alka selzer, tums, or baking soda??

[massagedoula]

Hello,

Im new so I am still learning. Now I have heard of using Prelief (which I do, but I dont know if it does anything, I still got 3 major flares while using it) Alka Selzer, Tums, or Baking Soda. Do they all do the same thing? If not, can someone explain how each helps? (Of course I am on the diet, but I want to know how to use these things if I make a mistake or if I cant control myself.)..I ate HALF a Samoa Girl Scout cookie the other day and am still in pain, so I would LOVE if taking some over the counter antacid would help...because Prelief is not doing anything much for me right now.

[ICNDonna]

If you take the Prelief before eating, it helps to neutralize the acid in the food. Of the three (Alka Seltzer, Tums, soda), I take Tums --- I have high blood pressure so the other two are contraindicated for me.

Donna

[Ruth France]

I have been taking baking soda when I have flare ups. One small teaspoon in half a glass of water before meals. I am worried that the salt content might be dangerous for blood pressure or other conditions...I have been getting sudden headaches at the same time but I don't know whether they are related to stress or maybe the baking soda??? (I have low blood pressure)

ICN DONNA: How do you use Tums - in what quantity? I live in France - do you know what the actual molecule name is (the medical name) for tums is so that I can look for the equivalent heres

It is so hard to get the information we need??

Is there an official on line doctor on this site who can answer our questions?

[mom_in_ma]

When I'm starting to get a flare, I'll chew some tums and take half a xanax. It usually does the trick. I have no data whatsoever to support this...but for me tums seem to be soothing. The prelief didn't seem to do anything for me. Also, I can always use the extra calcium!

-Robin

[Ruth France]

Mom in Ma : What are your principle symptoms? Xanax is used principally foe what in general?

[massagedoula]

Ruth France,
TUMS is calcium carbonate

[treehugger]

When I'm starting to get a flare, I'll chew some tums and take half a xanax. It usually does the trick. I have no data whatsoever to support this...but for me tums seem to be soothing. The prelief didn't seem to do anything for me. Also, I can always use the extra calcium!

-Robin

What does the xanax do for you? I ask because I am taking xanax XR and I have started to taper off of it because I am losing my insurance, and suddenly I got the horrible bladder pain this month Ive never had before. I may continue regular xanax later but for now i am down to 1mg xanax XR a day down from 3mg a day. Coincidence, or does xanax help the IC symptoms?

[Katrina]

I have low blood pressure and my heart doctor told me to increase how much salt I eat. Salt is not good for high blood pressure.
Xanax is primarly used to treat anxiety.
Private message Donna if you want her ask her something. We don't have a doctor answering questions here.
http://www.ichelp.com/AskTheDoctor/search.html ICA You can ask IC doctors questions at that link.
Tums is calcium carbonate.


I have been taking baking soda when I have flare ups. One small teaspoon in half a glass of water before meals. I am worried that the salt content might be dangerous for blood pressure or other conditions...I have been getting sudden headaches at the same time but I don't know whether they are related to stress or maybe the baking soda??? (I have low blood pressure)

ICN DONNA: How do you use Tums - in what quantity? I live in France - do you know what the actual molecule name is (the medical name) for tums is so that I can look for the equivalent heres

It is so hard to get the information we need??

Is there an official on line doctor on this site who can answer our questions?
http://www.orpha.net/associations/AFCI/cgi-bin/
http://www.ic-network.com/glossary/ This link is to an anternational drug glossary on IC .....it can help you know what a med may be called for you that is mentioned here.

In my experience although there are no doctors here people are very medically knowledgeable.
Hope that helps.
Since this thread is from '05 if you have a question specific for Donna you may want to private message her.

[mom_in_ma]

The xanax is a muscle relaxant primarily used to treat anxiety. But, I've found it helps stop my flares by doing two things...
1. Calming me down! My anxiety increases greatly when I go into a flare. Although, less so now that I know I can get myself out of it.
2. It calms my bladder down. When I get a flare my bladder spasms and the xanax calms them down quite a bit.

I only take half a tablet. That's enough to help but not so much that I can't function properly during the day. Between that, tums and antihistamines my ic is pretty much in control. Although, I do get occational flares around my period sometimes.

[mom_in_ma]

Also, they make xanax in a generic that is really cheap. So, if you're going off insurance ask your doctor about it. It's not long acting, which I think the xr means, but at least you could continue to use it.

[Ruth France]

Mom in Ma...

My symptoms are very similar...getting worse around my period - why is that? What antihistamiune do you take and in what quantities? Do you follow the diet very carefully and have you determined what causes your flare ups?

Lots of questions, I know!!!!!!

Katrina - thank you for the web links

Ruth

[mom_in_ma]

Most of the time I really can't predict what's going to cause a flare up for me. The period connection is there sometime, but not every month. Not sure why. When I was first diagnosed years ago I followed I the diet religiously. But after got my ic under control I found that I could pretty much each what I wanted within reason. I'm pretty sure it's the antihistamines (allegra) that keep it under conrol for me. Honestly, between the antihistamines and xanax, I do ok. I'm blessed to have found them.

[Ruth France]

How many milligrams of Allegra do you take? And at what time of the day?