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Lisa - Southern California
I am currently nineteen years old, and although many people admit to this stage in life as being stressful, I think that I have had a particularly tough time. In the past two and a half years, my parents got divorced, two of my grandparents died, and I got appendicitis and had to have an appendectomy. I moved in with my martial arts teachers to be a part of an advanced training program, but I was unable to train due to unexplainable hyper mobility in nearly all my joints. I moved twice more, totaling 3 moves within one year. I frequently got sick, even though before the age of 16 I never got sick at all. I had also been a vegetarian since the age of twelve, and my busy lifestyle really prevented me from eating well.
Then in the spring of 2003 I began to get urinary tract infections on a fairly regular basis. My doctor placed me on antibiotics which would somewhat lessen yet not completely take care of my symptoms. I figured that this treatment was fine, as there were bacteria in my urine samples. But all throughout the summer the UTIs never went away. My doctor suggested that I go on a low dose of antibiotics for several months, but I refused as bacteria stopped showing up in my lab results and nothing he was doing seemed to help the pain I was experiencing. I even dropped out of my fall semester of college because the pain in the mornings was too much to deal with in a classroom.
In December 2003 I was referred to a urologist, who diagnosed me with interstitial cystitis. He put me on Elmiron and Detrol, and said to come back in three months to see how things were working. I did my own research of IC, and found that there was really no cure. I have never been a very patient person for things that seemed useless to me, and I really had no desire to wait around to see if the medications would work. Then I found this website about Matia, and decided that that would be the only thing to help me.
I first saw Matia in January of 2004, and knew after our first visit that she would be able to help me. I’m very fortunate that I only live in San Diego, so I was able to meet her in person at least once. I wasn’t skeptical of Chinese medicine, but I also wasn’t very familiar with it, and Matia did a really good job of explaining everything to me. Before this first visit, I was truly starting to convince myself that all of my problems were just in my head, because none of them made sense. But Matia linked all of the problems that I had been experiencing and related them all to my bladder. I knew this was the answer I had been searching for; I had spent the past two years in and out of doctor’s offices who really had no explanation and no cures for my joint problems, bladder issues, or anything else.
There were so many things that Matia asked me that day that it’s no wonder no one else could possibly understand why such bad things were happening to me, someone who never used to get sick or injured at all. They never looked at the big picture. But when I spoke with Matia, I really saw how my flawed vegetarian diet, along with too much stress and too many antibiotics really just devastated my body.
When I left her office that day, I knew that I had a lot of work to do to undo all the physical and mental stresses I had put on my body, but I was completely motivated. When I started the diet, I really didn’t see what everyone complained about. Sure I missed sugar and some of my comfort foods, but I felt so amazing that it really didn’t bother me. My IC had always been fairly mild, but all of the pain, frequency and urgency really lessened. I also had a ton more energy, which I attribute to eating meat and no junk food. I felt like a completely new person. Everyone said I looked better than they had ever seen me, and I agreed. I was always in a good mood, and I could really feel myself getting better.
Over the months, things slowly got better. The longer I was on the diet the better I felt, and I could go days without feeling any pain in my bladder. I have definitely had my ups and downs though. I had my wisdom teeth out, and wasn’t able to eat anything solid for over two weeks. I only managed to eat soft things like pudding and yogurt, and after I got off the pain medication for my teeth I definitely felt the consequences of my food choices in my bladder. Other than that though, I’ve never really cheated. The hardest thing for me has been having the time to cook. I was always used to eating out or just grabbing snacks to go, which really doesn’t mesh well with the diet. There have definitely been times when I have rationalized certain foods that I probably shouldn’t have, simply because I didn’t have time to cook for myself. I feel sure that if I had been as energetic over the past eleven months as I was during the first two months I would be completely cured by now. But even despite the fact that I have not been one hundred percent perfect on the diet, I know that I am slowly nearing the finish line. There are times that I regret not being able to stay home to cook for myself, but at the same time I feel blessed that I can be out and about, enjoying life as I should have been before.
It’s almost funny though, because in many ways I am glad to have gone through this experience. I’m sure if I never even had IC symptoms I would still be a vegetarian with joint problems and minimal energy. Although getting diagnosed with IC brought me to an all time low in my life, I am so much better than I ever was before. I have even decided to begin a master’s program for Oriental medicine in the fall, as I have been so moved by this whole experience. It makes me absolutely thrilled to think that one day I could help people turn their lives around like Matia has done for me, as well as be able to uphold my own health throughout the process.
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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. |
