My name is E. J.  I am 41 years old and have been living with I.C. for several years.  I am now symptom-free 99% of the time.  I owe my newfound life and restored health and happiness to Dr. Brizman.  Here is my story.

A few years after the birth of my daughter, I began experiencing a variety of health problems. This was quite alarming to me because up until this point I was an extremely healthy, athletic, and energetic person.  It started with hair loss.  The hair on my legs stopped growing.  I started losing my eyelashes and my eyebrows and soon the hair on my head began to thin dramatically.  I got all kinds of tests done.  I went to the top hair-loss specialist in NYC.  The tests came back inconclusive and the specialist had no answers for me. 

Shortly thereafter I began feeling extremely exhausted all of the time. It got to the point where I could barely get up in the morning.  I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and spent the next year in bed.  I found a nutritionist who specialized in CFS.  I followed her diet, took herbal supplements, and recovered most of my energy.

Within several months, however, I began experiencing problems with my bladder.  Frequency and urgency were my initial symptoms.  I assumed that I had a urinary tract infection and went to my doctor.  Even though the tests came back negative, my doctor prescribed antibiotics.  This went on for about a year.  My tests always came back negative, and my doctor still prescribed antibiotics.   

Soon, the antibiotics were no longer working.  Then the symptoms began getting more severe.  The frequency and urgency were coupled with intense bladder pressure and extreme pelvic pain.  Even walking short distances caused me great discomfort. Every time I urinated, my urethra felt like it was on fire.  Within a few months, I was having great difficulty urinating at all.   

My quality of life was rapidly deteriorating.  I was getting up in the middle of the night so many times that I began to sleep in the bathroom. Most nights, I did not sleep at all.  In the day, I was in the bathroom every 15 minutes—and that was a good day! 

My wardrobe completely changed.  I was used to wearing jeans my entire life.  Suddenly, anything touching my abdomen was terribly uncomfortable.  The only thing I could wear was oversize dresses.   

Sex became impossible.  Sexual intercourse was excruciating and heightened my bladder symptoms exponentially.  Even if I managed to achieve an orgasm through alternative means, I was left with a stabbing pain in my urethra and clitoris for hours afterwards.   

Although I was not incontinent, I was so afraid that I would not make it to the bathroom in time that I began to wear adult diapers. It was especially humiliating and agonizing trying to explain this to my then four-year-old daughter. Soon it began to be too difficult for me to leave my apartment.  It was all I could do just to take my daughter to and from school each day.  I missed all family events, friends’ parties, trips, movies, and our family Thanksgiving tradition of attending the Macy’s Day Parade.  

Within a short period of time, I began experiencing additional symptoms.  My hip joints began to hurt constantly and became extremely stiff.  I began forgetting the names of common objects.  I had difficulty recognizing my neighbors and recalling the names of my friends and family. I also began to have allergic reactions to the most common foods.  I began to break out in hives all over my body regularly after meals and snacks.  I soon had to make the difficult decision to close down my highly successful baking business because I was just too sick.  

By this time, I had gone to countless doctors (urologists, gynecologist/urologists, gynecologists, and allergists.)  Most told me that my problems were psychological and that I had to retrain my bladder because I had simply gotten into the “bad habit” of urinating too frequently. Others wanted to drug me up to relieve the pain and reduce the bladder symptoms or to have me catherize myself daily and inject a medicine that would coat the lining of my bladder. One doctor even considered removing my bladder altogether! 

On Thanksgiving evening, 2003, I was rushed to the emergency room in anaphylactic shock after taking a sulfur drug that my doctor had prescribed to me for my bladder symptoms. I was dying and I remember thinking that I wanted to die and be done with this body that was quickly deteriorating and in endless pain.  Luckily, I survived and went straight to the Internet in search of alternatives to all the other Western conventional IC treatments.  (Incidentally, not one doctor diagnosed me with IC.)  This is how I discovered Dr. Brizman.   

The testimonial website that her patients had set up was the first time I had ever heard of people recovering from IC.  I was incredibly excited and full of hope.  Dr. Brizman’s own website was both illuminating and a bit sobering—the diet seemed rather extreme (I was a vegan for 10 years and had not eaten meat for 20.  I lived on almost all of the foods that were now apparently forbidden in this treatment.)  Also, the treatment seemed long and it seemed strange to be working with a doctor over the phone.  But, I had no other viable alternative. Western medicine had failed me and I was willing to try anything.  Luckily, we got back some tax-refund money and used it for my initial consult with Dr. Brizman and my first round of herbs.   

I cannot write or talk about Dr. Brizman without crying.  Talking to her on the phone the first time was a truly moving experience.  She was the first person I had talked to, since I had become sick, that understood what I was going through.  Dr. Brizman is a gentle, thoughtful, honest, empathetic, intelligent, reassuring, compassionate, and personal doctor.  She explained everything to me without being patronizing or dismissive.  I felt like I was talking to a friend.  All the questions that I had over the previous 18 months were answered—even the embarrassing ones about sex! (Her recommendations for dealing with flare-ups really worked!) We were on the phone for several hours and in that time I learned that I was not going crazy and that all my symptoms (bladder, hair loss, joint pain, memory loss, allergies) were related to each other.  They were all symptoms of the underlying causes of IC.  

Within 3 days of going on the new diet, my symptoms were reduced by 50%!!!!  (Although the first time I ate fish—filet-of-sole—I felt like I was competing in a Vegan Fear Factor final test!)  After a few months of experimenting with the herbs, my symptoms were reduced by over 85%!!!  I was out and about.  I was pain-free most of the time.  I was only getting up once a night to use the bathroom.  I was no longer wearing diapers.  I could actually wear my jeans again. Even if I never got any better than this I would have been happy.  

Now, I must be honest with you all.  I have followed this diet to the T.  I never cheated—not even once.  (Well, O.K., maybe once.  I tried a face cream that Dr. Brizman strongly discouraged me to use. My face immediately swelled-up like a bright red balloon and all the skin peeled off one week later!)  I lived on only a few kinds of foods for almost 11 months. I lost a lot of weight in the beginning of this diet.  (I went down to 98 pounds.) I have since regained it all once I was able to add some carbohydrates back into my diet.  I have had nothing but water to drink in 13 months.  I have had no sugar of any kind or refined grains or fermented foods.  I had my first piece of fruit 11 months into the treatment.  I am now 13 months into treatment.  I am eating almost all vegetables, nuts and beans, and whole grains again.  I am able to eat a few kinds of fruit.  I am able to go out to eat.  I must still include an animal protein in each of my meals. I have not had hives in almost a year. My hip joints are completely back to normal and my memory is greatly improved. 13 months into treatment with Dr. Brizman, I am symptom-free 99% of the time. (I still get a very minor flare-up around the time I ovulate.) And, Dr. Brizman just gave me the green light to try and get pregnant again! 

I now have phone appointments with Dr. Brizman every eight weeks.  She is incredibly accessible.  If I have a question in between appointments, I simply shoot her an email. Dr. Brizman replies in 24 hours and usually sooner than that.  She is very available in case of an emergency.  Dr. Brizman has always been calm, comforting, reassuring and positive even in my scariest moments in the treatment when I experienced a temporary setback, a severe flare-up, or an unusual symptom.  Dr. Brizman treats each patient as an individual.  She develops a treatment program for you based on your particular symptoms and medical history.  Dr. Brizman hand-makes to order the herbal formulas she prescribes to you.  She has even developed a line of health and hygiene products that are safe for IC patients to use! 

I remember being somewhat skeptical at first when I read the stories other patients wrote about Dr. Brizman.  They were so full of praise and miraculous recoveries that I was worried that this was all a scam or that Dr. Brizman was some kind of strange medical guru who seduced desperate ICers into becoming forever emotionally and medically dependant on her.  Well, nothing could be farther from the truth.  Dr. Brizman is the real deal.  If you follow her treatment diligently you will get better in eight months to three years.  If your insurance does not cover this treatment, and you are financially strapped, I encourage you to do what I did and find another means to pay for it (e.g. borrow the money from family or friends.)  Dr. Brizman has always found a way to make the treatment both most cost effective and medically efficient for me.  Her intention is to get you back to a normal, healthy, and productive life as quickly as possible—not to drain you of your life savings. 

This past Thanksgiving, I attended the Macy’s Day Parade with my husband and my daughter for the first time in two years.  I was sandwiched in a crowd of thousands for more than four hours. I never once had to leave to use the bathroom.  I never thought about it at all. There I was watching my daughter laugh at the clowns, clap with the bands and cheer for all her favorite cartoon character balloons.  I couldn’t stop laughing and crying myself.  It was astonishing for me to think that just one year before I was lying in a hospital emergency room bed hooked up to IV’s with doctors frantically trying to save my life while all I could do was pray for death. This Thanksgiving I had a lot to be thankful for—a great husband, an adorable daughter, and my restored health and happiness.  I was and am especially thankful for my good fortune in finding Dr. Brizman.  Because of Dr. Brizman, I have my life back again. 

In peace, 

E.J.