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The blog of IC Network founder Jill H. Osborne, sharing her comments, thoughts, ideas and actions happening in the IC and pelvic pain movement.

Book Review: Breaking Through Chronic Pelvic Pain: A Holistic Approach for Relief

Breaking Through Chronic Pelvic Pain: A Holistic Approach to Relief is the most important book published on IC and pelvic pain in 50 years. Dr. Jerome Weiss, a urologist, pelvic pain and myofascial specialist who practiced in Northern California, devoted his career to unraveling the many potential causes for chronic bladder and pelvic pain. Dr. [...]

By |2020-02-19T21:23:38-08:00February 19th, 2020|Front Page Feed, Jill's Journal, Our Blog|Comments Off on Book Review: Breaking Through Chronic Pelvic Pain: A Holistic Approach for Relief
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Valentines Day, Intimacy and IC

I apologize in advance if this column offends anyone but we do, on occasion, need to talk about intimacy and how IC can impact that. For those of you who know me, you know that I'm very direct about the issues that we struggle with. I believe that IC can strengthen rather than weaken our [...]

By |2019-02-13T12:56:33-08:00February 13th, 2019|Front Page Feed, Jill's Journal, Our Blog, Self-Help Tips for IC, Bladder & Pelvic Pain|Comments Off on Valentines Day, Intimacy and IC
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Self Help Tip – Don’t Let Fear of Physical Therapy Stop You

We’ve long passed those days when we believed that IC was an incurable bladder disease. Today, we consider IC/BPS a pelvic pain syndrome that can involve structures beyond the bladder, often the pelvic floor muscles. Dysfunctional pelvic floor muscles can trigger all of the symptoms we normally associate with the bladder, including frequency, urgency, pressure [...]

By |2018-11-28T00:23:56-08:00November 3rd, 2018|Front Page Feed, Jill's Journal, Our Blog, Self-Help Tips for IC, Bladder & Pelvic Pain|Comments Off on Self Help Tip – Don’t Let Fear of Physical Therapy Stop You
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Self-Help Tip – Turning Self Doubt Into Self Confidence

Though my IC (i.e. bladder pain) officially began when I was 32, I spent much of my 20's struggling with many of the conditions we now know are related to IC. I had vulvodynia in high school and college that felt like a painful yeast infection. Despite many trips to the doctor, they rarely found [...]

By |2018-08-10T21:47:59-07:00August 10th, 2018|Awareness, Front Page Feed, Jill's Journal, Self Care, Self-Help Tips for IC, Bladder & Pelvic Pain|Comments Off on Self-Help Tip – Turning Self Doubt Into Self Confidence
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When Bladder Treatments Don’t Work For IC/BPS: It’s Time For A New Approach

Clinging To Old Treatments For IC/BPS Could Hold You Back If you had been diagnosed with IC/BPS forty years ago, odds are you would have been prescribed antibiotics, given urethral dilations and/or referred to a psychiatrist under the mistaken assumption that IC was all in your heads. Twenty years ago, that same patient might have [...]

By |2017-11-22T23:58:26-08:00November 22nd, 2017|Flares, Front Page Feed, Jill's Journal, Pain Care, Pelvic Floor Dysfunction, Pelvic Pain, Women's Health|Comments Off on When Bladder Treatments Don’t Work For IC/BPS: It’s Time For A New Approach
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My Uterine Cancer Scare – Hormone Replacement Therapy Carries Risks

Last Spring, I announced that I was having an emergency surgery for possible uterine cancer. It was May 23, 2017 and I was terrified. Absolutely, completely and totally terrified that they would find active tumors and, worse (yes, worse) that the surgery would exacerbate my IC and pelvic pain. Let me start by saying [...]

By |2017-09-18T15:26:49-07:00August 10th, 2017|Front Page Feed, Jill's Journal|Comments Off on My Uterine Cancer Scare – Hormone Replacement Therapy Carries Risks
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I was fine until I wasn’t – Jill’s Journal – Hysterectomy & Possible Uterine Cancer

ICN Education & Support Phone LineWill Be Closed While Jill Recovers From SurgeryNext week I’ll be recovering from an urgent hysterectomy and waiting anxiously for my uterine biopsy results. This saga began last fall when I started spotting. Of course, I hadn’t had a period in about two years so contacted my doctor and asked for [...]

By |2019-01-21T22:04:48-08:00May 20th, 2017|Jill's Journal, Our Blog|24 Comments
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Does BIG PHARMA control the IC movement?

Does BIG PHARMA control the IC movement? The answer is NO. In fact, big pharma abandoned the IC movement almost a decade ago. The last big pharmaceutical company to dedicate money to IC was Ortho Urology, makers of Elmiron. They had walked away even before Elmiron went off of patent. The makers of the other oral medications (Atarax, [...]

By |2021-04-07T17:21:19-07:00January 19th, 2016|Front Page Feed, Jill's Journal, Our Blog|Comments Off on Does BIG PHARMA control the IC movement?
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Nail Polish Toxins Found In Urine Could Influence Bladder Health

If you love getting a manicure or pedicure, a recent announcement by the Environmental Working Group will make you rethink the brands you might be using. Polishes by Sally Hansen, Essie, OPI, Revlon, Wet N Wild, Spa Ritual, Orly, theBalm, Nuance, Maybelline and Beauty without Cruelty contain a chemical called triphenyl phosphate (TPHP), known for its endocrine-disrupting [...]

By |2017-01-18T12:02:36-08:00October 21st, 2015|Consumer Alerts, Jill's Journal, Our Blog, Toxic Exposures, Women's Health|Comments Off on Nail Polish Toxins Found In Urine Could Influence Bladder Health
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Atara Schimmel’s Stunning Angel Project Raises Awareness For Pelvic Pain

If a picture speaks a thousand words, then the art of Atara Schimmel speaks volumes about pelvic pain and pudendal neuralgia. She's just won the ADA poster contest sponsored by the city of Boston for her entry "We Will Be Heard," one of her Project Angel series which is dedicated to raising awareness for pelvic [...]

By |2017-01-31T10:10:42-08:00July 22nd, 2015|Awareness, Jill's Journal, Our Blog, Pelvic Pain, Self Care|Comments Off on Atara Schimmel’s Stunning Angel Project Raises Awareness For Pelvic Pain
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