Interstitial Cystitis and Urititis

Okay so mom has had IC for twenty years and I have had some symptoms of it for about 6 months now. When my bladder is full at night I feel a slight burning along the lower wall and my urethra burns when I pee (usually only at night) and I've been sleeping with ice packs on my crotch.

My mom just pulled out a wonderful book that she has on healing IC and there is a giant section on herbs! Yay! My mom is way more sensitive than I but we are both gonna start with marshmallow root tea. My mom is also gonna try castor oil packs. I may just do one over my entire abdomen instead of just my liver and stomach area. Is it okay to do an area that large?

We also wanted to start eating aloe. My mom keeps saying that she's not sure what kind of plant to use. Is there a specific type that we should use? We have a small plant here but we are gonna have to get more if we are gonna be eating it regularly.

By the way Uny, I took one nugget of the bee pollen from Oregon in the evening and almost immediately I started having to pee about once every hour, which lasted all night and my urethra was really sore and firery for half of the next day. I haven't built up the courage to try any of the others, but it was interesting to see an allergic response affecting my bladder and urethra. I'm assuming that it was an allergic response. The lady in the IC book talks a lot about allergies and IC.

I think as far as the kidney/bladder flush goes, I feel like it's better for now if I do it more gently by having a cup every day or something like that. Feeling like a giant is standing on my chest making it so I can't breathe is scary and not worth it. I will likely try it again once I'm a bit stronger and less sensitive to mineral losses.

But, minus the kidney flush setback, my energy continues to improve. I'm walking a little further every day and I went and visited a new friend yesterday and he showed me his veggie garden and his baby chicks that he just got. It's great to be well enough to make friends here with like minded folks. I miss having friends.. Been hanging out with my parents for 6 months.

Oh yeah, we saw manatees on our walk yesterday! It was spectacular! :)