I have had IC for about a year now and have had to cut out most fruits from my diet along with most fruit juices. As someone who prided herself in having a well balanced diet and eating very nutritiously prior to my IC, I am in fear that I am short changing myself nutrient wise and hurting my body even more by not giving it the fruits it needs. Do you have any diet suggestions for what I can replace these lost fruits with? Are non-acidic vegetables sufficient? Katie
Hi Katie! You are right; without some planning, a person following a strict IC diet can become nutrient deficient. The good news is that you can get many of the nutrients, including vitamin C, from vegetables that don’t bother an IC bladder. When choosing vegetables, look for bright colors! Great nutrient dense choices include squash of all sorts (orange—winter—squash, zucchini, yellow squash), yams, sweet potatoes, broccoli, carrots, cabbage products, and even corn and peas. Although the strictest form of an IC diet excludes all fruits except pears and occasionally blueberries and honeydew, most IC patients actually can consume a wider variety of fruits than that. For example, I can eat raspberries, blackberries, small portions of banana, and even all-natural applesauce. Other IC patients have good luck with small portions of low-acid orange juice or grape juice. The trick is to try small amounts at first and assess your symptoms. Eventually, most IC patients build their own “usually ok” list! Good luck!
I have been suffering with IC for years. I cannot have intercourse with my husband without painful urination and bleeding for days to a week afterwards. Obviously, this is causing much distress in our lives. I have made the choice to give up caffeine since that is obviously a trigger. I love Italian food but would like to know how to make changes allowing me to enjoy the foods I love without aggravating the conditions that I live with. I also do have irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), which I now know from this website can go hand-in-hand with IC. Although I have had a history of migraines in the past, I must admit that it has been a long while since the last one. Between the IC and IBS, I unfortunately spend a good deal of my life in the bathroom, which obviously interferes with every aspect of my life.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Your story is all too familiar to many IC patients, and I think it is valuable to try to sort some of this out.
First, we need to acknowledge that pain is supposed to serve a purpose -- it warns us of danger and should keep us from hurting ourselves. For example, if you burn your fingers taking a hot pan out of the oven while just using a paper towel to protect your hand (like my daughter did the other day!), the next time you will be more likely to use an oven mitt! So it would follow that if we eat something that hurts us, we could simply just stop eating it!
The problem with the food and pain connection is that (for most people), food has enormous emotional connections, and sometimes taking the foods we “love” out of our diet feels like a greater consequence than being in pain. Having a chronic illness can also take us through the various stages of grief and acceptance, similar to what people experience when a loved one dies. People become angry, frustrated, depressed, and it is also normal to go through a period of denial. I don’t know about you, but even as a dietitian, I “used” food in each of these stages after being diagnosed with IC. I ate when I was angry, frustrated, depressed, and don’t even talk to me about denial! J
That is why when patients are first diagnosed with IC, they often do everything except change their diet. The important thing is to be patient with yourself and recognize that, even though you don’t seem to be helping yourself, what you are feeling is very normal, and in some ways can actually help you become more successful when finally you do decide to take control of your diet.
That being said, it seems like you have finally come to a place where you are ready to change. Good for you, because changing your diet CAN help, and CAN make a difference in your life, and, therefore, make a difference in the lives of your family members. My suggestion to you is to get some sort of journal and record everything -- what you eat and drink, your symptoms, your moods, and even when you attempt to have sex. (Naturally, if you have extreme symptoms like bleeding after intercourse, you should report this to your doctor.)
Then, start by eliminating caffeine and tomato products from your diet. See how you feel. Remember, you may not get your pain down to zero or your frequency down to 4 times a day, but if you track your symptoms, you should definitely see the pain decrease to a 3 or 4, and you may even reduce your frequency to near normal levels. That would be considered a raging success in many clinical trials! Books like Confident Choices: Customizing the Interstitial Cystitis Diet and A Taste of the Good Life can give you further guidance.
If you continue to have problems, I would strongly urge you to seek the help of a counselor who is specifically trained to help people learn to live with chronic illness. Therapists can provide you with valuable insights about your condition, help you sort out what is happening with you and your illness, and teach you how to incorporate various coping strategies and changes such as dietary modification into your lifestyle.
Finally, I want all IC patients to know there is always hope, and much of that hope is in your own hands! With everything else that seems out of our control, diet is the one thing we can control.