Herb for bladder health?

[Meowmie]

Does anyone know of an herb that is good for bladder health? I have Interstitial Cystitis (painful bladder syndrome) and I know garlic helps, but I'm looking for other things.

The medicine they have for it only works for 1/3 of the people, and I'm not one of them. So looking for natural cures or at least a little relief. I know there has to be something besides garlic.

 

[Kansas Terri]

Have you been able to identify your triggers yet? I know there is a limit to how much spicy food I should eat and about a quarter of an onion at a time is my limit. I have not been formally diagnosed but the doctor considered it: a diet change helped me so the entire matter was dropped.

Cranberry is not so good for pain but it does help to prevent infection.

 

[Pat]

I have not had any experience with this conditions but I did find this information online that may help http://www.livestrong.com/article/313287-herbal-remedies-for-interstitial-cystitis/.

 

[Meowmie]

@ Kansas, I'm so sorry you are going through this too. It really sucks. NO TOMATOES!!!! I follow the IC diet and don't do too bad, but sometimes I accidently eat something, especially when I have to eat out and then it's me and a hot water bottle and oxi and my bed for a day. You can find the IC diet online. It's on the ic network.

I suspect that it is GMO's that put me in this situation so I have also removed all of them from my diet. Coffee, chocolate, oranges, anything citrus, anything acidic, is out. (anything with flavor) Cranberries very bad for IC. You are almost better off getting and infection and using antibiotics than taking cranberries.

The dr started me on elmiron which helps about 1/3 of patients but I'm in the 2/3 . Besides, all it did for me was give me a bald spot on my head. I have several (expensive) bottles of elmiron just sitting here.

@ Pat, Thank you!!! I have searched online but missed that! I'm allergic to plantain but am going right now to order saw palmetto and kava kava. Particularly interested in the kava kava. Sleep is hard for me, bladder wakes me up all night (overactive bladder and neurogenic bladder on top of the IC) and my doctor ran away. Our wonderful new healthcare made it impossible to stay in his practice. He's off teaching and I'm left to figure out my medical problems on my own.

 

[headfullofbees]

My wife, who is type1 diabetic, used to get lots of urinary tract infections, and occasional bladder infections.

I brewed a lot of my own beer at the time, and when she started to drink relatively small quantities of it, we noticed, over time, that her problems in that area ceased.
Whether it was the live yeast, or the enzymes it released, or the types of sugars, or pure coincidence, who can say?

Maybe worth a try, because, even if it doesn't solve your problem, you'll at least have a bit of fun.

 

[firelily99]

Try drnorthrup.com, she/he has quite a few options that you can try including diet, herbs, etc. Stay away from caffeine or black tea, both are irritants to the bladder which is the last thing that you need. Good luck with it, I have struggled with bladder infections and I know how miserable they can be.

 

[Kansas Terri]

My urologist told me that I could *TRY* the IC diet, but not to take it too seriously because not every patient would have the same triggers. He said that the IC diet eliminated the most COMMON triggers, but that I might have other triggers as well, and that I might not react at all to many of the foods the IC diet allowed.

I learned that I could eat small amounts of forbidden foods as long as I did not eat too much. So I only get a flare up about once a month, at which time I take Tylenol..

Yesterday, for example I went out with my husband, to a belated Valentine's day dinner affair at the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars building). The VFW has it every year as a fund raiser. So, I forgot all about the IC and, while I ate lightly of trigger foods out of habit, I forgot and I ate several different trigger foods! I had a small glass of wine, a large salad with Italian dressing, some rather spicy Dorito chips, and that sugar-free brownie did not sit well and it left my stomach feeling irritated so I think it made things worse. It tasted just like a regular chocolaty brownie but I rarely eat baked sugar-free items so I simply do not know how well I tolerate it!

Needless to say, with wine PLUS Italian dressing PLUS the spice on the chips PLUS (possibly) the artificial sweetener, I got up 3 times last night having to run to the bathroom! (If I had been less tired I would have realized that I needed Tylenol but I was half asleep and it did not occur to me. It has been a long time since I had even such a mild flare up and besides I was very tired)

I eat small amounts of any and all of those foods and it does not bother me but it all adds up if I eat that much in a single night!

(Actually I regret nothing! I was acquainted with the other people at the table and we all laughed and talked and DH got pleasantly sloshed and forgot he was tone deaf and so during the Karaoke he forgot he was tone-deaf and he brought me up to the front so he could serenade me with "Nights of White Satin". Did I mention he is tone deaf? It was terribly sweet, and he was a bit drunk and so I had to drive him home.for the third time in the 40 years we have been together. I regret NOTHING, other than that I did not think to take Tylenol last night.

I realize that my IC is now very very mild: I REMEMBER what a bad flare up feels like! But since I identified my own personal triggers I am rarely bothered, unless like last night, I simply forget and eat too much of the trigger foods. Meowmie you have my heart felt sympathy while you are trying to get things under control: I have been there and done that.

I now know that I can have a few onion rings but a few is enough. A little bit of spice is fine but the spicier the food the smaller portion I will eat. And, since I drank a glass of wine last night I REALLY! should have chosen Ranch dressing instead of Italian! We are all different, and with some thought and work I hope that your IC dies down as well!

 

[Meowmie]

Well the idea for the beer is out for sure. Bladder can't handle anything carbonated or alcoholic It would be quickly followed by oxycontin.

Thanks for all the ideas/suggestions.

 

[Chuck]

Well the idea for the beer is out for sure. Bladder can't handle anything carbonated or alcoholic It would be quickly followed by oxycontin.

Thanks for all the ideas/suggestions.

Have you researched Plantain Major

 

[kammy]

I have heard that corn silk and horsetails are herbs that have being used for a variety of ailments , especially symptoms of the bladder such as urinary tract infection,bladder stones and urinary leaks. If this herb is readily available you could try it and see how it works for you.

 

[Meowmie]

Have you been able to identify your triggers yet? I know there is a limit to how much spicy food I should eat and about a quarter of an onion at a time is my limit. I have not been formally diagnosed but the doctor considered it: a diet change helped me so the entire matter was dropped.

Cranberry is not so good for pain but it does help to prevent infection.

One thing I have learned is that, even though onions is a BIG NO NO according to the IC diet and my bladder, well caramelized onions are no problem at all. I am enjoying lots of onions now

Cranberry juice. UGHHH For years I fought what I thought were recurring UTI's with that, only to find out finally that I never had UTI's but IC and the juice was irritating it terribly.

My trigger food fit right in line with the IC diet guidelines. A few things I find are especially bad off the no list for me is mayonnaise. Even a tiny bit sends me to the cupboard for oxycontin and a day in bed.

My urologist told me that I could *TRY* the IC diet, but not to take it too seriously because not every patient would have the same triggers. He said that the IC diet eliminated the most COMMON triggers, but that I might have other triggers as well, and that I might not react at all to many of the foods the IC diet allowed.

I learned that I could eat small amounts of forbidden foods (but not mayonnaise in anything) as long as I did not eat too much. So I only get a flare up about once a month, at which time I take Tylenol..

Yesterday, for example I went out with my husband, to a belated Valentine's day dinner affair at the VFW (Veterans of Foreign Wars building). The VFW has it every year as a fund raiser. So, I forgot all about the IC and, while I ate lightly of trigger foods out of habit, I forgot and I ate several different trigger foods! I had a small glass of wine, a large salad with Italian dressing, some rather spicy Dorito chips, and that sugar-free brownie did not sit well and it left my stomach feeling irritated so I think it made things worse. It tasted just like a regular chocolaty brownie but I rarely eat baked sugar-free items so I simply do not know how well I tolerate it!

Needless to say, with wine PLUS Italian dressing PLUS the spice on the chips PLUS (possibly) the artificial sweetener, I got up 3 times last night having to run to the bathroom! (If I had been less tired I would have realized that I needed Tylenol but I was half asleep and it did not occur to me. It has been a long time since I had even such a mild flare up and besides I was very tired)

I eat small amounts of any and all of those foods and it does not bother me but it all adds up if I eat that much in a single night!

(Actually I regret nothing! I was acquainted with the other people at the table and we all laughed and talked and DH got pleasantly sloshed and forgot he was tone deaf and so during the Karaoke he forgot he was tone-deaf and he brought me up to the front so he could serenade me with "Nights of White Satin". Did I mention he is tone deaf? It was terribly sweet, and he was a bit drunk and so I had to drive him home.for the third time in the 40 years we have been together. I regret NOTHING, other than that I did not think to take Tylenol last night.

I realize that my IC is now very very mild: I REMEMBER what a bad flare up feels like! But since I identified my own personal triggers I am rarely bothered, unless like last night, I simply forget and eat too much of the trigger foods. Meowmie you have my heart felt sympathy while you are trying to get things under control: I have been there and done that.

I now know that I can have a few onion rings but a few is enough. A little bit of spice is fine but the spicier the food the smaller portion I will eat. And, since I drank a glass of wine last night I REALLY! should have chosen Ranch dressing instead of Italian! We are all different, and with some thought and work I hope that your IC dies down as well!

I strongly suggest you study the IC diet. They put so much research into this, and a lot of the drs. have po-poohed it, while a few (the ones that deal exclusively with IC especially)have come to find how important it was. The foods do not trigger anything in the disease, but are like pouring salt on an open wound. Be careful to limit those foods, since you can tolerate a little bit, but don't have them by themselves or in combination with other restricted foods. Also prelief pills (which are mostly calcium can allow you to have some of the restricted foods) but not knowing the results of taking in all that calcium, I limit my use of them.

For the other responses, thank you so much. I am checking into each one of them, while continuing to stick to a non GMO diet. I am seeing progress in areas of my health I hadn't even thought about (I've had them so long they became normal to me), but as of yet still no changed with the IC. I'm hopeful though.