First Line of Defence for ICers with IBS

Hello fellow ICers!  Welcome back to my blog!  If it's your first time here, make sure to look through all of my posts for helpful information about diet, treatment, medications and other tips for coping and living with IC.

Today what I would like to talk about is my struggle with IC + IBS and how mint tea saved my life.  I  suffered from IBS-C (constipation) for most of my life.  I was officially diagnosed when I was in high school and after that I was able to manage it with diet, exercise and digestive enzymes.  Things got more complicated after I got IC but I was still for the most part able to manage it.

A couple of years ago, for the first time ever after a virus and a two week stay in the hospital, everything changed and I was re-diagnosed with IBS-D (diarrhea).  No matter what I did, no matter what I ate, it led to unbearable diarrhea that lasted for about a year.  I lost about 35 lbs, was completely bedridden and miserable and got to a point where my will to live was fading quickly.

I was constantly losing dangerous amounts of electrolytes, especially potassium (which ICers are generally low on because they are sensitive to it), and I was having to take compounded potassium and eat painful things in order to survive.  I had loperamide (Imodium) compounded so it didn't cause an IC flare and found myself taking it constantly.  One day was particularly bad and I had taken a lot. My ears started ringing along with a bunch of other startling symptoms so I looked up the maximum dose and counted how many I had taken.  It was way over the maximum.  I called poison control and they called me an ambulance.  Yes, I had accidentally overdosed out of my desperation to stop the diarrhea.

During this time, because of how skinny I had gotten (not 'good' skinny --> scary looking sick skinny), I couldn't even take my regular pain relief medications because it would suppress my breathing too much and even some of my doses had to be lowered because of that hazard.  As if that wasn't enough, my surgeon who implanted my Interstim was threatening to remove it entirely because every part of it was sticking out of my body and pushing and grinding against my tailbone.  He demanded I gain weight and gave me a short timeline saying he would remove it if I didn't gain at least 15 lbs.  I had been trying to gain weight but every attempt left me crying in the bathroom with horrible diarrhea; it was worse now since every time I had taken even one loperamide after the overdose I would get dizzy so I got scared and cut them out entirely.

I was well versed on everything concerning IBS-C but I was admittedly ignorant when it came to IBS-D so I started doing research.  When my research produced "peppermint tea" as something that not only helped IBS but also was "generally okay" for ICers, I mustered my bravery and tested it.  Even though it was organic, even though it was one ingredient and I had taken a lot of Prelief, it hurt. BUT it helped stop the diarrhea.  So, I started drinking it - I would only leave it in hot water for one minute so it was very weak and wouldn't hurt as much but would still help.  I went on like this for several months.  When something I was eating that was high calorie would set off the diarrhea, instead of taking a bunch of loperamide, I would be guzzling several giant mugs worth of mint tea.  I had to accept that this was my fate and if I wanted to live that it would be in this heightened state of pain from drinking the mint tea.

One day, I wasn't able to get the brand that I had been using from the beginning.  So, I hesitantly got another kind.  I had my first sip and it tasted way different - much more like peppermint even though I had left it in for that short one minute mark.  It was actually really delicious - something that I would drink even if I could have other kinds.  I routinely braced myself for the extra pain after the first sip and it never came.  I was bewildered.  I started taking big gulps and bracing myself once again and nothing.  😕

I figured that it had to be some kind of a fluke and like the somewhat stubborn person I am, the next day I didn't take the teabag out after that one minute mark.  I let the it soak longer than I ever had.  When I tasted how strong it was I started to think I was a psycho for even putting myself at risk for the kind of pain I was inevitable to feel in the minutes following.  I held on waiting for that ocean of pain to overwhelm me.  Nothing.  How could this be?  It honestly took me until several boxes later to accept that this kind was just different and that it would never hurt me, no matter how strong it was.  Even though at first I was extremely skeptical and suspicious, now I see it for what it is/was:  my saviour.

I was able to eat now without ANY diarrhea, so long as I always drank Choice Organic Peppermint Tea.  It is years later and I still drink several cups of this amazing brand of mint tea every single day. I have had to make some adjustments to my diet, of course, to accommodate for the new diagnosis and if I don't have mint tea with what I'm eating (regardless of what it is) I will get diarrhea again but I haven't had to take ANY loperamide in years - nor would I!  This mint tea works better than ANY amount of Imodium EVER did.  And it doesn't add any chemicals or potentially dangerous medical ingredients to your system!  It saved my life.  I was able to gain back my weight so I could take my pain medications again, digest and absorb the nutrients in my food, keep my Interstim implant and not live in the bathroom and just in bed.  I can leave the house now and when I'm going to be out for a long time, I just bring some mint tea with me!

I hope that those of you who try this brand are like me and have ZERO pain (even with an empty stomach, even with drinking nothing else, even with no Prelief or other aid).  I don't want to tarnish another brand so I'm not mentioning which one was causing me pain, but if you haven't tried this and haven't had success with mint tea, I encourage you to try it and please report your results!  Living with IC + IBS can be difficult, but if I can figure it out, I promise you, so can you.

Sincerely,

Kat 😘

IC Friendly Organic Cereals

Hello fellow ICers!  Welcome to my blog!  If this is your first time here, make sure to take a look at all of my past posts for recipes and other tips and information at the side bar for helpful links! 😊

Before I started suffering from IC and became diagnosed (both in 2008), I was a HUGE cereal girl.  It wasn't just for breakfast and I used to have at least 6 different kinds constantly in my cupboard at university.  I was obsessed.  When I found out I could no longer eat ANY of my favourite cereals, I was devastated.  Anyhow, it has taken years and a lot of shopping and searching but I have found all of these cereals to be very IC friendly.  All of them are great with some fresh organic blueberries on top.  I only use lactose free milk and generally it's skim but sometimes I can get away with 1%.  Let me know what you think! 😊

Nature's Path Honey'd Corn Flakes

Ingredients:  Organic corn meal and/or Organic yellow corn flour, Organic granulated sugar cane juice, Organic honey, Sea salt.



>> For this cereal, I take 5-6 Prelief

Nature's Path Crispy Rice



















Ingredients:  Organic brown rice flour, Organic granulated sugar cane juice, Seat salt, Organic molasses

>> For this cereal, I take 5-7 Prelief

Nature's Path Rice Puffs

Ingredient:  Organic brown rice

>> For this cereal, I take 0-2 Prelief

Kashi Organic Promise Simply Maize

Ingredients:  Organic whole grain corn, Organic dried cane syrup, Salt, Organic molasses

>> For this cereal, I take 8-10 Prelief

PC Organics Crunchy Corn

Ingredients:  Organic cornmeal, Organic evaporated sugar cane juice, Sea salt

>> For this cereal, I take 5 Prelief



PC Organics Wheat Squares





















Ingredients:  Organic whole grain whole wheat flour, Organic brown sugar, Organic barley malt extract, Sea salt

>> For this cereal, I take 5-7 Prelief

365 Everyday Value Organic Frosted Flakes

Ingredients:  Organic milled corn, Organic cane sugar, Sea salt

>> For this cereal, I take 5-8 Prelief

365 Everyday Value Organic Bran Flakes

Ingredients:  Organic whole wheat, Organic wheat bran, Organic cane sugar, Organic barley malt extract, Sea salt

>> For this cereal, I take 6-8 Prelief

365 Everyday Value Organic Corn Flakes

Ingredients:  Organic milled corn, Organic cane sugar, Sea salt

>> I don't eat this version of corn flakes since I like the other one mentioned better (though I have tested it before successfully) but if I were to eat it, I would take 5 Prelief

Organic Oatmeal

Ingredient:  Organic whole grain rolled oats

>> For oatmeal I take 0-3 Prelief

If you decide to try any of these cereals for the first time please let me know how it goes in the comments below!  I hope that none of you have trouble with any of them - don't forget to take your Prelief!  And if you haven't tried Prelief yet, that should be the first thing on your list - trust me.

Happy testing everyone!  😊

The Low Oxalate Diet

When I was first diagnosed post-surgery in 2008, the first thing my surgeon suggested was going on a low oxalate diet.  This is also frequently recommended to patients who have a history of kidney stones. 

Finding a reliable source that had definitive information about the amount of oxalate in foods proved to be more difficult that I expected.  Thankfully, I found "TheLow Oxalate Cookbook, Book Two" by the VP Foundation.  This book contains reliable information on oxalate from years of scientific testing.  Please note that this is not an IC-friendly cookbook – just a low oxalate cookbook and I am not recommending trying any of the recipes contained in this book because of that. 

Oxalate is found in foods from plant sources and has been known to contribute to a number of genital, urinary, skin, rectal, muscle, bowel, and general body pain and irritation.  Specifically for those with IC, it can exacerbate urinary urgency, frequency, inner-bladder and urethral burning and pain, and vulvodynia.  From what I have found speaking to others with IC over the years (and from personal experience), a low oxalate diet is most effective at improving/curing vulvodynia. 

The Low Oxalate Cookbook, Book Two, recommends that one should try to limit consumption of oxalate from foods and beverages to ~40-60 mg/day.  Participants in the pain study they conducted reported that over time, they were able to gradually increase the amount of oxalate in their diet without pain.  I have found this to be true.  I stayed on a strictly low oxalate diet for approximately 1.5 years and then gradually increased the amount of oxalate in my daily diet over about a year. *

*During this time I was taking Elmiron 100 mg three times a day and also doing frequent Uracyst and lidocaine 1% bladder instillations, which both improve IC.

Although there are many similarities in an IC-friendly diet, so much varies from person to person, so I will provide a selective list of low, medium and high oxalate foods based on what I can eat (which will be highlighted) and some foods that other ICers I have talked to or read about have found okay.  Before going on a low oxalate diet, however, I implore you to do the Elimination Diet first.  It might be smart to test only the low oxalate foods at first.  I have done theElimination Diet about 4 times and have re-tested foods over the years – in some cases, I have been able to add foods into my diet that I found I couldn't eat when I tested them previously (obviously the medication I'm taking and the treatment I'm doing is helping).

When looking over the list – especially the highlighted foods that I can eat – please keep in mind that I take Prelief with everything I eat (the amount I take depends on the food) and I also take Lactaid Ultra when I have anything containing lactose. 

Everything highlighted with a * beside it means that I can only eat it if it's organic.  I'd say about 95% of my food has to be organic or it will cause inner bladder pain and I highly recommend switching to organic if you can.  It makes a huge difference – trust me, you will feel it.

	Low Oxalate	Medium Oxalate	High Oxalate
Beverages (1 cup)	Chamomile tea* Peppermint tea*
Fats & Oils (1 tablespoon)	Canola oil* Vegetable oil Olive oil
Fruits	Avocado* Lychee Honeydew melon* Pears* Yellow plums Mango (I can have either frozen or dried organic – never fresh) Watermelon Grapes (red and seedless green) Peaches Strawberries (fresh)	Banana Dates* Prunes	Blueberries* Figs
Grains and Grain Products	Barley* (cooked) Cornflakes* (try Nature's Path's Honey'd Corn Flakes) Matzo* Cornstarch (1 tbsp) Corn tortilla Malt powder Oat bran (1 tbsp) Pasta* (one ingredient: organic durum wheat semolina) Long grain rice White rice Wild rice Rye bread	Plain bagel English muffin White flour tortilla* Whole wheat bread (1 slice) Oatmeal (rolled oats) Tortilla chips Corn grits Brown rice flour (1/4 cup) Unbleached white flour * (1/4 cup) Couscous* Brown rice* Wheat germ* (1 tbsp)	Blueberry bagel Whole wheat tortilla Bran flakes Millet Popcorn* (4 cups) Pretzels Barley flour (1/4 cup) Rye flour (1/4 cup) Whole wheat flour Orzo* Wheat germ* (1/3 cup)
Herbs, Spices and Condiments	Almond extract (1 tbsp) Fresh basil (1 tbsp) Fresh chives (1 tbsp) Dill* (1 tsp – fresh) Mustard (1 tbsp) Peppermint leaves Rosemary leaves (1 tsp) Dried ground sage (1 tsp) Dried thyme (1 tsp) Vanilla extract (1 tbsp)	Dill* (1 tablespoon – fresh) Ground oregano (1 teaspoon) Rosemary leaves (1 tablespoon) Dried ground sage (1 tablespoon) Dried thyme (1 tablespoon) Mayonnaise	Anise (1 teaspoon) Ground oregano (1 tablespoon) Parsley flakes (1 tablespoon) Tahini (1 teaspoon)
Legumes, Nuts & Seeds	Coconut (fresh) Black-eyed peas Yellow split peas Green peas* Mustard (1 tbsp)	Red kidney beans Lima beans Lentils Green split peas*	Black beans Pinto beans Almonds Cashews Peanuts Peanut butter Sesame seeds (1 tsp)
Meats & Fish	Ground beef Roasted chicken* (meat only) Eggs Liver Turkey
Milk & Milk Products	Butter Cream cheese* (1 oz - organic) Skim milk (lactose-free) Low-fat milk Whole milk Goat's milk		Vanilla rice milk (1 cup) Carob rice milk (1 cup)
Other Foods	Baking powder* Baking soda Cream of tartar Gelatin (unflavoured) Salt Corn syrup Clover honey Maple syrup Brown sugar (1 tbsp) White sugar (1 tbsp)	Yeast	Carob chips Carob powder* Stevia powder
Vegetables	Asparagus* Green beans Bok choy Broccoli (boiled) Cucumbers* Iceberg lettuce* Romaine lettuce* Mushrooms* Red pepper* Alfalfa sprouts* Acorn squash Zucchini	Artichoke (1 medium) Broccoli (raw or steamed) Eggplant Green pepper	Canned olives Beets Celery* Green beans Potatoes* (I can only eat organic red potatoes) Potato chips* Spinach Sweet potato*

I hope this information will help you if you have decided to try going on a low oxalate diet, especially if you suffer from vulvodynia.  Please remember once again that this is not an "IC-friendly diet list" and that the exhaustive list can be found in the book.

If you do decide to try to go on a low oxalate diet to improve some of your symptoms, please let us know how it goes!  Good luck! J

Canada's 30x30 Nature Challenge!

Hi everyone!

I recently signed up for and began the 30x30 Nature Challenge on the David Suzuki Foundation website and I'm loving it!  The challenge is to spend 30 minutes a day in nature for 30 consecutive days (all of May).  It is only the 9th day and I have already seen a major improvement in my mood, energy, stress level, sleep and IC pain.  I beseech you to join the challenge with me and hopefully you'll reap all of these benefits as well!

It's very easy to join; just go to http://30x30.davidsuzuki.org and fill out the form.  If you don't want to be part of the study and fill out surveys, then just join the movement at large by challenging yourself to spend 30 minutes a day in nature for the remainder of May.  Regardless of whether you formally sign up or not, there are some great tips on how to work nature into your daily routine here.

Because of the benefits I've enjoyed so far, I don't see myself stopping this routine at the end of May by any means.  If anything, it will just become part of my lifestyle.  I hope you'll join me in this experiment and if you do, please let me know how it goes!

Sincerely,

Kat

PM Yoga

Hi everyone.  As we all know, pain and nocturia are two of the most common and worst symptoms of IC.  It is because of these symptoms that IC often leads to Fibromyalgia as well.  It took about a year of severe IC for me to develop and be diagnosed with fibromyalgia.  It has been very difficult to live with both of these (as I'm sure those of you who live with both would agree).

However, unlike most fibromyalgia patients, I actually feel like fibromyalgia is way easier to manage and manipulate than IC.  I don't feel like it's the worse diagnosis.  The biggest reason I feel like this is because fibromyalgia can be easily manipulated and improved by a few different things, one of which is exercise.  I will write more on that later, but for right now, I'd like to introduce a PM yoga practice dvd that has significantly helped my IC & fibromyalgia pain, my stress, sleeping patterns, hope, mood and overall sense of wellbeing.  This dvd is Element AM & PM Yoga for Beginners.

I do the PM yoga practice on a Danskin Deluxe Fitness Mat as often as possible and whenever I do it, it helps pretty much every aspect of my being.  I don't recommend using a normal yoga mat for this practice.  You could actually increase your pain by doing that because you'll still really feel the floor and if you have fibromyalgia, it will aggravate it.  This is the only mat I can use without extreme pain and thank goodness I found it or I wouldn't be able to do it at all.  I have tried the AM practice on this dvd before and I did not have good results so to be clear, I am only recommending you do the PM yoga practice on this dvd to help with your pain, stress, mood and sleep.

I generally do the PM practice about an hour before I go to sleep.  I recommend saying everything that the dvd instructs out loud, even when you're instructed to say it to yourself silently, because I think part of why it helps me so much is because what I say out loud gets into my subconscious.  For example, when she says to revisit my intention, I say "My intention is to heal" out loud.  Meditation is a large part of the PM practice so it is very calming and a great way to wind down after a busy or difficult day.  I have found great success with this PM yoga practice and I hope you will too.  If you decide to try it, please let me know how it goes.  Thank you and I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me!  Take care and good luck!