IC Elimination Diet, Foods & Drinks to Eat & Avoid

I started writing on IC Disease a few months ago where I post strictly on Interstitial Cystitis and other related disorders.  I recently did a whole series on what foods and drinks to eat and avoid with IC and information on the IC elimination diet.  I worked on this series for several days and there ia a lot of detailed information I wanted to make sure those of you with IC had access to.  Below are excerpts and links to the IC Elimination Diet series.

• IC Disease patients may find that certain foods and drinks cause their symptoms to flare. This is especially true at the beginning or at the worst part of the illness. When I was at my worst with IC, just drinking water caused excruciating pain and caused my urine to burn terribly. Until an IC patient has their symptoms and illness under control, an elimination diet may be necessary. For some patients this may be a life long change they have to make. For others it can be temporary.

IC Elimination Diet: Part 1

• Each IC patient will probably have different food triggers that will cause their symptoms to flare. The list below is just a general list that is used as a starting point for IC patients when they are starting their elimination diet.

IC Elimination Diet: Part 2

• If you read my post yesterday that listed the foods that should be avoided if you have IC Disease, you are probably thinking Wow – what’s left?  I know that was my first thought. I imagined that I would never enjoy eating again. But fortunately that hasn’t been the case. In my own personal IC experience with food (note I bolded that this was my own experience – may not be typical for others), I found that once I eliminated aggravating foods for a while, I was able to slowly reintroduce foods I really like and can now eat those. I had to let my bladder heal first, however.

IC Elimination Diet: Part 3

• There hasn’t been much research done on how vitamins and supplements affect IC Disease. I can tell you what I know from my own personal experience. I cannot take multivitamins or Vitamin C. I have found that in order to take vitamins or supplements, I have to take the ones that serve an individual purpose. For example, I have to buy a bottle of Vitamin B 12, a bottle of Vitamin E, etc.

IC Elimination Diet: Vitamins/Supplements to Avoid

• When it comes to what to eat and avoid with Interstitial Cystitis, patients are probably going to get confused and will read so many different theories. The IC Network is an organization that I have the most faith in when it comes to what to do and not to with IC Disease. The IC Network recommends that patients eliminate the premanufactured and processed foods. For example, instead of buying boxed macaroni and cheese they recommend making homemade mac and cheese. The reason? You know what you are putting in homemade food. You may not recognize all of the additives and ingredients placed in packaged foods.

IC Elimination Diet(Part 5): What the IC Network Recommends

• One hot drink that is hard for many IC patients to give up is their morning routine of drinking coffee. For some patients, drinking coffee (and carbonated soda) is an all-day thing. For those people it is even harder. Most hot teas even need to be cut out at first. Until your bladder heals, here are some suggestions from the IC Network on what you can drink if you’re craving something hot.

IC Elimination Diet: Hot Drinks (Part 6)

• I had mentioned last weekend on my IC Elimination Diet: Hot Drinks post about drinking marshmallow root tea to help heal the bladder and relieve IC symptoms. Catherine M. Simone, author of the book To Wake In Tears, introduced the use of marshmallow root tea to IC patients everywhere.

Marshmallow Root Tea for IC Disease