Happy Thanksgiving To All

Whether you’re traveling like myself to get together with family or your friends and family are right there in your hometown I wish you and our IC community the best of Thanksgiving 2013   When we share our gratitude we occupy a different plane of reality, away from the mundane, day to day schedules  So Thanksgivings give us a special time to express our gratitude for all that we have and to transcend the humdrum          DB

                                       Happy Thanksgiving  2013

IC Fatigue and 5 Things You Can Do About It

Some have asked about this problem of fatigue associated with the chronic bladder pain of the IC syndrome  It is natural to have fatigue if you have a chronic disease associated with pain  And of course all of us want more energy in our lives  But to make the association of pain and fatigue is simplistic at best and will not get you closer to dealing with the problem of the pain most of the time

Pain IC and Fatigue:  An Energy Science Perspective

So pain and fatigue are not related as to cause  The association is true true unrelated  Yes you have fatigue, and yes have pain but they may not be intimately related  It’s like someone owning a dog doesn’t mean they own a cat as well

Because of this one has to find out the cause of the fatigue which may and often times is different than the pain

And it’s equally simplistic to relate the disease of IC to the fatigue  Although any chronic illness can lead to fatigue, there are many reasons that the mindbody essentially gets drained and fatigue sets in  So the fatigue can be treated and it may not necessarily help with the IC  Therein lies the root cause of the fatigue that one experiences and from there the root cause is treated

In actuality both problems, fatigue and IC pain from an energy science view have to be treated separately and the treatment of the fatigue may not necessarily help with the IC

What’s The Root Cause of the Fatigue?

Soo…… I wish there was a nice simple answer to this question of fatigue but it comes in all shapes and sizes and one shoe doesn’t fit all  But let’s dive deeper into the various causes of fatigue  There are two broad categories of causes of fatigue  If you get close to these you have come a long ways in understanding your fatigue

In looking at the mindbody in terms of the energy patterns of Vata, Pitta, and Kapha, the fatigue can be as a result of any form of imbalance of each of the three patterns or importantly their combinations  An imbalance of the energy pattern of Vata is usually brought about by exhaustion from overwork, travel, burning the candle at both ends, or not respecting your work capability  This last type of factor is largely ignored in a culture where everyone should be able to work “pedal to the metal”  But it’s clear from an energy perspective that each of us know our work limitations based on our mindbody energy makeup  If you know that about yourself then you can either do things to help maximize your endurance and stamina or back off when you’ve pushed too far  People who “burn themselves out” know none of this and is the reasons for fatigue in cultures all over the world

Another reason for fatigue that’s poorly understood in the matter science tradition is the role of digestive strength and how it can lead to reduced energy   As I’ve written about in previous posts, the energy  mindbody is like a battery  If you drain the battery so it has no reserve, then it will likely fail in cold weather  The same is true for digestion and  stamina/endurance  If the digestion is weak then stamina/endurance inevitably over time will suffer, no matter what age  The care of digestion is a major determinant of health in the energy science world of healing since all disease begins in the GI tract

5 Things to Begin Reducing Fatigue

1 Get to bed early  Vata 930  Pitta 1030  Kapha 1100  If you’re two primary patterns then you can fudge the times

2 Take time for self nurturing   I mean really take time  Get up early enough so that you can begin the day with this aspect of self care

3 If you have symptoms after eating such as heaviness, gas bloating, feeling like you haven’t digested the meal 3-4 hours after eating then use ginger pickle to help improve your digestive strength   A slice of ginger one inch in diameter and 1/2 inch thick with lime juice and salt

4 Breathing techniques(called pranayam) can also improve the energy body’s stamina and endurance

5 Specific yoga asana(postures) can promote grounding, reduce heat, and energize the mindbody

All the best    Love DB

Baking Soda and IC: Is There Value?

Since flares are related to mounting inflammation in the mindbody and acidity is a primary source of the hot quality as a result of the sour taste in foods it makes sense that you would use alkalinity to reverse the process

And many people with IC bladder pain, GERD, IBS, and fibromyalgia  swear by it

Recently a client told me about alkaline water   It brought back memory of my friend’s picture seen to the left  It is indeed stranger than fiction

Now under the right conditions with minor acidity, using baking soda could be of value  It’s just that it’s very difficult to alkalinize the physiology acutely  It would take a lot to alkanize the body and help it feel better

That’s why baking soda is questionable value

It’s like the cranberry juice story  Some people swear by it but overall the approach doesn’t make much sense from an energy science view

So is there value?  The energy science of Ayurveda says that everything in Nature is medicine and I think you can see that if the right circumstances are there it might work but the percentages are against this being a permanent solution but a temporary bandaid

All the best to solving IC      To Health as a Skill  Dr Bill

Practical Aspects of Detoxification

Our readers often posit questions about the painful bladder syndrome or IC  that I think are valuable for our community  In this week’s blog I wanted to address some of them that have come up about recently posted blog topics

Why Detoxification?

It is wonderful to see that you have such a clear grasp of IC and its many forms. I would love to hear more about the bowel connection (yes I have IBS as well) as well as the step required for detoxification

Recent studies have suggested that IBS is associated with IC 80% of the time   I believe it’s 100% and the reason for the discrepancy is that the other 20% don’t have symptoms severe enough to be classified as IBS   The reason I can be so sure about this is because from the energy science point of view the model says that all disease begins in the gastrointestinal tract(GIT)

With this perspective let’s explore what happens when the GIT gets sick   Since the digestive power of the GIT is reduced foods are not digested completely   This debris of undigested food is called ama in energy science terms

This ama is toxic to the tissues and is carried throughout the body to various areas that are predisposed to disease for a specific individual  In the case of IC this material lodges in the urinary bladder and holds the qualities of hot and mobile so they cannot be released

This sets up the cycle of chronic IC  with its attendant intermittent flares that ebb and flow in the energy body

One of the primary keys in dealing with IC is to start to recover the GIT   If you become fixated on the bladder symptoms, this process of healing will be ineffective  We must take into account the health of the GIT

What Does Detox Look Like and How Can I Start

So what is the detoxification look like? I know it’s different for each person, but can you give us some ideas?

As you said there are many different aspects of detoxification based on the individuals energy pattern makeup as one goes deeper into the process but things that everyone can do at the onset of this kind of work is follow the nutritional format appropriate for one’s mindbody makeup(foodsheal.com)or the icdiet.com pacifying nutritional format; avoid incompatible food combinations(also at foodsheal.com); follow a day in balance going to bed early getting up early and eating your biggest meal at noon; using aloe vera gel 2T three times per day
These seem so simple to do yet it takes a lot of discipline to adhere to the work  Do these steps and you’re on your way to beginning the process in healing your IC by removing stagnant energy in your physiology

All the best in your journeys                         Love DB

Understanding Chronic Debilitating IC and 5 Things to Do

In the practice of medicine no disease is really the same as someone else’s disease  They all have their nuances of differences   And this is true of IC

No IC bladder pain syndrome is the same from one individual to another  Some have more anxiety and frequency while others have more burning and spasm  Some have other skin and eye conditions associated with their IC  Some are fortunate enough to have a few nonbacterial  “UTIs” and then things seem to rectify themselves and they never have symptoms again

Others are debilitated with symptoms and cannot function  So what’s the definition of chronic IC

The Stratification of IC

The reason that it’s difficult to assess the true prevalence of IC in a given population is that symptoms of the condition can vary widely  Some may have very localized symptoms to the bladder/pelvis and may dissipate over time for one reason or another

Some may struggle with symptoms and then with modifications to diet or using suggested remedies by friends or physicians the symptoms again gradually dissipate over time

These populations of patients are not counted typically in the IC longitudinal surveys  And then there are the men and children affected by the same voiding and pelvic dysfunction that has not as yet been labeled as IC   So you can see that the prevalence of IC may far be underestimated

But then who’s left?  Typically in studies the people with chronic symptoms congregate to form study populations  So what’s chronic IC?

Definition of Chronic IC

Admittedly due to the lateness of detection typically patients have progressed far enough along in their symptom complex that chronicity is part of the picture   Importantly the earlier a clinician can intervene with nutritional information and lifestyle the more likely that the IC will not go onto chronic debilitating disease

Chronic Debilitating IC Definition:  Bladder and/or pelvic pain for greater than 3 years that is constant and that has persisted and increased in intensity and has urologically and gynecologically been shown to have no obvious cause(eg tumor,cancer, bladder stone, ureteral disease)

Now this time frame is arguable but you get the picture that there has to be enough time to establish a pattern of chronicity  This of course is almost always(unless there is relentless pain) punctuated with acute flares

The Value of a Definition

It’s always nice to know where you are on the spectrum of any disease  But even more valuable is to give you an appreciation of what to expect in getting better

Getting better?  Wait, this disease is treatable but not curable   Currently what “treatable” means is that another groping bandaid is applied to try to manage the symptoms   Having trouble?  Try a shortstay in the outpatient surgical unit for a bladder fulguration  Or perhaps low dose Valium

So if one’s open to getting better with IC then you should want to know what to expect

Real Healing Takes Time   The No Bandaid Approach

As you know disease is not created overnight  The imbalance that creates the disease in the body takes time  But slowly but surely the symptoms become full blown and relief is required  So here are 5 things that you should understand and be willing to do if you want to manage your IC effectively

1  Patience and being in it for the long haul    So if you really get this then you realize that it will take time to reverse the imbalance that created the disease in the first place   What’s the time frame?  For every year of imbalance it will take 2 months for the disease course to reverse itself   For example, if you’ve been having problems with symptoms since 1999 then that’s at least 14 years of imbalance exposure which would mean 28 months or +2 years of work  Interestingly most people with IC are an impatient bunch  “I don’t have time to wait for healing to occur  I’ve got things to do, places to go, and people to see”   If you know that about yourself then you have the chance for being more patient about results There is no magic pill with this disease!

2 Choose a healing discipline that can deliver  Obviously the matter science approach with it bandaid approach isn’t working(interstim, bladder distentions, pharmaceuticals)  The energy science approach can affect change but it takes time   Of clinical significance is the now recognized association of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome with chronic IC(1)  As IC progresses in its chronic state it’s apparent that patients get sicker  It is at this stage of the disease that the matter science approach to healing comes to a complete standstill in terms of options  It is at this point that the  energy science model of healing can take over due to its understanding of the origin of disease

4 Understand a multifaceted approach to disease  There are many causes that brought about the symptom complex of IC  So realize that it will take many different avenues of treatment  So it’s not just one drug(elmiron) or one procedure(interstim) but a multiplicity of interventions from a therapeutic standpoint to bring about change in symptoms

5 Toxicity  Realize that part of the process of healing is detoxification that comes along with the balancing process that occurs with the clearance of symptoms  As a matter of fact the reason that the qualities that produce IC cannot be eliminated from the pelvis is that the toxic load in the pelvis holds them there  So detoxification is mandatory if you are to get relief  But what is detoxification in the mainstream press is not anything close to what real detox is

(1)J Urol. 2010 Oct;184(4):1358-63. doi: 10.1016/j.juro.2010.06.005. Epub 2010 Aug 17

All the best in healing         To Health as a Skill      Dr Bill