Aa/na

[vm]

We have had so many new faces over the last few months. :) Do we have any new folks here who are in recovery? I have been in AA for 14 years now and did a few years of AlAnon as well.

[TerryEllen]

I've been wondering if there are other AA folks out there. I've been clean and sober for 18 years (next month, God willing 19...but who's counting;) )

Diagnosed with IC only 3 months ago. Was doing well for about 3 months with Elavil, Elmiron, Vistaril...but suddenly into a 3 day flare and worried of course that the meds are not working anymore. Home alone with my head....we all know what that's a bad neighborhood.

Glad to hear someone else is out there that's a 12 stepper. I've seen a lot of folks doing narcotics on this site and that scared me to death. The Elavil seems to just stop the pain and allow me to sleep...really thrilled it was not mind or mood altering. Just hoping it's still working and a recent bout of stress and constipation is all that's causing the flare. On vacation and trying to relax...kind of hard when you're hurting.

That said, off to call some of my babies and my sponsor too...! I'll hit a meeting as well....

[vm]

Hi, Terry Ellen! :) Glad someone responded. We did have some others who are in AA or NA - maybe they haven't been to the site lately.

You are on some of the same meds I am on. I found the longer I was on that combo the fewer and farther apart the flares would be. It scared me to death in the beginning when I would still flare, but I began to see a pattern and over time the pattern got better and better.

The prospect of pain meds worried me, too, and thankfully I haven't had to go that route yet. However, I know if I did need to use pain meds long term that I could work with my sponsor and doctors and figure out a way to do it safely. :)

[TerryEllen]

Can't tell you how happy I am to hear it may just be a flare and that perhaps "this too shall pass". Truly headed out the door for my Thursday night meeting. So thrilled to have found you.

[vm]

LOL - my tagline here used to be: "This too shall pass, but could we hurry it up a little?" :D

[TerryEllen]

So how long do your flares usually last? This one has been going on for 4 days now, and today is the worst! Disappointing because day 2 was better than day one and I thought I was coming out of it. Then I took Benefiber for the first time, and bang - it's raging. Hoping that was the problem and obviously will not try that again.

Great meeting last night...surrender, acceptance, faith, trust....all the things I needed to hear. I must admit, when it's this bad I don't know what I'm supposed to trust in....that I'll survive?

[vm]

When my IC first started the flares could last for a week or two. Now, they usually only last a day or a few days. It all depends. But I don't flare very often anymore. The medications I am on keep helping more and more the longer I take them.

Glad you had a good meeting last night. :) When I was first battling this I tried to "work on" trusting that my Higher Power would supply with all I needed to make it through. I tried to really tune in and listen to my gut ---- hoping that would lead me to good people and doctors and to good information that would help me get healthier.

I do believe that God helps us in this day and is prepared to meet our needs in the days to come. Sometimes I get impatient - his time doesn't meet up with my timeline very often ;) - but I do try to remember that He will not abandon me.

On a day I allowed myself to hope I believed I would be led to doctors who could help me feel better.On other days I trusted that He would help me be OK regardless of how much discomfort I was in. I was and am intrigued by people who are in great pain who are still happy and positive people. I thought about Holocaust survivors and tried to pray that God would help me be OK no matter what happened with the IC.

Above all - I tried hard to pray for God's will and to be able to recognize and follow it. And I have rambled on far too long. ;)

[vm]

Here are a couple of readings that really help me with all of that:

All Our Needs

And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory... Phil. 4:19

This verse has helped me many times. It has helped me when I have wondered where my next friend, bit of wisdom, insight, or meal was coming from.

Everything I need today shall be supplied to me.

People, jobs, what we have at our immediate disposal, are not our source.

We have tapped into a Greater Source, a source of infinite and immediate supply: God and His Universe.

Our task is to allow ourselves to come into harmony with our source. Our task is to believe in, and look to, our true Source. Our task is to release fear, negative thinking, limitations, and short supply thinking.

Everything we need shall be provided to us. Let it become a natural response to all situations, and all situtations of need.

Reject fear. Reject short supply and limited thinking notions. Be open to abundance.

Cherish need because it is part of our relationship to God and His Universe. God has planned to meet our every need, has created the need within us, so God can supply.

No need is too small or too great. If we care and value our need, God will too.

Our part is taking responsibility for owning the need. Our part is giving the need to the Universe. Our part is letting go, in faith. Our part is giving God permission to meet our needs by believing we deserve to have our needs - and wants - met.

Our part is healthy giving, not out of caretaking, guilt, obligation, and codependency, but out of healthy relationship with ourselves, God, and all of God's creations.

Our part is simply to be who we are, and love being that.

Today, I will practice the belief that all my needs today shall be met. I will step into harmony with God and His Universe, knowing that I count.

God's Grace

God's Grace is your sufficiency in all things and there is, at every moment of your life, enough of God's Grace present in your consciousness to meet the need of that particular moment.

And this is all you need because God does not work in the future. God does not operate in the past. The past is gone and the future may never come. In the Kingdom of God there is only this very moment in which you are living and it is in this very moment that God provided you with enough of His Grace to satisfy every need, every requirement to provide every fulfillment of this particular moment.

You lose God the moment you think one minute into the future with anxiety or care or concern. God has not given you next week to live in. God has given you only this moment and it is in this moment that His care, His divine provision is with you.

And now I give this to you as His law. That you are to stop all concern about next year, and abide in the realization of His divine Grace in this moment.

~ Joel S. Goldsmith

[Marlana]

You always have good things to say. I sure hope I can follow in your footsteps. I have felt a bit better for the last few days, today there is a bit of pressure. Nothing I cant handle, have not resorted to the pyridiums yet. Do you know of people who have long time between flares like yourself who do it w.o elmiron. I wonder if other meds can help like that.

[TerryEllen]

Agree, very good post. Printing and savoring....my sponsor will love this. We're both avid readers, and she has an amazing gift - she can quote in detail long after reading something she likes.

I especially like the part about him giving me what I need to live in the moment...that has indeed been the case.

Wish I could say I'm feeling better...not yet. But I cannot tell you how much it helps to hear folks say that they have one or two week flares, and then they pass.

I'm working on a gratitude list as well....always a good thing. And there really is so much on that list...

[vm]

The first reading was from The Language of Letting Go, by Melody Beattie. LOVE that book - worth the money to buy it. :) Her writings always speak to me. That is THE book I pick up when I am in an absolutel panic b/c it never fails to reassure me and get my focus back where it belongs.

Marlana - I think there are people who control their IC mainly by diet and are able to keep flares mainly at bay. You probably won't see many posts by them here b/c they are doing well and don't need the support - but I believe they are out there! :)

[TerryEllen]

I'll be picking that book up this week! Thanks so much.

Marlana...if you're interested in alternative medicine...I just saw a post by someone who's been flare free for 3 months taking Butcher's Broom...she says they take that in Europe...headed out to research that on the WebMD site (I work for them, gotta use them first ;-)

Also she mentioned Marshmallow Root and Gotu Kala...used by American indians to soothe the bladder's gag layer. Also researchng those...