My books have always been about hope and empowerment. This updated edition is certainly no different. I’ve always cared very much for you to know that there is hope for you to heal (not only because it is true, which it is), but because I know how I felt when I was told there was no hope for me. When someone tells you that you can never get better (which is what most all of us were told), when someone tells you that you have to learn to live with something that is painful and/or ruins most aspects of your life, well, it’s very harsh as you know. Here is what I want to tell you, what I would tell you if I were talking to you on the phone or sitting with you in person. Don’t believe them. It can actually inhibit your healing if you believe them. Whether you have heard about the universal law of attraction or not, you know that if you believe you can’t heal it will likely affect whether or not you actually heal. It will affect how you treat yourself, your bladder, and your body. It will both directly and indirectly affect your healing. So, please don’t believe them. Also, (did I mention this already?) it isn’t true. There really is hope. You really can heal from IC.

With all the options now available, I want you to know that still, I see hope. No matter what you have been through with your IC up to this point, there are things you can do to help your body and bladder to heal. In fact, I see more hope for you to heal now than I even did years ago. I see hope for IC patients within alternative medicine’s new understanding of the microbiome, the endocannabinoid system, the role of hidden infections in chronic illness, and how to rebalance hormones naturally. I see hope for IC patients within the mounds of evidence that water molecules hold memory, sound frequencies can provide healing, and that the releasing of negative emotions can help our body find balance physically. All of this new, scientifically proven, information is very exciting, as well as helpful to understanding and treating IC.

As always, I write with the welfare of individual IC patients as my absolute number one concern. Having been the IC patient myself, I can’t help but feel a deep compassion and empathy toward those who are still suffering. Again, I write beholden to no one. No drug company or medical organization tells me what I should or should not say to you. I write what I believe to be true about IC and IC treatments with one goal in mind, to prevent you from suffering any more than you already have. Clearly my concern has never been to write in a way that would gain the support of mainstream medicine or the medically oriented organizations and websites. Instead I choose you, every time, because I was you. My desire is for you to know that there are safe alternatives available to you no matter how mild or severe your IC symptoms. No matter how long you have been sick, no matter how severe your symptoms are right now, there is hope for you to heal. I also want you to know that you don’t have to pay someone an arm and a leg to help you get better. You can get yourself better. In fact, I would argue that you are the most likely person, the very best bet, for who is going to heal your IC.

I can certainly understand why this is all so overwhelming. Obviously I too was overwhelmed trying to figure out what to do years ago. Now there are even more natural products out there, even more alternative treatment options available to choose from and even more people claiming to have the answer for you. Doing all kinds of research and deciding what do is so difficult. It is time consuming and confusing yes, but the even bigger issues are the risk of what we are choosing in terms of its effect on our bladder (and body) and of course on our checking account. Not many of us have a money tree in our backyard and not many feel physically up to doing all the research necessary to make all these decisions. Where do you put your time, money and energy to help you heal the fastest and safest way? I am hoping that this book helps you to decide the answers to that question.

My intention is that this book contain information that you can use on your own if need be or that you can take to an open-minded doctor of whatever sort to help you understand your own individual case of IC. This way you can make informed decisions about what to do in order to heal. (When I say informed, I mean informed by your own personal test results, as well as with a big picture or holistic understanding of IC.) Even if you can’t afford the various tests, don’t have access to an open-minded doctor, or live in a remote location, I sincerely hope the information in this book will help guide you to do these things on your own with whatever resources you have at your disposal. You will discover that there are many inexpensive options that you can do on your own. My favorites are those that address more than one causal factor at a time.

Nearly twenty-five years have passed since I was diagnosed with a severe case of IC. The doctors told me I would need to have my bladder removed long ago, but instead my bladder is now healthy and strong. How did that happen? To be honest, one big reason is that I stopped going to the urologist and immediately began looking at IC from a whole body perspective. This was not because I was brilliant or anything, but because my whole body was sick with several other symptoms when my bladder was raw and bleeding. Some might have mistaken my pursuit of alternatives back then as a courageous thing to do. It was not. I was terrified of the doctors at that point after what they had done to me, not to mention what they still wanted to do. Obviously I am not a scientist or doctor, but I didn’t care. At thirty years old, I was not about to accept the fate that they were offering. I was not going to let them remove my bladder, stick painful, caustic medications into my bladder, or poison my body further with medications. Quite frankly, I was in way too much pain to go near them or their approach. I still today consider mainstream medicines approach to treating IC to be quite barbaric and in most instances, very un-healing. Simply put, I would not be better today had I gone the medical route. I assume that if you have this book in your hand that you are looking for alternative options to the medical treatments for IC. So let’s get to it.