The debilitating bladder pain of an IC(interstitial cystitis) flare requires you to pull all stops and do everything to get comfortable As I’ve talked about in the past chronic management is baseline work(nutrition, incompatible food combination avoidance, use of cooling herbs in cooking, CCF tea, etc) These therapies help begin release and at times flares are an aspect of release The treatment of flare in this setting takes the management to another level of pain management
One of the mainstays of acute treatment is the use of castor oil As I’ve written about earlier the use of castor packs have been traditionally discussed but I’ve found that just using castor directly to the skin is as if not more effective
Another important aspect of the use of castor is to take advantage of various marma points as noted in the diagram These points are related to not only acupuncture points but pertain to organs in the pelvis and can be likened to trigger points because they are related to internal organs that are in pain
The castor is cooling when externally applied but when taken internally it’s hot leading to diarrhea This external affect is effective longterm The oil can be applied directly to the area below the belly button out laterally to the flanks
A towel can be placed over the oleated skin to protect a heating pad if you want to use one
Essential oils that are cooling such as mint, rose, or sandalwood can be applied to the bladder points(these are noted in the accompanying diagram) The midline point is called basti(main bladder point) marma and slightly above it is CV5 acupuncture point which regulates water CV4 is another acupuncture point is slightly below this important point and regulates the kidneys
Another point just above the pubic bone is the CV2 acupuncture point and corresponds to bhaga marma which helps relieve pelvic pain
The other points noted are peripheral to the bladder points but do affect pelvic organ pain and it’s worthwhile to also treat these as well
Apply the oil directly to the skin below the belly button to the pubic bone
Apply the cooling essential oils to the points
Apply pressure to each of the points with rotation Use the diagram beginning with basti marma as described above
Keep applying the pressure until discomfort is noted and then back off just a little As you apply the pressure do so with some undulation or rotation whichever feels better to you
Do this for all points in the diagram When you are out laterally you can use both hands on each left and right marma points
The general rule is as often as you can Usually this isn’t a problem because when you’re laid up with a flare people are usually flat on their back in pain
For more direction I would use an hour as a time interval and consider doing it twice a day in many instances
I would suggest journaling your symptoms when you’re doing trigger therapy because the changes that you experience will be subtle as you move along and you will want to be aware of these changes
All the best Love DB
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