icnmgrjill
04-15-2010, 06:29 AM
Okay.. so as I was laying in bed last night I noticed that the roof of my mouth was very dry and tender and I know exactly why. The night before I had a big nasal drip from allergies and sucked on some ricola cough drops to calm my throat down. I don't know about you, but I find that if I use too many throat lozenges or cough drops, that my mouth eventually rebels and gets sore. The lozenges seem to eat away and effect the mucous.. giving me a weeks worth of dry, irritable skin tenderness until it can grow back. And the mucuous DOES come back. But, isn't that interesting. Anyone else experience this?
Now doesn't that make you naturally wonder about the bladder.. which also has an essential mucous layer.. aka the GAG layer. We call it the mighty mucous because it keeps the irritants found in urine from reaching the bladder wall where they can cause irritation. But, if the mucous in the bladder or vagina or vulva or rectum is missing... whammo... instant skin irritation. I mean yikes.. a dry vagina makes for painful sex and a dry rectum makes for agonizing bowel movements. Ick!
Isn't it possible that there are things in our diet which slowly strip and degrade the mucous in our bodies, including the bladder?? Obviously high acid or alkaline foods could. The one time I tried to drink an alkaline water, it stripped all the mucous from my mouth. Awful sensation. And then, as the mucous layer.. that nice protective lipid (oil) layer deteriorates.. the underlying skin cells are exposed and become more inflamed. I would be a fool, for example, to use my mouthwash today because it would certainly make my dry mouth sting.
After 17 long years in the IC movement and having spoken with thousands of patients, I DO THINK that there are some patients whose IC is simply the result of a terrible diet... especially those who are addicted to diet cokes, mountain dews, coffees and, more recently, the powerfully acidic green teas. I think that drinking large quantities of any highly acidic or alkaline drinks strips mucuous. I guess we could test that theory by asking soda drinkers if they have a dry mouth, dry throat, sensitive stomach.. and perhaps a sensitive bladder.. because it may be that the bladder is the last to show any damage. I'll ask a family member, who was addicted to soda for almost 30 years. He finally gave it up in his 50s after developing a wicked case of GERD, esophageal spasms, chest pain and headaches.
But, honestly, look at someone in their 40's who has IC and admits to being a junk drink junkie. They almost always also have GERD and other stomach issues. Not sure about the dry mouth, but GERD is prevalent. I wonder if diabetics experience some bladder problems in their later years not because of the diabetes but because of the large quantities of artificial sugars they consume.. some of which are metabolized into strong acidic byproducts, such as aspartame.
And, of course, we must consider the fact that the human body is composed of water.. not soda.. not acid.. but water. It needs water to function normally. Soda or coffee do not and cannot support the human body the way that a glass of water does. When we deprive the body of normal amounts of water, how does it respond?? Skin and eyes becomes drier, stools become harder... etc. etc.
Just a thought that rambled through my brain this morning as I sip on water to deal with this icky dry mouth.
Jill :)
Now doesn't that make you naturally wonder about the bladder.. which also has an essential mucous layer.. aka the GAG layer. We call it the mighty mucous because it keeps the irritants found in urine from reaching the bladder wall where they can cause irritation. But, if the mucous in the bladder or vagina or vulva or rectum is missing... whammo... instant skin irritation. I mean yikes.. a dry vagina makes for painful sex and a dry rectum makes for agonizing bowel movements. Ick!
Isn't it possible that there are things in our diet which slowly strip and degrade the mucous in our bodies, including the bladder?? Obviously high acid or alkaline foods could. The one time I tried to drink an alkaline water, it stripped all the mucous from my mouth. Awful sensation. And then, as the mucous layer.. that nice protective lipid (oil) layer deteriorates.. the underlying skin cells are exposed and become more inflamed. I would be a fool, for example, to use my mouthwash today because it would certainly make my dry mouth sting.
After 17 long years in the IC movement and having spoken with thousands of patients, I DO THINK that there are some patients whose IC is simply the result of a terrible diet... especially those who are addicted to diet cokes, mountain dews, coffees and, more recently, the powerfully acidic green teas. I think that drinking large quantities of any highly acidic or alkaline drinks strips mucuous. I guess we could test that theory by asking soda drinkers if they have a dry mouth, dry throat, sensitive stomach.. and perhaps a sensitive bladder.. because it may be that the bladder is the last to show any damage. I'll ask a family member, who was addicted to soda for almost 30 years. He finally gave it up in his 50s after developing a wicked case of GERD, esophageal spasms, chest pain and headaches.
But, honestly, look at someone in their 40's who has IC and admits to being a junk drink junkie. They almost always also have GERD and other stomach issues. Not sure about the dry mouth, but GERD is prevalent. I wonder if diabetics experience some bladder problems in their later years not because of the diabetes but because of the large quantities of artificial sugars they consume.. some of which are metabolized into strong acidic byproducts, such as aspartame.
And, of course, we must consider the fact that the human body is composed of water.. not soda.. not acid.. but water. It needs water to function normally. Soda or coffee do not and cannot support the human body the way that a glass of water does. When we deprive the body of normal amounts of water, how does it respond?? Skin and eyes becomes drier, stools become harder... etc. etc.
Just a thought that rambled through my brain this morning as I sip on water to deal with this icky dry mouth.
Jill :)