Articles that share self-help and self-care strategies for patients with bladder and pelvic pain.
If this is your first holiday season with a diagnosis of IC, we've assembled some resources that we hope will help you enjoy the season, including new videos, articles, meal tips and many IC friendly recipes to play with. Surviving a holiday like Thanksgiving is all about pacing yourself, communicating clearly with your family [...]
Though my IC (i.e. bladder pain) officially began when I was 32, I spent much of my 20's struggling with many of the conditions we now know are related to IC. I had vulvodynia in high school and college that felt like a painful yeast infection. Despite many trips to the doctor, they rarely found [...]
While IC patients are frequently in the bathroom to urinate, sometimes the very medicines recommended to help the condition cause another bathroom-related problem: constipation. And constipation causes increased discomfort in the pelvis, which is the last thing ICers need. According to the Harvard Medical School, some of the medicines that can cause constipation, especially in [...]
Talking about IC with friends and family who don’t know anything about it can be hard. I struggle to find the right words to say to best describe how I feel without sounding like I’m whining or looking for pity yet also not downplaying how I feel and the impact it has on my life. [...]
The ICN Food List Application for Android Devices (Santa Rosa, CA) If you’re scared to drink a cup of coffee out of fear that you’ll spend the day in the restroom, you’re not alone. Mild urinary frequency and urgency are common but for patients with urinary disorders, these same foods can provoke days of pain and [...]
If a picture speaks a thousand words, then the art of Atara Schimmel speaks volumes about pelvic pain and pudendal neuralgia. She's just won the ADA poster contest sponsored by the city of Boston for her entry "We Will Be Heard," one of her Project Angel series which is dedicated to raising awareness for pelvic [...]
(Here's part of an email I sent to an IC patient last night who was struggling with severe night time symptoms and bladder pain that describes the many factors that can be contributing to nighttime IC symptoms and pain. - Jill Osborne, ICN President) #1 - To treat the pain effectively, we have to know [...]
Why I Said No To Thanksgiving - An IC Holiday Survival Story Here's one of the most frustrating questions that IC patients often struggle with. "Should or shouldn't we go to Grandma's House for a holiday celebration if IC is flaring?" In my first year of IC, my family really didn't understand what I [...]
One of the easiest ways for patients to try to reduce their bladder and prostate discomfort is by removing foods which are high in acid, alcohol or hot spices. Even one cup of coffee day, one green tea or one soda can trigger severe bladder irritation and discomfort. Worse, that daily acid wash may prevent [...]
Blogs, News & Announcements Feature Article - Anxiety & Interstitial Cystitis It might surprise you to learn that anxiety is a strongly related condition to IC and pelvic pain. It was the human genome project which made the connection. Researchers trying to determine which section of the human genome correlated with anxiety discovered that a [...]
