June 2011
As time passes with patients who have made it through treatment, it is easy to begin feeling like you can do anything and the symptoms wont come back. It is easy to have that drink of wine each night, to eat that dessert on a regular basis, even to take medications like birth control pills.
This last month I had three patients come back who had been without symptoms for years. Each of their stories are different, but the common theme was...."I thought I could handle anything!" These stories involved birth control pills, sugar and alcohol.
Often patients will suffer from anxiety with IC, which, is understandable because when life presents you with a problem like IC, it is normal to be anxious. However, sometimes anxiety comes up because of substances one has taken to deal with his or her issues during treatment. I have seen several instances of that. And, lastly, often anxiety could be an underlying problem from childhood.
Today I spoke to a patient that I have not spoken to in a very long time and it reminded me of a really important issue.
is a confusing issue....
I realize that many people are concerned with the concept of alkalizing the body. And, indeed often the body is over acidic when in the state of IC. However, using methods to alkalize the body because of test stripping is a dangerous situation to get yourself into and can actually make your symptoms and your IC much worse.
