Layla, Author at Bladder Help

Are Bladder Instillations Evidence-based?

ByLayla | On November 11,18 | 1 Comment

I never had a bladder instillation when I suffered from ‘interstitial cystitis’ – my doctor at the time couldn’t even diagnose me, so I didn’t get to try any conventional treatment for IC. In my desperation, I very quickly turned to natural interventions… and the rest is history.

We often speak of orthodox medicine as being ‘evidence based’ and anything ‘alternative’ as being ‘quackery’. I have long come to understand that a lot of ‘alternative’ interventions are in fact very much following the newest evidence but also that ‘quackery’ (and maybe more importantly ego) can be found in all walks of medicine.

So far, I’ve mostly stayed away from writing about conventional treatments and it’s not my intention to slag anything off. But after hearing from so many sufferers I’ve spoken to that instillations have not helped them, I wanted to see if their use is actually evidence-based.

Cystitis, Protocols

D-mannose for Urinary Tract Infections

ByLayla | On November 04,18 | 4 Comments

D-mannose is one of those supplements often used for chronic urinary tract infections. While I’ve heard some very positive reviews about it, it never helped me back when I took it myself.

Therefore I wanted to examine the evidence behind D-mannose a bit closer to see how useful it actually is for those struggling with chronic UTIs.

Protocols

Low-Level Laser Therapy For Chronic Pain

ByLayla | On October 28,18 | 6 Comments

Low level laser therapy is also known as light therapy or photobiomodulation. There’s different forms of light therapy, but this form mainly refers to red-light therapy of a specific wavelength.

It sounds pretty esoteric, but actually it has been used by NASA to help plants grow in space and by farmers for breeding chicks and other livestock. But it has also been used therapeutically for humans, especially in the context of recovery from physical exercise.

Health Articles

Tried and Tested: My Experience With Helminthic Therapy

ByLayla | On October 21,18 | 2 Comments

In this installment of ‘Tried and Tested’ I’m sharing my experience with infecting myself with ‘probiotic’ worms. Sounds like a stupid thing to do, but actually it’s quite an interesting therapy.

I decided to give helminthic therapy a go last year, not long after I found out that I suffered from Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid and usually leads to under-function of the thyroid (please note that I was already free of bladder issues at that point, so that’s not what I tried it for) .

Health Articles

Worms as Medicine: Helminthic Therapy for Chronic (Bladder) Disease

ByLayla | On October 14,18 | 1 Comment

We mainly associate parasitic worm infections with disease, but what if there are parasites that are actually good for us?

There are many different types of helminthic worms and some can be really bad for our health. Other types, however, have been used therapeutically for several years.

Helminthic therapy is one of many therapies I have investigated in recent years and also tried on myself. Today, I’d like to give you all a little introduction on this rather interesting therapy.

Conditions, Interstitial Cystitis

Key Takeaways From My Experience With ‘Interstitial Cystitis’

ByLayla | On September 23,18 | 4 Comments

After having suffered for two years of what I now understand was ‘Interstitial Cystitis’, years of researching and writing about bladder health and working with clients who suffer from chronic bladder issues I’ve gathered some key points to consider.

If you don’t want to read through all the information I have compiled on this blog, I think this could be a good starting point for anyone afflicted with these problems.

Interstitial Cystitis

Low Dose Naltrexone for Interstitial Cystitis

ByLayla | On September 09,18 | 1 Comment

Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) is one of the few allopathic medicines that seems to be rather popular in functional medicine circles.

I have heard of people taking it for interstitial cystitis and therefore wanted to investigate the why and how it could be used and whether its use makes sense for this condition.

Health Articles

5 Easy Stress Management Techniques

ByLayla | On August 27,18 | 0 Comment

Stress is a major trigger of digestive issues for me. When I talk to chronically ill people, and especially my clients with chronic bladder problems, stress is almost always one of the main triggers of their symptoms.

I’ve written about stress in the past, so I won’t go into great detail in today’s post. To briefly summarize it, stress is such an issue because our body’s stress response is not adapted to the type of constant stressors we are subjected to in our modern world.

Chronic stress can have a range of consequences, including: reduced digestive juices, reduced immunity, muscle tension, high blood pressure – the list goes on…

While we can’t always change the source of stress, we can support the body dealing with stress better with stress management techniques.

Health Articles

What You Need To Know About Genetics and Chronic Illness

ByLayla | On August 19,18 | 0 Comment

Are you chronically ill and have been told that it’s genetic and there’s nothing you can do? Do you, like most people, believe that your genes are your destiny and there is simply nothing we can do to change this?

While these beliefs still seem to be prevalent, research has shown that this is not strictly the case.

Sure, our genetic sequence cannot be changed but the truth is that gene expression can indeed be influenced by our environment, which includes the diet we eat and the lifestyle behaviours we engage in.

This knowledge gives hope that we do actually have some power over our genetic destiny.

Interstitial Cystitis, Protocols

Oxalates and Interstitial Cystitis

ByLayla | On July 29,18 | 3 Comments

Oxalates are the salt form of oxalic acid, an acid that is found in many plant foods and can also be produced in the body.

Oxalic acid can form oxalate crystals when binding to minerals such as calcium. When deposited in the body, these can cause a lot of pain, similar to tiny glass shards.

This is probably most well-known with regards to kidney stones, which can often be oxalate/calcium stones.

There is also some evidence that excess oxalates could play a role in painful bladder conditions, such as interstitial cystitis. However, this evidence is more anecdotal than based on scientific studies (as there haven’t been any studies that I know of). Today I would like to look at some potential connections between oxalates and interstitial cystitis.