IC natural treatment????

[starlight]

hi shelley, it's starlight...ok, here we go! I recently, with all this insane sickenss going around, had ended up, with a "minor" UTI, which always made my bladder feel full like a water balloon, that went on for a few days, and the need to constatnly urinate, with only a little urine however, you know, the typical UTI stuff....ok, so, my dr. gave me Cipro...well, i took it (stupidly) for about 3 days, and it made me sick! ok, so, he said to stop taking it, and he'd give me some other kind of antibiotic...here's the thing, I was and still am very reluctant to get on the antibiotic "train", bec. as you know, this is not good! so, I decided to treat it natrually, as best as i could...i drank PURE cranberry juice all day and night, i took 4 drops of oil of oregano in a tsp. of honey a few times a day, and drank a lot of water....and tea etc.....ok, well, it took a few more days of this "torture" but it seemed to subside...YIPPIE!
but it seemed to have "left" me with something, my dr. seems to think it's IC....now, he's not sure! this is his best diagnosis. I have really researched this, bec. it makes me nervous, and i have this very strange uncomfortable feeling "down there", not pain, no burning or stinging, but inside there "somewhere", maybe the bladder, but more down in the urethra.....it's a hard feeling to describe. it's aslmost as if, i can't , relax those muscles no matter what i do!!!!! i mean, i've even taken xanax, just to see, if it would help relax those muscles, and well, not really.
My lower abdominal muscles are SO TIGHT, and so is my urethra...


it's weird....i read on the IC site, that these are all the symptoms for IC, as well as a UTI.....but, then, i had also gotten these mucus "strings" in the urine...i've had that twice since late Jan.....now, on the IC site, they say, YEP, that's common with IC! so, now, I can't go on with this! this feeling is driving me nuts! it's not a full bladder feeling anymore, thank God.....and at least right now, i don't feel the constant need to urinate....but it's strange, shelly i can drink a full 8oz. glass of water, and instead of having to empty my bladder NORMALLY (like i used to) within, say a half an hour, maybe 45 min.s....ok, NOW, it'll take maybe about an hour and a half, or longer,.....and MAYBE a lot of urine will come out...other times, only a little, which again, is a UTI or IC syptom!


now, they say on the IC site, that if you get these flare ups....get a urine check test kit from the pharm....and test to see if there is an infection..ok, first,...what is your opinion of that test...they say it's 99% - 100% accurate! so, i'd like to be able to do that,.....they say, you should always check to see, just in case it COULD be an actual UTI....ok, fine, but i just hope those things are accurate...

secondly, whta can i do, naturally to alleviate this weird feeling in the urethra....i swear shelly, there have been times, over the last year or so.....where, i knew i had to urinate..ok, so you're sitting there, and it takes a few seconds, and you can actually FEEL the urine coming down the urethra, like normal....BUT, then it sort of ACCUMULATES at the opening, and after there's enough pressure behind it, it sort of BURSTS out of the opening......there is no pain, or stiniging, or burning...just as it it bursts out, after it's accumulated in there for a few seconds....almost as if a water balloon were to burst open at the bottom, it's weird.

so, what do you think? what should I do? what can i take for this....

i am presently still takeing the oregano, the cranberry pills,,,the D-Mannose ....the water.....all of it...........

thank shelly

[shelley]

Whenever muscles are too tight you can try taking 250-500 mg of magnesium and see if that helps. It should also help the bladder relax and smooth out urination. If that doesn't resolve the issue, then it's time to get checked out for physical/mechanical issues, which can involve doing a VCUG, a type of picture exam where they fill your bladder via a catheter and have you urinate while still on the table while they take a picture and make sure the fluids are all flowing out and not back up. It's not fun but it's very revealing of any problems. That might be an option.

It's easy enough to check for infection, which is why it annoys me that doctors tend to not bother checking before prescribing antibiotics. Sigh. And since most UTIs are caused by too much yeast and not in fact a bacteria, it's doubly annoying that they just automatically prescribe antibiotics. So always check yourself if they don't. It's just a matter of dipping a testing strip.

Any time your yeasties, estrogen or electrolytes are messed up it can mess up the rhythm of the urinary system. Strong urination requires balanced potassium, salts, magnesium, and healthy mucus membranes (A and zinc). Since you're prone to estrogen issues I wouldn't worry too much about having a larger issue. All of your irritation could simply be due to wonky estrogen.

[starlight]

hi again shelley,
listen, thank you for getting back to me! ok, i sure hope it's wonky estrogen! LOL...that would be great, just KNOWING THAT would be relief...i went out and bought a UTI test kit thingy, which i'm going to do in a few hours, but i have to not urinate for 4 hr.s ahead...so, this is fun!

now, when you said, check yourself ...did you mean for YEAST, OR UTI ?
like i said, i bought the UTI test.....so, should i buy a YEAST test as well/
is that what you meant? that's very interesting, i didn't know that UTI's are MAINLY caused by yeast! WOW! you know, you NEVER NEVER hear that! I have NEVER ONCE heard that! not to shocked though, i mean, in this very conventional, world, where everyone seems to blindly trust the medical and pharm. industries, i guess you WOULDN'T hear that, i mean, after all, how would they make their money?! LOL

but, yes, that annoys me too, that's not right! ok, so, if i get this yeast test (is that the "dip test" you referred to?), then what? now, if it comes out POSITIVE, that would mean then , that there IS a UTI? and that it IS caused by YEAST? then what?

[starlight]

yeah, i forgot to tell you that, this whole UTI thing, started about a week before my period, maybe a little less....but, that full bladder feeling went completley away, once i started my period.....but, then again, on the last day of my period, it slowly started creeping back in....and now, well , now...here we go again...FULL BLADDER FEELING! sometimes there's a lot of urine, sometimes, very little....it keeps me up all night! this is awful! but, my quesiton is then , for pete sake, if this were a TRUE, REAL infection....would it have stopped when i got my period? or would the symptoms have stopped completley, like they did, just bec. i got my period? and then, come back?

[Em0723]

Starlight, I too have had IC for quite a while now. My doctor's tried all kinds of things and I kind of ended up giving up on their treatments because nothing really seemed to help much. One thing that did help me, however, was physical therepy and biofeedback. What I have found is a great helps is doing exercises to strengthen your pelvic floor muscles. At first I would do about 25 two times per day holding for 10 seconds at a time. My doctor did biofeedback with me, where she monitored my muscles. Before doing the exercises I had a bad spasm, but after doing the exercises for about 2 months - it went away! - and I was feeling much better. I also do yoga and this has been a great help because part of the practice includes "root locks" where you are working with your pelvic floor muscles.
One thing that I was warned against was taking cranberry, because they said the acidity would exascerbate the IC. Alot of people find that certain foods are triggers for flare ups - but I was never really able to identify if certain foods were causing flares...I still drink a dash of pure cranberry in water quite frequently when I'm thirsty and want something other than water...and it doesn't really bother me. As of right now I've gotten rid of a lot of the "pain"...but I know what you mean when you say it's not really pain - it's just annoying. - My only real symptom is frequency in that I usually feel like I have to go before my bladder is completely full...so I might end up going a few times within an hour or two - it's definitely an annoyance, but I don't find it to be terribly unbearable.

[shelley]

That feeling of urgency may go away if you take 250 mg of Magnesium and eat potassium-rich foods for a day. If things like OJ and bananas don't help, take zinc instead.