are associated with interstitial cystitis and deficiencies of any nutrient can reduce immune function so a good quality multivitamin/multimineral can help.

Drinking plenty of fluids can help flush out bacteria. Potassium or sodium citrate can be very helpful too, by alkalisisng the urine making the environment less hospitable to the bacteria (get this from a chemist). Vitamin C with zinc help boost the immune system. Goldenseal is useful as a bacteriostatic agent.

I would suggest mint tea is ineffective for this problem.

Hi I take it if you have been suffering for a while have you been able to figure out your triggers? i.e have you been trying to cut out foods as described on the icn website? <a class="go2wpf-bbcode" rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="www.ic-network.com/">www.ic-network.com/

I personally found cranberry to make my symptoms unbearable, and at the point of extreme bladder pain etc, decided to only drink bottled mineral water, and no fruit juices or anything else at all. I thought at one point that my tap water which contains lots of chlorine may have been making me worse? Unsure but my symptoms have subsided somewhwat since cutting it out in April this year.

With interstitial cystitis it seems that there are never any bugs found in the urine - the traditional approaches to healing cystitis were never of any use to me. Although I did go through a phase of adding bicarbonate of soda to my water at the first sign of a flare up? Might help? Although I can't be sure it helped me.....

I did find that emptying my bladder every time I felt the urge (i.,e even after emptying 2 minutes previous) this seemed to lessen the time I was experiencing the flare up. It also seemed to me that my body was trying to 'get rid' of something and the pain was flaring up in my bladder, but if I answered all the nature calls then it seemed to tail off and I'd go back to normal afterwards. It is such a difficult and not very well understood problem, sometimes it can only take your trial and error for different things to see what helps you - I find that all advice does not ring true for all people.
good luck, I hope you feel better soon, I know how miserable this is xxx

Thank you for your post Mhairi and the web link. It is always helpful to have input from a different perspective and in a forum like this one can never cover all possibilities - individuals are just that - individual - so no one way of dealing with something will fit all.

BC and IC natural remedies.

Hello Caroline,
hope you are keeping well.
I see you are promoting natural remedies and products.

I'm using a natural product available in London made of D-Mannose and Quercitine to ease my pains.

Do you know if there are some SIDE EFFECTS using these natural products for IC and BC?

Awaiting for some reply,

cheers.

Janet

janetspencerone@gmail.com

Hello Caroline,
hope you are keeping well.
I see you are promoting some natural remedies and products.

I'm using a natural product available in London made of D-Mannose and Quercitine to ease my pains and after about 5 months of treatments I'm feeling very well.

Do you know if there are some SIDE EFFECTS using these natural products for IC and BC?

Awaiting for some reply,

cheers.

Janet

Just a quick post as a reminder that new members' posts require approval by moderators before they appear on the forums, and there are currently a number in the queue awaiting approval.
Any members awaiting the appearance of their posts should check their email in the meantime - there may be correspondence from moderators dealing with the posts in question.

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Gorseflower

Dear all,
I'm 38, I'm feeling very bad since a couple of years, I don't know what to do to ease my pains.

My GP is suggesting me to take some antibiotics (xxxx) but they don't work any more.

Please, any suggestions?

Thank you very much in advance.

Barby

Hi Janet and Barbie

Sorry to hear about your problems with cystitis. There are obviously many different approaches to this problem and if you find one that helps that is good. Cystitis is such an uncomfortable thing to cope with (and embarrasing at times) one is prepared to try anything to help.

If there is no baterial infection then one could ask whether it is a Candida (thrush) infection - in which case one would probably have other symptoms too - see the Candida threads here on HP Forums, the Candida Society, etc.

If you can't manage to take cranberry juice then alkalising your diet might help - click for ideas, following an intake of up to 80% alkalising foods. You'll need some acidic foods to balance them.

There is also EFT, a tapping technique which might help - click [DLMURL="http://www.emofree.com/Pain-management/cystitis-relief-oliver.htm"]here[/DLMURL], and [DLMURL="http://www.emofree.com/Articles2/cystitis-emotional-cause.htm"]here[/DLMURL]. If you go to the Home page you will see a couple of videos to watch and a link to the free basic manual download. This amazing technique produces some astonishing results at times. If you want a practitioner to help you have a look here on HP Directory (above) or on .

I know of no side effects with taking D-mannose or quercitin, but that doesn't mean it can't upset someone or there aren't any!

On this site I can only give you possible options to follow - I can't give individual advice.

Herbal help for Interstitial Cystitis

I have found over the years of treating this condition that it's best treated constitutionally i.e. treat the person with the complaint and not the complaint!

However, some patients have found Corn silk tea to be soothing and also Couchgrass tea.

Jodie Foreman BSc (Hons) MNIMH

Hi there my friends,
after ten years of UTI pains I'm going to enjoy nice holiday to the Sea.
Thanks to a great natural product based on D-Mannose and other plants components which in about six months has solved my problems.
See you again when I'll be back.

Cheers.

Paula

Are you having bladder spasms? Slippery Elm root is a demulcent herb which will soothe the lining of your bladder, if inflammation is causing spasms.

I find that iodine can cause me to have bladder spasms. I can eat a little bit of fish now and then, but if I eat a lot of fish, my bladder will become painful with inflammation because I ingested too much iodine from the fish. (I don't use iodized salt.) A case of nerves can trigger an attack of inflammation, too. When I had to take a trip to be the matron of honor at a friend's wedding, my nervousness caused spasms. I bought some Slippery Elm root capsules, which set things right again.

Poor you Diva - are you susceptible to it? I used to get cystitis/UTIs all the time but found that taking cranberry supplement pills (so much easier than drinking a gallon of juice every day!) and taking some pre/probiotic capsules worked wonders and have kept it at bay 🙂

Hope that helps! x

Not sure why this has come up again, diva101908 originally posted this in 2009 and that was the first and only post.

As to interstitial cystitis, you have to look in the right place - this is a structural problem. It's generally due to patterns of tension in the various muscle walls that the urethra must pass through, crimping off the tube, limiting its movement to glide in relation to the pelvic floor etc, causing stasis of urine, relative ischaemia of the tissues, and all kinds of knock-on effects. Twists, sheers and torsions of the pelvis would be the first place to look IMHO, and everything leading into that.

If anybody has difficulty visualising this, I would suggest imagine what would happen to a drumskin were you to twist the rim of the drum. Imagine several layers of this, and then imagine a flexible tube passing through all the layers.

As for cranberry juice, is there any truth to the rumour I heard that Ocean Spray sponsored the research? In any case, as CarolineN and others have rightly mentioned, there is a big difference between cranberry juice and sugary syrup flavoured with a bit of sterilised cranberry juice as commonly sold in supermarkets. Beyond that, even if it appears to be helpful, cranberry juice deficiency is not the root cause.

kvdp:

Not sure why this has come up again, diva101908 originally posted this in 2009 and that was the first and only post.

Probably because some of our newer members may post on an older thread which is of interest to them, without noticing the date of either the OP or the last post on the thread if they are replying to that.

It's not necessarily a problem, because others have joined HP in the meantime who have the knowledge and experience to be able to offer a fresh point of view on the topic.

Just occasionally one of the moderators will reply to point out the date and say that the new member is unlikely to get a direct reply as X hasn't returned for several years, if that's the case.

HTH, even if I'm :offtopic:
😉

Holistic
HP Moderator

N... Beyond that, even if it appears to be helpful, cranberry juice deficiency is not the root cause.

Cranberry changes the pH, and is indeed helpful. Due to a surgery I had for congenital bladder defect as a child, I subsequently suffered chronic bladder infections. I took drugs for years to combat the infections. I learned about cranberry juice in the late 60s, and have had little trouble with infections since then.

If I feel a niggle, I drink cranberry juice (straight not the cocktails) or I take cranberry powder in capsules. I have not had a full blown infection as I have been able to nip them in the bud.

I have used cranberry juice for two of my dogs. Each female dog suffered an inflammation of the bladder lining causing bloody urination and frequency. I poured cranberry juice on their kibble and gave them two small extra meals so I could get them to take more juice. The blood in the urine, and the frequency, ceased within 24 hours. I checked with the vet. He told me that he uses cranberry capsules as therapy for some canine urological problems.

It has also beeen proven (I can look it up if necessary) that cranberry stops the bacteria from sticking to the wall of the bladder. This mens they are washed out with the urine more easily, especially when plenty of fluids are taken.