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Cindy - Los Angeles.....Cindy was diagnosed in 1992 with IC. She had to be
catheterized when she was 3 years old because she could not urinate, so it seems
something was already brewing at an early age. Her symptoms working up to the
discovery that she had IC were that she had to urinate more than other people,
but she attributed that to the fact that she is a small person, and therefore
probably had a small bladder.
About a year before she went to Matia. She had a bad bladder
infection for which she took antibiotics. The infection went away. One year
later her frequency increased. One month later it really hit. She had terrible
pain in the bladder/vaginal area, which caused her to nearly pass out. The
doctor prescribed muscle relaxants but it got worse. She went to a gynecologist
who couldn’t find anything wrong. He prescribed antibiotics. Then she found a
female gynecologist who suggested that she see a urologist. He performed a
cystoscopy that day, at her insistence, in the office. It was extremely painful
but she wanted to know. She had been on Vicodan for quite some time for the
pain. IC was diagnosed. He informed her that all the treatments were a shot in
the dark. She tried DMSO once a week for about a year. She went on
Elavil also. This helped a little but she felt extremely drugged until she got
used to the drug after about 6 weeks. She tried antihistamines and many of the
bladder medications that are used for IC. She also started on Elmiron when it
was still in it’s experimental phase. After about 6-8 months of this the
symptoms started to subside and she cut down on the Vicodan. Side effects
developed from the Elmiron. Her hair started to fall out and she had ringing in
the ears. She went to an ear specialist who saw swelling and put her on
cortisone. It was a pharmacist who told her that it was Elmiron that was the
problem. Finally Cindy found Matia through a naturopathic pharmacy.
She actually went to Matia because she developed fibromyalgia. Matia suggested
that it was the Elmiron causing the ringing and recommended she ask her
prescribing doctor to assist her in getting off the Elmiron and all the
supplements she was taking, vitamins, etc. After she went of the Elmiron the
ringing went away. Matia actually did not start treating the IC because Cindy
told her that she was managing. Matia then promised her that she would help
her and work with her prescribing doctors to get her off her other medication.
This would be accomplished through herbs and they experimented with different
ones. At this time, Cindy started to go through menopause. She now had three
major ailments that Matia was treating.
Some of the herbs made her feel better, but then herbs would
be added to treat the hot flashes, which made her bladder feel worse. It was
trial and error finding the right combination. Matia prescribed a natural
progesterone cream, which eliminated the hot flashes. Finally, Matia found the
right combination. By this time Cindy had been off the Vicodan for over one
year after taking it for 4-7 years. A stool test was done and bacteria were
found which are common in IC patients. Matia then added herbs to kill the
bacteria. Overall it took between 1 and 1 ½ years for Cindy to
stabilize. She still has very mild symptoms, which are really nothing to
mention according to Cindy. Her frequency is down a lot.
Cindy believes that Matia has helped immensely. She did not
want to put any more synthetic drugs in her body and she knew they were not
helping her. She was determined to rid herself of the pain and her dependency
on drugs. Even though the herbs caused her a lot of problems at first, she knew
that Matia was going to help her, and she was determined to stick it out. Matia
kept telling her that she was going to help her and Cindy believed her. There
was nowhere else to go. It was blind faith. Cindy felt that Matia had a rare
knowledge of IC, and she is proof that Matia’s system works.
Cindy says that you have to have the will to get better also.
Being so sick in the past had allowed her not to take responsibility for a lot
of things and she decided that she did not want to use that excuse any more.
She knew that the drugs were possibly harming her. She would sit with Matia and
go over in detail what was going on in her body. Cindy would follow her
instructions including paying attention to her body. The more information Cindy
would provide Matia the easier it would be for her to help her.
Cindy cannot say enough about Matia. She is extremely gifted and has so much compassion
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Disclaimer: The
purpose of this site is for information only. We in no way intend to offer
medical advice. This is not the official site for BOMA-Med. This
site has been developed by patients of Dr. Brizman, because of their faith in
her work, the belief in the effectiveness of her treatment, and willingness to
inform others of an opportunity to recover from the ravages of Interstitial
Cystitis. |
