IC and 2 Problems with Botox Injection Therapy

Over the last 20 years the interstitital cystitis(IC) complex of pelvic and bladder pain has been successfully treated by urologists with botox  Initially used as a way to focally paralyze muscle fibers in the face as a cosmetic application, it quickly crossed many lines of therapy for use in other organ systems in the body to include the bladder

The use of the agent in bladder injection therapy is that the bladder and pelvic pain is related to muscle spasm in these respective areas that paralysis of the muscles would reduce the pain

Matter Science Injection Therapy

In the disease of IC the matter science medical thinking in justifying botox’s use is that the pelvic pain and burning is caused by a neuromuscular event in the pelvic nerves  And that the individual symptom complex(bladder pain in one, vaginal pain in another, pudendal nerve involvement leading to perineal pain in another) could be dealt with by botox injection into the offending pelvic nerves

The success reported using bladder injection therapy is for a number of conditions that have associated with the problem an overactive bladder(OAB)   Neurologic conditions such as multiple sclerosis, bladder overactivity from traumatic cord injury, and nonapparent neurological disease such as urinary incontinence have been treated with good success

As I wrote in a recent post about the use of the interstim, the primary indication for botox and the interstim device appears to be OAB for whatever etiology   Injection of the botox is usually done 20-30 sites in the bladder and those with an apparent Hunner’s ulcer would have direct and peripheral injection around the lesion

Of course spreading from the area of local injection can have potential lethal consequences(the number of FDA reported deaths linked to botox are rare given the usage, 28 since 2000 monitoring began)  But what is more important are side effects that don’t result in respiratory distress such as swallowing and breathing problems

An Energy Science Perspective

It’s clear that the pelvic accumulation and localization of the hot and mobile qualities in IC that I have discussed in the past come from the GI tract according to the energy science model of healing

The isolated botulinum toxin produced by a bacterium reduces  specific muscle activity by blocking the overactive neural impulses that trigger excessive muscle contraction activity  The use in IC is based on the theory that the spasm responsible for the IC pain is caused by overactive pelvic nerves that are irritable for some unknown reason

Localized injection into the bladder muscle may produce transient relief but long term relief from the condition leading to OAB may not deal with the global neuromuscular problem

There are basically two problems with botox injection therapy

1 If there is burning pain in the pelvis or the bladder with urination botox is unlikely to deal with the problem of interstitial cystitis  Botox causes a neuromuscular blockade but will not deal with sensory changes such as burning

2 There is a belief in research circles that IC is actually a pelvic disorder not just involving the bladder  Attempting to block a spastic pelvic floor would be futile and dangerous

So what causes these overactive pelvic nerves to occur in the first place?  From an energy science perspective the pelvic neuromuscular complex is in a heightened state of activity due to the mobile quality and the burning shearing pain from the hot quality  Trigger point injection to areas of pain may work transiently but as said earlier, one can’t inject the entire pelvic floor as these energetic qualities are throughout the pelvis including the bladder

Until next time        DB

IC and Carbonated Drinks

Interstitial cystitis(IC) is a chronic disease with an unknown cause from the currently practiced matter or molecular science medical discipline  And the treatments are random due to this reason

From an energy science medical view IC is a painful pelvic syndrome not necessarily localized to the bladder due to the failure of the body to eliminate the hot and mobile qualities from the pelvis usually due to toxic load also localized in the pelvis  This disease as in all diseases according to the energy science tradition originates in the gut and hence the foundational approach for treatment must include a shift in nutrition

Shift in Nutrition

So it makes sense that you would remove the hot and mobile qualities from the foods ingested if you want to make any headway in the management of IC  The mobile quality is found in many foods in different forms but one of the obvious foods is carbonated drinks  Air is mobile and gas containing foods have air in them; in carbonated drinks the air is carbon dioxide

The mobile quality is directly responsible for the urinary frequency and urgency associated with the abnormal voiding pattern of IC and the overactive bladder syndrome(OAB)  But it doesn’t stop at IC because these same qualities are involved in chronic prostatitis, fibromyalgia, vulvodynia, IBS and GERD

But there is also the burning sensation associated with IC and the hot quality is responsible for this physical sensation in the pelvis  The OAB does not have much of this quality so urinary frequency and urgency with or without incontinence predominate as symptoms

Carbonated Drinks as the Source of the Hot Quality

It’s not quite intuitive how carbonated drinks produce the hot quality  Usually the drink is taken over ice anyway(ice is not a good idea anyway from a digestive point of view) so where’s the hot quality come from?

Anything that’s acidic in the body contains the hot quality  There is heat associated with digestion and when you digest food with the stomach acid and the enzymes to break down food you are using the hot quality

It turns out that all the favorite carbonated drinks carry orthophosphoric acid  This is now a much publicized ingredient to Coca Cola    The drink is so acidic that it is used as a pesticide, a commercial grade cleaner for car batteries, engines, and removing rust from surfaces   If you leave a penny in a glass of coke over a week, the penny will dissolve into solution!

Cut the Fizzy

The upshot of our discussion today is that carbonated drinks for anyone is problematic but for you with IC it will provoke your symptoms and can instigate a painful pelvic or bladder flare  And then you can add chronic prostatitis, fibromyalgia, vulvodynia, IBS and GERD because all of these seemingly unrelated diseases are associated with the hot and mobile qualities  If you want you can add as a waste basket term CPPS or chronic pelvic pain syndrome

This is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to energy science  food recommendations for IC  The matter science nutrition makes their recommendations based on anecdotal experience so in essence guess work is involved when it comes to recommendations

The energy science nutritional approach is different  It asks for no consumer feedback, does not equivocate, and produces the list grounded in a deep science of an understanding of the workings of Nature herself  The body obeys the laws of Nature and physics  I make no claims that energy science cures everything including IC   Energy work is not a quick fix but with diligence discipline and assuming a different lifestyle, you can bring harmony to the body and resolve  IC

Have an awesome week       Love Dr Bill

Healing IC and Trying to Do It Fast

Currently you live in a society where speed is a treasured gift and impatience becomes an acceptable emotion  If something doesn’t happen fast then you can become uncomfortable

And it’s not surprising that people with IC can become impatient  After all the qualities stuck in the pelvis giving rise to the disease are the mobile and hot qualities  These combine to make the mind impatient with the hot quality even leading to frustration and anger

For example, if you are plagued with painful interstitial cystitis(IC) bladder flares and you begin doing some things that can help you, there may come a point where due to impatience you decide what you’re doing is not helping

The Problem of Doing Healing Fast

So the problem that arises with impatience in healing is that it contributes to the failure to follow through with the plan of treatment  Then all that’s left is bouncing from one therapy to the next, never giving any one treatment option a chance to work

Who would expect that if you have a plan to get in shape by going to the gym to get in shape that after the first week that you would trim and buff as you were ten years earlier  We all know that anything that we do to the mindbody requires time and consistency of the messages that we are sending the mindbody to change

Real healing is like this  It takes time for your shape shifting  genes to know that you’re serious about what messages you’re sending  Otherwise with lack of consistency it will be business as usual and your IC symptoms whatever they are will continue to menace you

Confidence in What You’re Doing

The  structure of a game plan to can help with the wayward mind that can take you out very quickly(fastest vehicle in the universe is your mind)

During any healing of the mindbody whether from trauma, cancer, or IC, what is required is that regardless of what happens you stick with the plan you trust  As you do this energy science work, you’ll get more faith as you see small wins as you progress  As you can see in the diagram there can be backslides with recurrence of symptoms but this is part of the healing process

Another aspect you can see in this diagram is that as you stop putting excess hot and mobile qualities into your mindbody, your physiology must necessarily shed those excess qualities  This leads to a struggle with apparent continued flares

But the flares are different now  They are flares of release not accumulation

4 Things To Do To Stablize the Mind and Reduce Impatience

In order to stay on the healing path it’s valuable to help stabilize the mind which drives the mobile quality and makes you flighty and fickle  Here are some things that you can do to stick with the game plan

Begin with doing a nutritional format appropriate for your mindbody makeup found at icdiet.com or foodsheal.com Also watching for incompatible food combinations is also important

Quiet the mind  This can be done with So Hum meditation 5min morning and evening building up to as much as 20min am and pm  Another way to quiet the mind is alternate nostril breathing for the same amount of time  These techniques help reduce the mobile quality of the mind  This will keep you out of the pattern of flightiness that goes with the mobile quality

Going to bed early 930-1030 at night and waking up between 5 – 7am sets the day  Having a morning ritual and exercising is another key component to the day, eating your biggest meal of the day at noon, and meditation are good ways to help create structure around your schedule

Keep a journal of your successes and how you’re feeling  Don’t rely on your memory because more often than not the mind will remember the bad times more than the good  So to keep focused on feeling better journal about the subtle improvements that are happening for you

Be willing to try things that are suggested because one of the problems with the hot quality is that it makes the mind so intense and focused that it’s hard to look at other helpful techniques as you move along in the healing journey

Best on your journey to healing IC   Love DrBill

IC and 4 Steps to Empowerment

When a doctor says, “You have interstitial cystitis(IC) bladder pain syndrome and it’s treatable but not curable”, a depressing cloud of sadness might descend over you at that moment  But usually it takes time for this kind of medical opinionated attitude to sink in and it’s an attitude that is pervasive in the matter science medical community

And since the expert tells you this, it must be true!  But in such a situation of dogma, you have to be like the fish caught in the net and find a hole and swim out  Otherwise you become just like everyone else caught up in the prevailing belief of the day

This week I’m talking about steps that you can take right now to take over your life and find that hole and swim out of that net to freedom  Of course this kind of action requires baby steps like any healing  You literally have to mentally rise to the occasion  And that’s what I’m talking about  Baby steps toward resolving IC symptoms

The Courage to Step Into the Unknown

Healing is a journey into the unknown  You can’t be sure what’s going to happen  You can talk to friends, support group and the like, but ultimately you don’t know the outcome  So it’s always safe to stay with what’s reassuringly known  But there’s no benefit to that  You just keep getting what you’ve got in the past

And in energy science work it’s not about believing me  It’s about making the observations that by doing the work you’re getting better  This enhances your trust in the discipline.

You see your faith in an energy science mode of healing is entirely in your hands and no one else’s  If you see results some trust occurs and then more faith  As you go along there will be more improvements and more trust with more faith. If you’re being attentive and aware which is brought about by a quiet mind this will be the case

The energy science approach to healing requires commitment on your part  This is in part brought about by a quiet, nonjudgmental, patient and noncritical mind  The mind will get in the way using doubt, indecision, and inertia to leave you without the benefits that you’re seeking.

The Pitta mind when unbalanced is unduly skeptical, emotionally judgmental, impatient, and irritable  What drives this mental activity is fear  Fear of being duped, taken advantage of, and being wrong since Pitta is a perfectionist  The use of understanding yourself as an energy pattern is that it gives you an objective tool to observe yourself without condemning

When you notice yourself becoming curious without these more damaging mental activities you know you’re making progress  Basically mental turmoil induced by fear interferes with the healing process

The excuses such as not enough time, don’t know how, I’m not ….., how will I be if I become different(scary thought), what if it doesn’t work, or the best of all, this is too much work, effort or energy, are the result of the mind wanting to maintain the status quo  Don’t rock the boat  Even if you’re in pain

Whatever goal in life you want to achieve can be obtained and it begins with dealing with the obstacles the mind presents  You have to transform your fear into faith  Faith that it will work  But it starts with an emotional declaration that you will be healthy again(DNA listens best when your internal dialogue is emotional about your declaration)

And if you’re having trouble obtaining your goal, then you may not be associating your goal with enough pain

4 Empowering Steps

First, recognize what your goal is and get crystal clear about it  Think it, then ink it  So get a notebook and place your goal at the top of the page. Then use this journal as a way to track your progress but also to notice the subtle changes that are occurring for you as you do this energy science work (remember that the matter science work is gross but the energy science work is subtle).

Second, what will your life look like if you don’t achieve your goal? This is very important because unless you vividly see the pain you’re experiencing emotionally, psychologically, and physically your mind will not buy into the goal

Third, determine what measurable outcomes will happen as a result of obtaining your goal

Fourth, what are the challenges that are in your way in achieving your goal   These can be thoughts, feelings, emotions, sensations, perceptions, and/or beliefs  These inner limiting beliefs lock you into not getting what you want

The value of meditation is that is allows you to witness your mind’s obstacles to change more easily, whatever they may be  And you don’t have to do this alone!  The danger is getting into groups that are not supportive of an energy science approach to healing  If you participate in groups that are negative and want to wallow in their misery of IC, they will pull you down  Being in the midst of negativity is tantamount to self sabotage

So try these out and let me know what your experience is  And remember baby steps Anything worthwhile in life requires that you get unstuck

To Health as a Skill  Love Dr Bill

IC and Losing Your Health Identity: 5 Ways to Keep It

Have you become interstitial cystitis?  So bound to the diagnosis, so consumed that health does not factor into your thinking?

When you suffer from the debilitating symptoms of interstitial cystitis, there’s a tendency for any one of us to begin identifying with the symptoms of any disease process, and that includes IC   In the end often what happens is you take on the identity of IC as if you have become IC  The often phrase “I’m an IC patient”, indicating that the “I” is equivalent to the disease

In essence you are committing your own “self identity fraud”, allowing the disease to become you   Identity fraud is when someone assumes your identity   They become you in the form of credit card, driver’s license, and social security numbers  There’s real theft in such a situation and this can occur with IC

The Big Danger of Disease Identity Fraud

The biggest danger of all?  You stop seeing health and focus on disease because it is so “in your face” every day  And I’m not saying, don’t pay attention to your body  I am saying the focus should be on doing energy work to  promote healthy lifestyle patterns of behavior   Such things as CCF tea, aloe with or without pomegranite juice, choosing foods appropriate for IC, avoiding incompatible food combinations, looking into targeted herbal therapies, using marma therapy with castor oil   These are things that you can focus on for health

Of course the problem with identifying with IC is that you become it   Wristbands are created, sweatshirts are worn, and testimonials are written about the disease process   Often times these activities are for the sake of getting public awareness about IC and to help garner money support for disease research

But let’s be honest here  All the research money that has been raised to pay researchers for working toward understanding the origin of IC as a disease has not alleviated any suffering from the disease and not any closer to understanding the origin of disease from a matter science view

So the question is “How much has been gained by this disease identity fraud?”  Your health identity is usurped by a disease called IC and yet you and your friends are no further ahead for it   If all the above activities must be done, then everyone should share in doing small amounts

So the biggest danger of all  You stop seeing health and focus on disease

5 Ways to Stop Disease Identity Fraud:  Focus on Health NOT Disease

If you’re involved in public awareness activities, let someone else do it because as you continue to do this kind of work, you allow your energy to be lost in this non health promoting behavior  There is a real subversive nature to these activities that does not lend to your own health
goals

Stay focused on YOUR health, not IC   This is aided by making energy science work a priority in your day  Your job besides making a living to have shelter and nourish yourself is to heal IC  Period  Nothing else is important

Journal everyday about what health looks like to you

If you must read IC threads, try to stop identifying with the symptoms and begin seeing yourself as healthy and free of IC   See yourself as someone who used to have IC but no longer bothered by those symptoms   In this way you become a wise adviser of energy science principles  to those who are still plagued with symptoms and need your help

Meditate morning and evening for 5 min each time  Gradually expand this to 20min  Sit quietly and use So Hum mantra saying to yourself So on inhalation and Hum on exhalation   This reduces mental turbulence and quiets the anxious, fearful, worried, and fretful mind

Have a great week      All the best   Dr Bill