February 19, 2008

Before I begin to detail this incredible journey I wish to highlight that this is a testament of my “almost there” bladder-related story, and my “very there” in so many other ways story (to be addressed later).  But first to elaborate what the “almost there” bladder means: from the beginning of my treatment with Matia I kept a journal in which I would rate my days of bladder free symptoms: 100% obviously being no symptoms, 98% one mild symptom, not lasting long at all, 95%  -- 2 maybe 3 mild symptoms lasting around 10 – 15 minutes then gone. And so I would go down the percentage scale depending on the amount, duration and intensity of symptoms. Now the majority of my days is 100%. Once in a while I will have a 98% day and seldom I get a 95% day. I have not had anything less than 95% for a long time now. Do I believe that in due time I will experience 100% all the time-- yes!! And incase you are wondering why I am writing my story at this point and not when all my days are 100%, the reason is that I am so exhilarated (understatement) by my healing over the last two years that it warrants sharing it with others who are either contemplating treatment with Matia, or are already on their healing journey and are needing encouragement and support.  Many of these stories were so inspiring to me during my healing that I read them numerous times, especially on the days when my symptoms flared. I hope that my story will help to inspire, hearten and reassure others who are encountering IC that they too will heal.

My bladder history (I’ll try to be brief) is similar to many others who have been diagnosed with IC: as a child I had numerous bladder infections for reasons unbeknown to my doctors and urologists. I was on antibiotics so many times that I eventually developed an allergic reaction to one of the mainstream antibiotics usually prescribed for bladder infections. I had 3 bladder biopsies (painful) and all in vain.  The results gave no clues as to what was going on. As I got older I still got infections but they started to become more sporadic: probably only 2 or 3 per year.  Then in 2006 I got three infections within a space of 6 months. Antibiotics yet again!  (I was also under a lot of stress at work during this time). However, the third infection did not seem to want to clear up, so I was sent to an urologist who decided to put me onto a milder antibiotic for a month (despite that fact that at this point my urine was showing no signs of bacterial infection – odd I thought) and he told me to check back with him once the course was done. I felt no relief, and I was confused about this particular “UTI”. It felt very different to all the others I have had throughout my life. Eventually the diagnosis was done (by the urologist) – IC. I was devastated to put it mildly. I had done some research on this dis-ease and what I read was not pretty. I found out about an IC support group in my area (they treat with allopathic/western medicine) and I phoned them only to realize that this dis-ease is more ugly than I initially thought. And nobody seems gets better!! “It’s a life-long disease,” my urologist told me, and the women I spoke to at the IC support group confirmed this statement. I hit a depression – a bad one (no, I don’t usually get depressed – so this was one more thing I now had to deal with).  My urologist believed that one of my problems is that I have a small bladder and he needed to stretch it (under anesthetic) and then I would proceed with Elmiron (allopathic drug of choice for IC) and DMSO treatments. I made the appointment and ended up canceling it (just as well because once in treatment with Matia – I realized that my bladder can actually hold 3- 4 cups of liquid – yes I measured it ). Luckily for me, the majority of my friends are allopathic doctors, so I phoned them to ask advice. The first one told me,  “Oh, I know the dis-ease, my mother-in-law has had it for years and she is very miserable  -- and yes, she has been doing the DMSO and the Elmiron and no, she has had no improvement”. My other MD friend told me, “What your urologist wants to do seems very drastic – first try something gentler, use the drastic route as a last option.” These conversations were my saving grace. The first confirmed what I had read about western treatment options for IC – they don’t produce the results I was searching for. The second phone call encouraged me to keep looking for a gentler, yet exceptionally effective approach to healing. The search began and I stumbled across Matia’s website at 2 AM one morning. Upon reading about her approach to treatment and the results of her patients, I knew I had found the light in what at first seemed like an endless dark tunnel.  For those of you who watch Oprah – this was what she would call my “Aha moment”. I trusted my gut feeling and scheduled my first appointment with Matia in November 2006. The best move I have ever made and not one moment has passed that I have regretted entrusting my health to her. My initial symptoms were urethritis (something I had never experienced in all my bladder history of UTI – this was totally new to me and it was exceptionally uncomfortable), frequency, urgency, pain when my bladder was full or even slightly full, a constant feeling of “a dripping tap” in my bladder, strange sensations in my feet, and the most annoying constant dull urge. I also had to use the bathroom a couple of times at night. I started the diet in November of ’06 and within the first month of being on the diet, I was sleeping through the night. As the days and months progressed so did many of my symptoms start to diminish. My depression began to lift (pretty quickly once I started treatment and noticed results). I was on my healing journey, but like all journeys there are twists and turns and turbulences along the road. There were some good days, some OK days and some pretty bad days. On the bad days I would feel the depression wanting to sneak back in and I would start to doubt if I would ever get to this point of writing my story. My husband gave me some really good advice on bad days. He said: “Stay focused on the solution and not on the problem”. So that’s what I did. When I felt symptoms return, especially after having a good day, I would remind myself that I was working on the solution and this flare would pass, just like others had, and more good days would be on my pathway. When birthdays, and hence cake came around, or dinner parties and everyone was eating anything they desired whilst sipping a glass of wine, and I could not indulge, it took a lot of will power and strength to not sip that wine or eat that cake or chocolate etc. “Focus on the solution,” became my mantra and this got me through wishing I could be “normal” and eat and drink anything I desired like others do.

I remember when I was diagnosed how, “Why me God? What have I done to deserve this?” was trespassing my thoughts all the time. But now I know. Being diagnosed with an awful dis-ease, going through some form of denial and eventually accepting that my body was not functioning the way it should, led me to finding a truth inside me that I now believe is my destiny. Not a great way to come upon this truth, a milder awakening would have been great, but IC seems to be what God (or a Higher Being – whatever your preference is) believes I needed. Had it not been for IC, I would not have met Matia and encountered not just a healing, but also inspiration to embark on my newfound life’s purpose.

Throughout these last two years I have had plenty conversations with Matia, and still to this day every time I speak with her I am still “blown away” at her knowledge on the human body. She never ceases to amaze me. Everything I have asked her (and I have asked a lot) she has a profound answer. Her expertise goes far beyond just bladder health.       Matia has shown me how intertwined our bodies are: mentally, emotionally and physically.  I could write a book on how I have healed (not just my bladder) under her guidance and treatment, but considering this story is already very long, I will now have to be selective with some examples (which will be hard to do) on what all Matia has done for me: just before I was diagnosed with IC, I got weeping eczema only on my baby finger and only on one hand. I went to my doctor as well as a dermatologist who said I was allergic to the soap I was using. This really baffled me because I wash with both hands and all ten fingers – so how come only one finger was allergic and not the rest? Turns out the bladder meridian runs through the baby finger. Matia told me that as my bladder improved so would the eczema. She was right: bladder got better, eczema went away.  Before bladder days I treated the eczema with all sorts of OTC and prescription creams for many months and to no avail. I started treatment with Matia for my bladder and my isolated eczema heals!! Again before IC, I would wake up every morning feeling congested, this too healed. I was diagnosed with IBS as a young child and have battled with it for many, many years. When I told my urologist who diagnosed IC that I have IBS he said, “We have noted that many people with IC also have IBS but we have not made the connection.” Now I ask, “Why not?” If there is a pattern, why has allopathic medicine not addressed this? So many little things that ailed me (that I never ever associated with dis-ease) got better. This brings me to expand on how effective Matia’s approach to healing is. What she has shown me is that when we are diagnosed with dis-ease it is not isolated to one organ, because the body is so intertwined. Thus her treatment does not treat symptoms only, but focuses on whole health: mental, physical and emotional.  As you might have noticed I (like many others) write dis-ease with a hyphen because I now believe that “disease” is just that:   an un-“ease”, a disharmony, something not in sync with the whole. It makes sense that when one part of the body is symptomatic (in this case the bladder) the problem is not only there. Our bodies (cells, organs, tissues, blood, neurons etc) are all designed to support, heal, and strengthen the body. I recall hearing from my ob/gyn that she has come across many patients who have opted to have their bladders surgically removed hoping to find relief from IC, only to be disappointed. They still get “phantom” pain. This statement emphasizes the depth of Matia’s knowledge on this ailment. She recognizes that IC will not heal if only the symptoms are dealt with, that this dis-ease goes far beyond only one organ, that IC is not only located to the bladder but to the body being unbalanced and has thus stopped supporting itself. Knowing this, I now believe that those poor women who have surgically removed their bladders and now have “phantom” pain, points to the reality that IC is not only bladder related, and more intervention on assisting the body to find its inner strength to heal itself is needed. I honestly know that Matia provides this remedy. I totally believe that in many illnesses our bodies have the capabilities to heal itself, to return to its genesis of balance. Earlier I mentioned that when I started the diet, I wished I could be “normal” like others and eat and drink anything my heart desired, and now because of my enlightening journey with Matia I realize that I am “normal”. I think I am more “normal” now than I have ever been. On this pathway to discover the harmony and balance of my body I have also discovered the perfect harmony of nature and realized that Mother Earth has provided the best dessert on this earth. Better than any pie or any chocolate (before IC days I would eat a slab of chocolate every night – for real!). This heaven-on-earth dessert is called fruit. Phase one (the most difficult) of the diet (nothing sweet) really prepares the palate to appreciate God’s given dessert. The sweetest of all. When I took a bite of my first strawberry in months, I was elevated! I never knew strawberries tasted so incredibly delicious, and bonus – it does not make you fat like chocolate does and it has so many anti-oxidants!! What a fantastic way to eat – sweet and nourishing all in one go. No human-made product (pie, ice-cream, etc.) can top that. This revelation made me think about how far away we have pulled from nature and how this has become the root of so many illnesses and dis-eases. I started to read extensively on nutrition and diseases, and found many, many links. My passion for correct eating and body balancing increased so much that many of my friends and family were coming to me for nutritional eating advice. I finally had my answer to “God, why me?” and “What have I done to deserve this?” My newfound life purpose was at last clear to me: I am now in the process of studying to become a certified nutritionist and embarking on a PhD on Holistic Health.

In closing I want to take this opportunity to say, “Hang in there”. Yes, it is a tough journey: it reminds me of a movie that starts at the end. A movie that opens with the result of the preceding action, and at first we don’t understand, but as the film plays out and we see what led up to the situation the character is in; we eventually “get it”. You too will get your answers and your healings. What helped me along the way was to think about it this way: by the time the body becomes symptomatic (frequency, urgency, pain etc) the dis-ease has already been brewing for quite a while. Looking back now I realize that the eczema, the UTIs, the night-sweats (which by the way have also gone now ), the emotional flares, the IBS where all the preceding events that eventually erupted and peaked into IC. This journey was like watching that film that starts at the end and begins to unravel backwards as time goes on. The ailments (as listed above and there more) were the first to start healing (which makes sense now, as they were the fist to start ‘festering”) and then eventually when the rest of my body was strong enough again to help my bladder, it (my bladder) could then take that major, major leap onto the healing path as well. Once Matia had cleaned out all the preceding “scenes” (movie analogy) then the whole picture came together, and the end (the bladder which healed the last) justified the beginnings (the frustrations of the diet, the twists and turns of this dis-ease etc).  I know that this whole body healing, and the discovery of my newfound purpose would not have occurred had I not got IC, which ultimately led me to Matia. 

I speak my truth when I say that had it not been for Matia’s unfaltering care, incredible support: especially when I was fearful, her genuine concern, her dedication, and her incredible, incredible knowledge I don’t think I would be writing my success story. I thank God for her everyday!! Truly!