The Treatment Process - What To Expect.....

There is no short cut or easy way to get what we want.  In order to feel better we have to take a long and difficult path.  It takes willpower, commitment, patience and trust.

Traditional medicine dealing with disease is often about masking the symptoms, especially when the cause is unknown.  Chinese medicine, as applied here, is about allowing the body to strengthen and fight the disease.

Dr. Brizman's aim is to first cleanse the body, primarily of yeast and harmful bacteria, all the while nourishing and rebuilding.  There is an inherent weakness that needs to be addressed.  The cleansing process itself is not pleasant.  Yeast and bacteria are being killed off and the die-off can cause a great deal of discomfort. 

This is all accomplished by following an extremely strict diet, taking the prescribed herb mix and, if local, receiving regular acupuncture treatments.

The diet is described in “The Diet”. If local, the patient will receive regular acupuncture treatments.  As the treatment progresses the herbs are constantly adjusted to take into consideration the stage of the patient.  All the while Dr. Brizman is trying to cleanse while causing as little discomfort as possible.  This is not easy and, as we have said before, it is something the patient has to go through. The herbs administered throughout the process are nourishing and aimed at helping the body to fight the disease.  Later in the process, the herbs become more nourishing.  A patient will often be told they have never looked so good.  This is a bi-product of the herbs.

As in most treatments there can be side effects.  Die-off of yeast is not a pleasant experience, and listed below are some of the symptoms patients may experience.  Again, everyone is different and some patients may have mild effects of some of the symptoms.  Others may have stronger effects and may experience all of them and more.  Don’t panic.  They are normal and they will disappear when the die-off subsides.

Die-off symptoms include but are not limited to sore throat, burning scalp, dandruff/ flaking scalp/skin, dry skin/itching, acne, thirst, flu/cold like symptom including phlegm, fatigue, nasal drip in back of throat progressing to chest, temporary increased bladder symptoms, chills/fever, coughs, mild to, in some cases, severe stomach cramps, feelings of sadness/depression, bad breath, mild to, in some cases, severe dizziness, diarrhea/constipation, rashes, headaches, muscle aches, low back pain, foggy thinking, earaches/itching.

Everyone is so different that Dr. Brizman can only estimate the time taken by a patient to feel significantly better.  The average is about one year.  Some people do better much quicker and some much slower.  There will be ups and downs, but almost every patient realizes almost immediately that they are doing much better than they ever did on traditional medication.  As time goes on the downs will not be as low as they once were. 

As the patient improves they may notice that other problems they once had are also improving.  There are stories about menopausal symptoms improving, the pain from fibromyalgia decreasing, migraines disappearing, etc. 

As the symptoms lessen, Dr. Brizman introduces foods back into the diet.  This is done slowly, and sometimes needs to be changed as the body reacts or doesn’t react.  Eventually the patient can go back to a normal diet.  Almost!  No one should ever go back to the way they ate before.  But yes, you will be able to have your chocolate and a drink.  Everything in moderation.

Dr. Brizman’s goal is to make her patients as comfortable as possible while going through the process. 

As you go through treatment, you may also experience setbacks.  You think it is past you and then, you get a flare and you are discouraged.  Below is an explanation from Dr. Brizman of the reason for this:

I want to take a moment to interject a few thoughts about taking a natural approach to disease, especially with IC. 

The road to dealing with this awful illness is not easy; neither with Western medicine nor with Chinese medicine. Western medicine can do very little to mask the symptoms and Chinese medicine or any natural medicine for that matter is a process not a fix. 

IC is a problem with the whole body, not simply a problem with the bladder. By the time any of you have fallen ill with the symptoms of IC, it had been brewing inside of your bodies for a long time, years. Your immune systems have been breaking down over long periods of time until they simply give in at the point of the “last straw” so to speak. 

The most unfortunate part is that the organ in the obvious most distress, the bladder, must continue to be subjected to constant use around the clock. It cannot be placed in a cast or removed so that it can have the time it needs improve. Additional challenges are balancing these issues with whatever other health challenges you may need to have addressed. 

Between the rounds of die-off effects and the constant use that the bladder must endure, the natural result is ups and downs. However, over time, as you improve, you see that things change, they are less severe, they are different, and you can handle things that you could not before.  

Perhaps they are such subtle things such as needing less medication (if you are a severe case and this is part of your regimen), perhaps you are still experiencing frequency and urgency, but not having incontinence, perhaps your vulvadynia has disappeared, perhaps you are having more regular bowel movements, your bladder may be less horrific when it is full, you may be urinating every three hours instead of every hour. 

The signs of improvement are slow and steady as were the signs over time that led to your illness. Remember these things and check in with your body objectively to ascertain what has actually changed. Write things down if necessary so that you remember. It is very easy to let go of misery that has passed and to forget what was. Thank God for this, since, if our bodies were not capable of that, there would be no people on this earth, because women would not have second pregnancies! 

Lastly, remember, this is not a perfect scientific process. I am constantly working on making things go faster for each of you and in this endeavor, I sometimes do not make the perfect choices to achieve this. I promise you one thing, I am doing my best at all times and always have your best interests in my heart to get you feeling great again as quickly as possible. 

Many of you on this site started at the same time, you are at about the same spot on the road, you have a way to go yet. Try to concentrate on what you have let go of and focus less on what you are still enduring. Your bodies don’t lie, so tracking these points will help you access your own improvements.