My IC diagnosis

If you've ever been at a doctor's appointment and given a diagnosis and handed a sheet of paper containing a list of foods to avoid, then you get that it feels like a death sentence at the moment. It's overwhelming.

Why this condition and why me? What will I eat now? My life is about to change.

Social events start coming to mind. You ask yourself, "How can I keep friends, they all like to drink?" or you tell yourself my friends will stop inviting me. My social life is over. What about birthday celebrations and holidays with the family? So many thoughts ...

I was diagnosed with Interstitial Cystitis in 2015 after 4 decades of bladder issues. It started weeks earlier with another bladder infection. I took antibiotics and got better but... then I was sick again not too long after that. I was peeing blood and had severe bladder pain but... I had no detectable infection. This was a first.

I was emotionally weary and overwhelmed at the time in my life. I was also living with chronic pain from a damaged disc (at the time I thought it was pudendal nerve). It was painful to sit and now I was peeing multiple times an hour. I still had stomach and allergy issues. I was given instillations and a bunch of medications.

After time I decided to take matters into my own hands after being on horrible meds that caused side effects I didn't like. The good news is after 6 months of daily research and experimenting with cutting out foods I began to feel improvements. I then begin a deep dive into nutrition and enrolled in school at the