IC Disease

Prelief is a popular method of treatment for IC Disease.  Prelief is a dietary supplement made of calcium glycerophosphate that is used to help neutralize acidic foods and drinks.  Basically, Prelief works by taking acid out of food.  One Prelief tablet will reduce the acid in a 6 oz. cup of coffee by approximately 95%.

Naturally, for IC Disease patients, acidic foods and drinks can cause IC symptoms to become worse.  In order for Prelief to be effective, it must be taken right before acidic foods or drinks are consumed. 

Prelief can be purchased in either tablets or in powder form.  If you use the tablets, you will need to take 2 tablets three times daily.  If you choose to use the powder form of Prelief, you will add two packets to each serving of acidic food or drink. 

Prelief can be purchased through a company called AkPharma, Inc.  To check out the prices and to order, click this link HERE. 

Cognitive Behavior Therapy, or CBT, is a common form of non-conventional treatment that is used to treat patients with many different types of chronic illnesses and for chronic pain.  The definition of cognitive behavior therapy, according to Wikipedia is:

Cognitive behavioral therapy (or cognitive behavior therapy, CBT) is a psychotherapeutic approach that aims to influence dysfunctional emotions, behaviors and cognitions through a goal-oriented, systematic procedure. CBT can be seen as an umbrella term for therapies that share a theoretical basis in behavioristic learning theory and cognitive psychology, and that use methods of change derived from these theories.

As part of cognitive behavior therapy treatments, attention management is often included as one of the treatments. A recent study was done to evaluate the effects of attention management strategies in the treatment for chronic pain.  In this study there were six weekly 90-minute treatment sessions that were based on cognitive behavior therapy attention management manual describing techniques such as attention diversion, imagery and mindfulness exercises.

The outcome that was hoped to be achieved through this study was to have a reduction in pain related anxiety and hypervigilance to pain and decrease in pain impact of everyday life. Symptoms were self-reported by the study participants.

The results at the end of treatment, and at 3-month follow-up, show significant reductions in pain-related anxiety, hypervigilance and interference of pain. At the participants’ six-month follow up visit, reeduction in pain-related interference and anxiety was still seen. The results indicate that attention control skills can be a useful method to reduce anxiety short-term.

Many times, doctors will recommend that female incontinence sufferers try Kegel exercises.  The purpose of Kegel exercises is to strengthen the pelvic floor muscles.  The pelvic floor muscles are used when we give birth, urinate, have sex, and have bowel movements.  There are many things that can cause the pelvic floor muscles to become weak, leading to incontinence.  Some of these are being overweight, childbirth, surgeries, and age.  Having a chronic illness like IC Disease can also lead to incontinence for some patients.

Performing Kegel Exercises

To perform the Kegel exercises, a woman needs to practice contracting the vagina.  In order for her to feel the contraction, she can use her fingers, specially designed exercisers, balls, or foam objects.  The overall goal with doing Kegel exercises is to regain vaginal tightness.

It has recently been reported on the Doctor’s Channel that intravesical chondroitin may relieve symptoms of IC Disease.   These results were gathered through a small study that found that intravesical chondroitin sulfate is an effective and safe treatment method for SOME IC patients. 

Chondroitin sulphate is what makes up the mucus layer of the bladder.  It is believed that through prior research, that changes in the chondroitin in the bladder may play a role in the workings of IC Disease. 

The study of intravesical chondroitin took place in Canada and there were approximately 53 study participants who received intravesical infusions of chondroitin, weekly for 6 weeks and then monthly for 16 weeks. All of these participants had severe IC Disease and had been sick an average of 9 years.

The outcome of the study:

The main outcome measure — treatment response — was defined as a moderate or marked improvement on the 7-point Global Response Assessment at week 10. The Patient Symptom/Problem Index was also used to assess the response to chondroitin.

At week 10, 47.2% of subjects were treatment responders. By 24 weeks, the latest follow-up point, the response rate had climbed to 60.4%. Significant improvements in symptom scores were also noted at 10 and 24 weeks.

No significant adverse effects were noted during the study and the treatment was generally tolerable, the report indicates.

Please read Part 1 & Part 2 of this series which cover the symptoms and causes of vaginal yeast infections. 

When it comes to getting treated for a vaginal yeast infection, you should always see your physician and not self-medicate by purchasing any over-the-counter products unless your doctor gives you permission to do so.  If a woman has had previous vaginal yeast infections, and her doctor determines that her current infection is due to yeast overgrowth, there are many over-the-counter products available your physician may recommend.  Some of these include Monistat, Gyne-Lotrimin, and Femstat.  These products are meant to be used for one to seven days depending on product and instructions.

Vagisil can be used during a vaginal yeast infection to help soothe the itching/burning that is common and annoying. 

On the prescription medication end, there is a one pill drug called Diflucan that will treat yeast infections.  For women who don’t like to use messy creams and would prefer a quick treatment, this one would be a good choice.  There are a few other oral prescription medications that can be taken but these will need to be taken for a week to 13 days. 

A European form of mind-body therapy known as Mensendieck somatocognitive therapy has been found to help women who suffer from chronic pelvic pain.  Norwegian researchers have reported that this form of therapy is so effective, it lasts for several months after the treatment actually ends. 

With Mensendieck somatocognitive therapy, patients learn how to understand the cause or causes of their pain and they work on gradually increasing their body movements while “experiencing new body awareness and motor patterns” by focusing on correct posture and breathing patterns, according to the research. 

The study included 40 female participants who suffered from chronic pelvic pain.  They were all assigned to have 10 weeks of the Mensendieck therapy plus standard care while a control group was assigned to just receive the normal standard care.  All of the women in the Mensendieck therapy group saw a major improvement in their symptoms and in posture, gait, movement, sitting posture, and respiration.  The control group who only received the standard care did not notice improvement. 

Even after one year, the mind-body therapy group saw additional improvement and their pain was still improved. 

How a doctor treats overflow incontinence depends on the cause.  See Part 2 to read the causes of overflow incontinence. 

Removal

If the patient’s overflow incontinence is caused by a tumor or stones, the obstruction must be removed. 

Medications

Alpha-1-adrenergic blocking agents are used to treat overflow incontinence caused by prostatic hyperplasia. These types of medications relax the bladder muscle and help relieve symptoms.

An anticholinergic medication like oxybutynin chloride, brand name Ditropan, can be used to treat overflow incontinence that is caused by certain diseases that affect the nervous system (like multiple sclerosis).  This medicine helps to relax the bladder muscle.

Self-Catheterization

Intermittent self-catheterization can be done by patients (under the care of a physician) every 3 to 8 hours to treat overflow incontinence. Self-catheterization helps to keep the urine volume low. Patients must make sure they do this in a timely manner and not miss any self treatments. Drinking too many fluids can also cause more of a problem.

It seems as though more Americans, approximately 38%, are switching to using complementary and alternative medicines.  According to a survey by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), these people are also using these alternative treatments (or CAMS) on their children as well.

While alternative medicines are used without any traditional treatments, complementary medications are used along with traditional or “mainstream”, medications. 

According to the survey, pain is the number one cause for people seeking alternative and complentary medication uses.  Topping the list are:

• back pain
• neck pain
• joint pain
• arthritis
• headaches

This survey was conducted by phone in 2007 with approximately 23,000 adults and 9,500 children. 

Many times someone who has a chronic illness like Interstitial Cystitis will take their medications for just a short while, say they don’t work, and then just give up.  I’m not trying to step on anyone’s toes with this post and I don’t know everyone’s situations but this does happen. 

Elmiron is one medication that a patient may need to take for up to six months before they see any benefits, yet I have talked and emailed with IC patients who after just a few days or a few weeks quit taking the medication because they say it “doesn’t work”.  There are also times when a patient first starts taking a medication where they will feel worse at first before they feel better - yet the patient will give up after just a day or two. 

Why is this?  Why do some sick people whine and fuss until they get medication but once they get it they refuse to take it long enough to see any benefits?  Does it make you think that they don’t want to get better?  What are your thoughts? 

I know there are many circumstances where people are on medication for a while and something happens they can no longer afford it, but why people don’t give the medication long enough to work before giving up has me baffled.

Long term study results were published in a December 2008 press release by Alaven Pharmaceuticals that found CystoProtek may very well be an effective medication/supplement treatment for Interstitial Cystitis.  CystoProtek combines the anti-inflammatory properties of quercetin, glucosamine sulfate and rutin in a unique natural formula with the compounds chondroitin sulfate and sodium hyalonurate that help replenish the glycosaminoglycan layer in the bladder. It is a non-prescription supplement.

The study included a total of 252 IC Disease patients who received twice daily treatments of two oral CystoProtek capsules (4 capsules/day). Study participants were refractory to oral and intravesical treatments and they completed the 6 - 18 month study. Patient’s symptoms were assessed using a visual analog scale (VAS), which scores symptoms on a scale of 0 (no symptoms) to 10 (worst symptoms). The average duration of treatment was almost 12 months.

Overall improvment was more than 50% and both male and female patients showed similar improvement. The women IC study patients who had more severe symptoms showed an even greater improvement. Approximately 17.5% of the study participants became symptom free during the study.