IC friendly???

[katie87]

ok, i have been using all of the following and want to know if they are ok for IC.
Hot chocolate mix made with the packets of hot chocolate and milk.

tea: celestial seasonings chamomile, and enchiea (spelling?) complete care.
bigalow- mint, and sweet dreams (mint and chamomile) and
yogi peach detox tea.

i also drink coffee ( 1 cup a day) which i know is against IC totally but i am addicted to caffiene, i am going to swich to the IC shops no acid coffee. I love the taste of coffee and have tried many immitation and low acid coffees. i hated the taste, i want a coffee that tastes like real coffee. I do not drink soda at all luckily.

also for juice, how would v-8 v-fusion be for IC??? i drink that as my only juice, besides and occasional blueberry/pomegranate by landers 100% juice.

[DawnR]

You are lucky you can drink coffee tea and hot chocolate. Hot chocolate sent me into one of the worst flares I ever had. I have not found anything hot that I can drink.

[katie87]

i wouldnt say i can drink it, i just drink it anyway because i am always in pain and have not had a day without severe IC pain, so why not enjoy the drinks i love.

[katie87]

dawn, try hot water and honey

[DawnR]

Katie, I also read on here that warm milk and honey is good. I think I might try it. I am just so afraid of anything hot since the hot chocolate episode.
Sorry you are in severe pain everyday, hope you get some relief soon! :)

[katie87]

thank you dawn! I also use heating pads and sometimes baking soda in water, about 1/2 a teaspoon, hope that helps if you aren't already using them.

[kadi]

Hi Katie,

Honestly, most of those drinks would send most IC patients' symptoms through the roof.
The mint tea is probably ok, though when my IC was at its worst, I couldn't tolerate that either.

How long have you tried the diet fully? I didn't think the diet made much difference in the beginning because I was always in pain & had very high frequency of urination. It took over a month of strictly following every part of the diet to see a result and even then, I didn't realize how much it was actually helping me until I drank 1/2 cup of decaf tea & my pain level shot way up within 20 minutes.

I just want to encourage you that if you are in severe pain, really committing to all aspects of the diet may still be of benefit, you may need to try it longer and find medicines that will help along with it..

I follow a strict IC diet, take medicines and I need both forms of treatment. One or the other is not enough.

Wishing you pain free days soon,

[fmcbride]

I find I can tollerate Nestles instant chocolate mix but teas send me over the top. I have made a cup of tea and just sipped a small amount to satisfy my longing for it and poured the rest out. Hot tea was my favorite 'pick me up' in my life before IC......... Sigh.

I think the V-8 juice would not be good for you. The tomato juice content and likely citric acid addition would be something most IC patients could not tolerate.

I wish you well in search of somethings you can tolerate.

[SharonA]

Katie...Please discontinue the drinks (especially the coffee and juice..the thought of Pomegranate juice makes me squirm) now. You say you go ahead and drink them because you are in pain every day. Those drinks could be the reason you are in pain every day. The only way to know for sure is to stop drinking them for several weeks to see if that helps. Like Kadi said, the peppermint is probably okay (but some have said they can not drink it)...I have read some posts about the chamomile tea being a problem.

I know that warm drinks are very comforting while you are drinking them, but, once they reach the bladder, the comfort disappears and the pain begins. Try substituting them with warm milk and a little sugar.

[Jereme]

Warm mild a little vanilla and some sugar would be good. I have that a lot.

[etherealred]

Wow, all those drinks except for the mint tea send me right into a flare.

I can't have any caffeine (not even chocolate, white or green tea, hot chocolate mix, low acid whatever) at all. The thought of black tea and coffee of any sort make me squirm. When it comes to tea, tannins are also an issue as well as caffeine. Hot chocolate mix is another big offender for me due to both the chocolate and the small amount of diary in it. Dairy of almost any sort makes me flare too, but I can have mild cheese without a problem.

The hot drinks I can handle are:

100% herbal hot teas (can't have any black, green or white tea in it) that do not contain a lot of rosehips... I haven't tried chamomile because I don't like it, but I do tolerate peppermint well

Rooibos "chai lattes" made with hot almond milk (soy makes me flare) and the new TAZO vanilla rooibos chai tea concentrate (caffeine free)... they are a treat for me

Occasionally, mild (not pre-spiced) hot cider... apple juice in small or moderate quantities seems to be okay for me, and the only other juices I can tolerate are pear juice and blueberry juice, both of which are out of my budget usually

I don't like the taste of milk and honey as a drink by itself, so those two hot drinks are the only ones I can handle. I really miss my chai tea lattes from coffee shops, and of course lattes. I never was a big brewed coffee kind of lady. I have some gourmet mint hot cocoa and plain hot cocoa (the kind you have to mix with milk, it's the ground sweetened cocoa and not an instant mix) in my cabinet and I need to give it to somebody else to remove the temptation to whip some up and drink it. I've been good and not had any hot cocoa since I figured out it was a flare trigger, but it's been calling my name lately. I think I'll give it to my mom tomorrow. She enjoys good hot cocoa too.

I am glad I broke my dependency on caffeine a few years ago. I used to drink up to a 12-pack of diet coke a day pretty frequently, no exaggeration, and had at least 6 cans of diet coke or other caffeine source daily. Keep in mind that at the time, I was in the throes of anorexia and needed the caffeine to keep me awake since I was not giving my body natural energy and also the liquid plus carbonation of the diet coke to fill me up some. Even after I got better with my anorexia and reduced my caffeine a bit, I was still having too much caffeine. Then I got diagnosed with my heart condition and really cut down on the caffeine out of necessity. I had IC symptoms then but I didn't recognize foods as triggers and I didn't even know what IC was. Now that I have an IC diagnosis and have learned a lot about specific foods and drinks being triggers, I follow the IC diet strictly and that includes no caffeine. It does help stop food related flares for me now that I have pinpointed what food and drink items very obviously upset my bladder, and which ones are safe for me.