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9/22/2008

Endometriosis Blog: Interstitial Cystitis & Endometriosis

In a follow-up to the Friday, September 19, 2008 post "Endometriosis Blog: Spotlight On The Interstitial Cystitis Association!!", I'd like to include a link to an article about endometriosis and interstitial cystitis from the "IC Disease -- Life with Interstitial Cystitis, Vulvodynia, Incontinence, & Other Bladder Conditions" website.

Here is the main link for this site:

http://icdisease.today.com/

Please see their post using the link below. I think it underscores much of what we have been talking about regarding interstitial cystitis and endometriosis.

Link to "Illnesses Similar to IC Disease: Endometriosis"

http://icdisease.today.com/2008/05/29/illnesses-similar-to-ic-disease-endometriosis/

Many women, including myself, have endometriosis AND interstitial cystitis as co-existing conditions.

This article was posted by Jeanne via "Jeanne's Endo Blog" at www.endendoat.blogspot.com.

4 comments:

Fighting Fatigue said...

Thanks for linking to me, Jeanne! :)

Jeanne said...

Hi!

It's my pleasure to link to your helpful site! :)

Jeanne

gina'sgems said...

Warning for IC suffers. There is a new health drink on the market being sold independently, not available in stores. It is called Mona Vie and is sold much like Amway. It is a combination of 19 fruits high in antioxidants. DO NOT DRINK. I drank approximately 2 oz. which brought on the worst attack I have had in years and I am a 20 year sufferer of IC. The pain and discomfort lasted almost 9 days and a visit to the doctor. Apparently, it is an acid cocktail for IC patients. The acid content is so high that it negates any benefit from the antioxidant level that it provides. BUYER BEWARE.

Jeanne said...

Gina's Gems,

**Let me begin with a disclaimer because I am not a health care professional and I do not give medical advice.
**

I apologize for the delay in posting your comment. As a general rule, I don't post names of specific products on my blog. Usually this means not having advertising in comment fields... but in this case it's actually kind of the opposite.

Normally I make it a habit not to comment on products with which I'm not familiar. However, I took some time to look this product up on the Internet and found an interesting wikipedia entry on it (among other things). Here's the wikipedia entry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MonaVie

I should again make it clear that I have no personal experience with this product and I am not a medical professional. So I do not give ANY medical advice. I am not responsible for the accuracy of wikipedia entries either. I should say, though, that what I read about this product did strike me as odd.

That said, one thing that jumped out at me on the wikipedia entry was that Dr. Andrew Weil was listed as a "critic". I have read Dr. Weil's work. In my view, he is very open-minded and while his training is as an MD, he is definitely open to non-allopathic methods. So I thought this was interesting.

Also, regarding interstital cystitis specifically... I am not familiar with this company's claims or ads since I never heard of it before you submitted your comment.

However, I will say that it's my understanding that many doctors believe that acidic foods and drinks are aggravating for interstitial cystitis patients.

For example, I love orange juice and homemade spaghetti sauce but I have learned the hard way that it's not a good idea for me to have these because of the paybacks I'll have later on!!

Since I can't even tolerate orange juice alone, it makes sense to me that a drink with a wide variety of fruit juices could cause serious IC flare-ups.

Whatever conditions this product claims to help, I can't imagine how IC could be one of them given the combination of juices listed on wikipedia as being ingredients in this drink.

After 12 years without a proper diagnosis of IC (and 3 different urologists), I finally was properly diagnosed with IC by a pelvic pain specialist who has lots of experience treating IC patients.

The treatment plan he has me on helps me a great deal. My symptoms are much better than pre-treatment.

I know that he has advised me to avoid acidic foods and drinks.

So, again, I apologize for the delay in posting your comment but I needed a chance to look this company up and get some idea of what they're all about since I had never even heard of them.

For IC patients out there who are unsure about a product's claims, I would suggest contacting the Interstitial Cystitis Association.

ICA is a reputable organization and might be able to give some guidance. While they are unlikely to be able to give true "medical advice" (need to see a doctor for that), I wouldn't be surprised if they'd be able to help patients steer clear of any products known for making unfounded claims to help IC symptoms.

I'm not saying whether this company did or didn't make specfic claims about IC because I didn't see any in the reading I did on this product. I'm just saying the Interstitial Cystitis Association is a good resource:

http://www.ichelp.org/

Hope this helps!!

Jeanne

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