What is interstitial cystitis?

Interstitial cystitis is inflammation of the bladder not caused by a bacterial infection. And, here's how a typical diagnosis goes down... we'll use myself as a case study.

I started having UTI symptoms out of the blue for the first time ever. For me, symptoms presented as:

1. cloudy urine
2. weird smelling pee
3. burning while peeing
4. urinary urgency

At first, standard urine cultures were positive, so I took the prescribed antibiotics. The antibiotics usually helped... as long as I was taking them. Once the course of antibiotics was over, I'd relapse right back into that same set of symptoms.

After 18 months of chasing symptoms, doctors started using the term interstitial cystitis pretty fast and loose. The standard urine cultures had long ago turned from positive to negative. 

At this point, women go one of two ways:

1. getting a cystoscopy (an imaging procedure where a urologist sticks a scope up through your urethra into your bladder to take a look around and see how damaged your bladder walls are) and walking out of that cytoscopy appointment with a diagnosis of interstitial cystitis 
2. continuing to chase embedded bladder infections (aka microinfections)

The microinfection chase left me holding a prescription for an antibiotic so powerful I was sure I'd wind up with a case of C. diff, and that's when I finally listened to the voice in my head "you realize you're practicing the definition of insanity, right?"

This would prove to be the wake-up moment, the thing that set me on a different path to avoid the definitive diagnosis of interstitial cystitis, a condition for which Western medicine offers only limited support to provide partial and temporary relief of symptoms.

Here's what I did instead...

The cause of interstitial cystitis

Whether you're struggling with recurrent UTI or interstitial cystitis, the cause is the same. I'll repeat that... chronic UTI and interstitial cystitis are caused by the same thing... your body cannot meet its energy needs effectively using only carbohydrates (carbs).

In plain English, you're struggling with an insulin problem. Insulin is the key that unlocks the door for the cells in your body to let glucose in.

What the hell's glucose?

Glucose is the simplest breakdown product from carbohydrates. Hang with me here, relief is just on the other side of this.

Every food you eat is made up of macronutrients (macros for short). There are 3 macronutrients:

1. carbs
2. fat
3. protein

Each one of these is broken down in the digestive tract and those breakdown products are packaged up (packed into little suitcases) and then shuttled into your circulatory system by way of the lymph system.

When a carb is broken down, the form that gets packaged up and shuttled around the bloodstream is glucose. The only way glucose gets out of the bloodstream and into the body's cells (where it serves as a fuel source allowing the cells to make energy) is when insulin unlocks the cell door.

The problem is, when you've got raging interstitial cystitis (IC) symptoms, this points to a problem with that unlocking mechanism. Insulin can't get the cell door open and glucose builds up in the bloodstream. Now, at first, this might not show up as high blood sugar levels.

But, what's going on at a cellular level is the body's cells are starved for energy and so they're forced to use fat to meet energy demands.

At first, that sounds great! Problem is, some cells in your body (red blood cells) cannot use fat to meet energy demands.

Problem 2 is when fat's used as the fuel to create cellular energy, the waste product is ketones. Those ketones are passed out of the body in your urine. How do ketones cause interstitial cystitis and chronic UTI symptoms?

1. Ketones irritate the bladder lining causing urinary urgency.
2. Ketones irritate the urethra causing burning while peeing.
3. Ketones alter the pH of urine in the bladder making it a safe environment for bacteria to grow (making you more prone to UTIs). 
4. Ketones make your pee cloudy (because they aren't that soluble in urine) and make your pee smell funny (fruity, acetone-y, sickeningly sweet).

So, how do you fix the problem?

It's necessary to restore insulin sensitivity. And this is where things get a little bit complicated.

Diabetes, Interstitial Cystitis, Hypothyroidism, and Adrenal Fatigue

What do diabetes, IC, hypothyroidism, and adrenal fatigue all have in common? When you have one, you're more likely to suffer from another one of these.

Why?

Western medicine teaches that the body is made up of a whole bunch of systems that operate independently of each other.

Nothing's further from the truth.

Every single part of your body interacts with every other part of you. So, the function of your thyroid impacts how well your cells respond to insulin.

And, the right amount of cortisol (made by the adrenals) impacts how well your cells respond to insulin.

I could pull in about a thousand other examples, but here's the reason why I chose these three hormones: insulin, thyroid, and cortisol have something in common...

All three of these impact how well you're able to convert the food you eat into energy. And, when any of these three is off, it throws the other two out of balance.

So, it's necessary to address all three. It is impossible to restore insulin sensitivity long-term without also addressing thyroid and adrenal health.

Ask me how I know 🙂

I broke free of interstitial cystitis/chronic UTI symptoms by addressing insulin resistance alone, and I maintained it by supporting healthy thyroid, insulin, and cortisol levels. 

In case you're thinking "yeah, but ketones aren't showing up in my urine" they weren't in mine either.

This is one of the ways I fell victim to medical gaslighting and suffered from symptoms for 18 months. I listened to the doctors.

Here's the truth:

• It doesn't matter whether your blood tests are off yet.
• It doesn't matter whether your urine markers are off yet.
• If you are suffering from symptoms of chronic UTI/IC, that is enough to point to an insulin resistance problem.

Quick sidebar in case this is you: So many women with IC have reached out to me arguing this point... IC is levels of magnitude worse than chronic UTI symptoms. Okay. At some point, you thought you had UTI and not IC. And, setting aside severity, the symptoms between these two conditions are the same. And, so is the cause. And, so is the solution.

The way to break free of your symptoms whether you're dealing with chronic UTI symptoms or an IC diagnosis is to restore your body's ability to make energy. The body's preferred way of making energy (the only way that's available to every cell of the body) is by using glucose (not fat) for fuel. Insulin resistance is keeping you from using glucose effectively right now and that's why you have these symptoms.

 

In case you're ready to break free of symptoms, here's 3 quick ways to find partial relief from your symptoms and a more holistic look at the relationship between thyroid, insulin, and cortisol.

 

If you're ready for even more, this 14 days to UTI freedom is for you. Each day, you'll receive an email with key insights and actionable tips on how to restore hormone balance between thyroid, insulin, and cortisol. Yes, this works whether you have chronic UTI symptoms or interstitial cystitis. And, here's my guarantee... if you aren't better (as in 100% symptom relief) by day 14, you'll get a free consult with me.

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