foods, the only thing i found (and still find) to irritate is caffeine, particularly coffee/espresso based drinks (not so much canned iced tea like brisk/nestea, which i do love to drink!). i'm a student so it sucks that i have to choose between likely discomfort and coffee to get through those early morning classes. but i know many people are different with their triggers!
i can't say for sure about the menstrual cycle, but sometimes it does flare up when i get bad cramps from my period (again, probably the tightening of muscles down there)
i'm hoping it's the antidepressants that are helping and it's not just a random lessening of symptoms...i want to know that i'm able to control these things and that i've just found a good treatment for me!
as for my friend, she's had IC for much, much longer than me and she's the one who told me it gets better over time as you learn to cope. i think she's just been able to pinpoint her triggers (i'm not sure what they are, we haven't spoken about IC for a while) and she seems to just deal with it. she takes a long time to pee (feels like she has to go, tries, takes a while for it all to come out/not a lot comes out) but that seems to be the worst of it for her now, as she doesn't complain about pain or discomfort.
i hope i've been at least a little bit of help for you. feel free to ask anything if you have any more questions and i'll do my best to answer :) i feel like i know what you're going through and it's really awful. xo
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Date: 2012-01-02 11:14 pm (UTC)i can't say for sure about the menstrual cycle, but sometimes it does flare up when i get bad cramps from my period (again, probably the tightening of muscles down there)
i'm hoping it's the antidepressants that are helping and it's not just a random lessening of symptoms...i want to know that i'm able to control these things and that i've just found a good treatment for me!
as for my friend, she's had IC for much, much longer than me and she's the one who told me it gets better over time as you learn to cope. i think she's just been able to pinpoint her triggers (i'm not sure what they are, we haven't spoken about IC for a while) and she seems to just deal with it. she takes a long time to pee (feels like she has to go, tries, takes a while for it all to come out/not a lot comes out) but that seems to be the worst of it for her now, as she doesn't complain about pain or discomfort.
i hope i've been at least a little bit of help for you. feel free to ask anything if you have any more questions and i'll do my best to answer :) i feel like i know what you're going through and it's really awful. xo