Too soon after hydro to try adding foods?

[Mrs. Peel]

My Urologist told me my symptoms are a lot more bearable because the hydro did something to help. It's too soon for the Elmiron to be working.

I suppose one can tell when the benefits of the hydro wear off. While I'm in this grace period, I still get twinges, but it's hard to tell if they are food-related flares. Does it get more obvious afterward? If I try adding new foods, will I risk undoing this improvement?

[Briza]

Mrs. P
I am probably not the best one to comment about the hydro as my experience with it was very very bad. I will leave it at that.

Your uro says the hydro was helpful to you....how do you feel about that? Meaning do you feel the hydro is the reason for your "more bearable" symptoms, or possibly that just with time and treatment, hydro or not, your symptoms are more bearable at this moment in time?

My hydro experience aside, don't really know if each and every person who got possible hydro benefits can tell when the benefits wear off...IC symptoms come and go, increase/decrease for many of us as they please on their own schedule that is not pre-scheduled with us!!!

Let's say yes, you got at least temporary symptomatic relief from your hydro....and you ask whether adding new foods would risk undoing this improvement? I have no answer for that. I can only recommend that you try new foods that are in the considered usually ok or maybe ok column of the ICN diet cheatsheet. Food is a certain and concrete thing that you must have in your life. Eating the safest foods possible for an IC bladder is often the best way to get the best nutrition while at the same time experimenting to determine what of the usually and maybe foods are what work for you and your bladder. Even if the hydro gave you some relief this first time around, I think it is important to remember that for most it is only temporary relief, if any. And for some more temporary than others! And any future hydros you may have may not produce the same results...

And even if you were to continue using hydros with some symptom relief success on a periodic basis, that in no way IMHO compares to or replaces the constant and continued and longterm relief AND healing that a well rounded diet can provide... a diet that includes a variety of good for you foods that your bladder can tolerate and that contribute to the overall health of one's body. And yes that takes trial and error to determine the healthy variety of foods your bladder can tolerate, but NO I do not believe that any improvement that you have felt from your recent hydro will be undone by slowly and surely testing good healthy usually ok and maybe ok foods, and possibly even some usually not ok for the bladder foods...just b/c some foods are considered not usually ok for the bladder does not mean that they will not be ok for YOUR bladder, and many of the not usually ok foods are really healthy foods overall so for me, those are worth giving a shot to see if I can include them in my diet to see if they don't bother my bladder, and well if they don't, then my diet has been expanded even more to include even more foods that are good for the overall health of the ENTIRE body, not just the bladder....don't know about you but I want to be able to eat everything out there that is tasty and good and healthy, and the only way to find out is to try! If I get a bladder reaction then I will be sure to be more careful in the future!!!! But in the meantime, I have decided not to let my fear of foods rule my life....I am not going to be afraid of something until it actually bites me!! :) The hydro bit me much harder, longer, and more painfully than any food ever has!!:)

[kadi]

Hi Karin,
Here is a link to an article on diet & if you scroll down it there are various ways you can try an elimination diet to find your trigger foods. http://www.ic-network.com/diet/eliminationdiets.html

I would agree with Briza that the first foods to try are the "usually ok" or "sometimes ok" foods, then once you have a base diet from that, you can expand into trying (gently, very small amounts, no more than one tested food over several days) the "usually not ok" foods.

I think it's great that you've had improvement since the hydrodistension (I've read that 40% of IC patients benefit from hydrodistension) & I don't blame you for wanting to protect that improvement. If you are eating a nutritionally balanced diet now (and it is possible just staying in the "usually ok" foods), then maybe you want to just rest here for a bit & wait a bit more before trying. Your body may guide you that way.

Elmiron is a peculiar medication. I've known patients here who had improvement in their symptoms within weeks of starting the medicine & patients for whom it took 9 or 10 months to see improvement. So, you might actually be responding to the Elmiron, in which case, you'll hopefully get better & better.

It's hard to know what exactly is going on today. Enjoy that you're feeling better! And when you want to test out foods, you might want to use an elimination diet & food diary to record your results...

Good luck! I hope you are feeling better & better,

[ICNDonna]

I'm one who is helped by hydrodistention --- my suggestion is that when you try new foods, try just a taste at first. I used the same method we used to test a child for food allergies --- a very small amount (like 1/4 cup) of the questionable food or drink every day for four days, then if no problem, have a full serving every day for a few days before adding another food.

I had my last hydro 13 months ago and am still doing pretty well. I've got my fingers crossed that I can go through the summer!

Donna