Interstitial Cystitis: When Will a Food Affect Me?

A common question asked by my interstitial cystitis patients is, “How long from mouth to bladder?” The answer is unfortunately vague. It depends on the person and the food. Some foods, like cranberry juice, will likely cause an IC flare within an hour. Other foods might not cause a reaction in small doses, but you could experience bladder pain or other symptoms when you increase the portion size. Some IC patients will experience an increase in bladder symptoms right before bedtime and others report a day or two lag between eating a food and the development of bladder pain. In most cases, however, if you are going to experience symptoms with a particular food, it will most likely happen within hours.

Keeping an interstitial cystitis food and symptom diary can help you figure out how certain foods affect your IC symptoms. You can download sample diaries at Recipes and Resources.

Julie Beyer, MA, RDN

Author, Speaker, Patient Advocate

www.ic-diet.com 

Helping Yourself Is the First Step to Getting Well

For step by step guidance for creating your own personal interstitial cystitis meal plan, see: Confident Choices^®: Customizing the Interstitial Cystitis Diet.

For some basic, family-style, IC bladder-friendly recipes, see: Confident Choices^®: A Cookbook for Interstitial Cystitis and Overactive Bladder

For health care workers:  Interstitial Cystitis: A Guide for Nutrition Educators

Determining YOUR Personal IC Trigger Foods

If you have been diagnosed with a chronic illness like interstitial cystitis, you may feel as though all of the decisions about your life have been placed in someone else’s hands. Yet, dietary modification is entirely within your control and can be one of the most successful ways to manage painful bladder symptoms.

You probably already suspect that certain foods trigger their symptoms. For most IC patients, the worst offenders are tomatoes, cranberry juice, citrus fruits, soy, coffee, tea, chocolate, alcohol, and various spices and food additives. Other foods may bother an painful bladder as well, depending on the individual and the current condition of their bladder. The most important thing, therefore, is to determine your own personal trigger foods. Although this three-stage process may seem cumbersome, most patients find the results extremely valuable, especially if they find they can eat more foods than originally thought.

In the first stage of the elimination diet for interstitial cystitis, you need to keep a detailed food and symptoms diary. It is important to get a baseline of the foods consumed as well as the symptoms. You may also include things like daily stressors, sexual intercourse, unusual physical exertion, and any medication changes they may have. During the second phase, you will begin a wash-out period of one or more weeks, consuming only those foods considered “bladder friendly” until your symptoms diminish. (For complete IC Food List see the IC Food List.)

The third phase of the elimination diet for IC is the "challenge" phase. Here, you will test one food at a time to see if you have a bladder reaction. I suggest consuming a small amount of food on one day, increasing the portion size the second, and if you haven’t experienced symptoms, try a full serving on the third day. This way you can test both the food and portion size. For example, you may be able to eat half of a banana two times a week, but a banana a day may cause you to flare. This process should be repeated until the you have created a personalized Bladder Friendly list of foods.


Julie Beyer, MA, RDN

Author, Speaker, Patient Advocate

www.ic-diet.com 

Helping Yourself Is the First Step to Getting Well

For step by step guidance for creating your own personal interstitial cystitis meal plan, see: Confident Choices^®: Customizing the Interstitial Cystitis Diet.

For some basic, family-style, IC bladder-friendly recipes, see: Confident Choices^®: A Cookbook for Interstitial Cystitis and Overactive Bladder

For health care workers:  Interstitial Cystitis: A Guide for Nutrition Educators

Redefining “Elimination Diet” for the IC Diet

Are you an interstitial cystitis patient? What was your reaction when you first heard the phrase “elimination diet?” Many IC patients are confused and intimidated by the thought of doing something that sounds so drastic. My first experience with an elimination diet was when my daughter was two years old. Her skin was raw from eczema, so the pediatrician suggested doing an elimination diet to help determine if she had food allergies. Now, the first phase of a traditional allergy elimination diet is quite severe. She started out on lamb, pears, and rice. It was miserable for both of us. It was complicated to find foods a two year old would eat, while the rest of us ate “real” food. After she lost two pounds in just a few days, I stopped it.

Because of this experience, when I was first diagnosed with IC, the idea of doing an “elimination diet” for interstitial cystitis was nearly paralyzing. As a result, I did things the hard way for the next few years. I experimented with my diet, relying on trial and error, mixed with a hearty portion of denial.

It wasn’t until I started counseling IC patients and studying the IC Diet list that I recognized the value of using an elimination diet strategy. I realized that the name “elimination diet” is just a fancy way to organize the testing of various foods, and it definitely wasn’t necessary to start with lamb, rice, and pears like my daughter did twenty years ago! Tens of thousands of patients before me had compiled their knowledge, and we knew the basics. (View 2009 IC Food List)

How did you determine your personal trigger foods?


Julie Beyer, MA, RDN

Author, Speaker, Patient Advocate

www.ic-diet.com 

Just Tell Me What to Eat!

For step by step guidance for creating your own personal interstitial cystitis meal plan, see: Confident Choices^®: Customizing the Interstitial Cystitis Diet.

For some basic, family-style, IC bladder-friendly recipes, see: Confident Choices^®: A Cookbook for Interstitial Cystitis and Overactive Bladder

For health care workers:  Interstitial Cystitis: A Guide for Nutrition Educators 

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