Tips and strategies for patients struggling with bladder, pelvic, prostate disorders and pain
The IC Optimist is the ICN's quarterly patient and professional magazine dedicated to all things IC and pelvic pain. Subscriptions are available for just $25 per year via email of $50 per year to have a printed copy mailed to you. This issue is also available for single purchase (print or electronic pdf.) Proceeds are [...]
The IC Optimist is the quarterly magazine of the Interstitial Cystitis Network. From feature stories to self-help tips, diet tips to powerful editorials, the IC Optimist is our flagship publication delivered to patients and providers around the world. In this issue: (1) Editorial: Bladder Rape by Silver Nitrate - We begin this issue with an [...]
[break] [hr] [break] Editors Note - Most urology clinics have a nurse practitioner who works on the front line with IC patients who are struggling with flares and need treatment. The best ones are those who are kind, compassionate and interested in their patients. Jennifer Yonaitis Fariello MSN, CRNP has been a veritable angel to thousands of [...]
Prevention Magazine released a fabulous article, "Why It Hurts Down There", which discusses how pelvic floor dysfunction can be the cause of many pelvic pain conditions, such as IC, vulvodynia, constipation and so forth. It shares two compelling patient stories who, after many physician visits, finally discovered that the pelvic floor muscles, specifically pelvic floor [...]
How One Patient Was Forced To Have A Treatment Without Her Consent (Author: Jill H. Osborne MA, President, IC Network) There is no excuse for what happened to a female IC patient THIS YEAR. Her primary care provider suspected that she had interstitial cystitis and referred her to a urologist in her community. She made [...]
Our latest IC Optimist patient magazine is being sent to our subscribers this week and individual copies are available for sale! In this issue: (1) Editorial: Sam's Philosophy of Life - We're proud to begin this issue with an editorial featuring the remarkable Sam Bern's, who lived life with great joy despite facing a terminal [...]
One of our favorite bloggers is Dr. Geo Espinosa who writes frequently about interstitial cystitis and other bladder/prostate disorders. He has an awesome blog today that explains how stress triggers an increase in bladder symptoms such as frequency, urgency and pain. He reminds us all that: STRESS = INFLAMMATION = PAIN & URGENCY What I [...]
There are few more hotly debated discussions in the USA than the use of medical marijuana. With the common and often ugly image of drug addicts smoking joints, it’s easy to think of marijuana as just a street drug. Yet, if we could remove that image from the American psyche and replace it with that [...]
Simply Delicious: Low Acid Eating Made Simple is a fun, new blog & e-newsletter created by the IC Network for patients with interstitial cystitis, irritable bowel, GERD and anyone sensitive to acidic foods. We would like to thank AkPharma, Makers of Prelief for their sponsorship and helping countless patients eat more comfortably! Please share this [...]
We were so happy to see The Doctors TV show cover IC earlier this week. IC patient Elizabeth Bingheimer was fearless in sharing her life with interstitial cystitis on live TV. Like many patients, Elizabeth shared that at one point she thought that she had cancer. She said "this pain is so severe, it has [...]
