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This page contains answers to common questions at our support
groups, along with some tips
and tricks that we have found useful and presented here as questions.
- Will I always have IC?
- Why does it take so long for the symptoms to go away?
- Do IC symptoms ever go away?
- Should I care about my diet?
- Can I exercise with IC?
The short answer is yes to whether you will always have IC. As far as the limited research has discovered there is probably a
predisposition to the bladder lining being compromised. But the specific
answer is that it is the symptoms of IC that effect your life. The
symptoms of urgency, frequency, and pain in varying degrees take charge.
That is why working on the healing of the bladder lining and calming down the
symptoms is the work that must be done.
The short answer is that the time needed for IC symptoms to be brought
under control appears to depend on the length of time that you have had your
symptoms. Initially, the symptoms may appear to have attacked
without warning. As you learn more about IC, the trail of when your
symptoms began can range from bed wetting as a child, or that you always
understood that you had to void more often than any of you friends.
Another clue is that you had bladder and/or prostate infections that were so
frequent that you kept antibiotic available. Others have shared that
they accepted that sexual intercourse was the pattern that led to pain.
This short list all can signal years of movement to a point that you could no
longer accommodate the IC symptoms. With that in mind you have to
realize that it will take time to see positive results.
The short answer is that the symptoms of IC fade away as life style,
dietary changes, medication and you take control over your IC. You will also learn your own personal signals to IC symptoms. Signals
can be as indirect as a twinge of low back pain, or knowing that there was a
dietary misstep when that chocolate sundae was a temptation not
resisted. We find there comes a time when we all do a test, we feel that
we are symptom free and no longer have IC; The doctors were wrong in their
diagnosis. We skip the medication, return to old habits, and guess what, the
symptoms come back to remind us that the need to stay on the path to taking
control is a rule we had better not break.
The short answer is yes, absolutely, and how could you think
otherwise? Remember the old saying " We are what we
eat"? This seem to be incredibly true for IC patients. There
was a time ( not that long ago) that a trip to the fast food restaurant was a
monthly treat and not the center of our dietary intake. There was a time
when long shelf life and attractive colors were not the main focus of the
food industry. The amount and number of food additives and artificial
colors in our food is over-whelming. There was a time when a 8oz cup of
carbonated beverage did not have to come with a "as many refill as you
can consume" policy. Obesity is the media focus, but the question
is ... what is going through your body as you wolf down your hamburger, snack
on your frozen pizza, and gulp down your sugar substitute diet drink?
Your urinary tract knows and will share its' great misery with you.
The short answer is yes, with the understanding that lifting, squatting,
bending, and pulling, or putting pressure on your pelvic area is not a good idea for
the IC bladder. Even the newly re-discovered Kegel exercises can make the
nerve endings in the IC pelvic area feel that they are being assaulted.
Stretching is the best, and a recumbent bike also takes the pressure off the
pelvic girdle. Upper body and pressure free from the waist down
exercises seem to bring benefits without causing or adding pain.
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