Dear Readers,
Happy New Year 2018 – I’m wishing you health and wellness for this year and hope that you all find your own path towards healing!
Thanks for reading this blog, it really means a lot to me and I hope you’ve found some useful information.
For me it’s been a busy past year with new projects in other areas of my life but I’ve still tried to write new articles for the blog whenever I could.
I have a few things planned for the new year ahead and I hope they will be of interest to you…
New Blog Series
I’m planning on starting a new series very soon with the title ‘Tried and Tested’ in which I’ll share my experience with several natural ‘treatments’.
On my own ‘quest for health’ (how I like to call it) I have tried various natural treatments and diets – some of them backed by good science, others…not so much. I’ve used myself as a bit of a guinea pig, so to say.
I’ve done my fare share of following various ‘health gurus’ and I think it could be useful to share my experiences to make it easier for others to sort through what might be legit and what’s more on the ‘quackery’ side of things.
Opening Practice
I am in the very final stages of becoming a Nutritional Therapist and, provided I pass all my final tests, am hoping to open practice in a few months.
I will be specializing in bladder health, with a keen interest in finding root causes of problems and aiming to correct them.
My interest very much lies in functional and holistic nutrition and lifestyle and I aim to stay up-to-date with the latest research and will be using functional testing.
Like that, I’m hoping to be able to help people more thoroughly above and beyond the blog.
Moving Above and Beyond Bladder Health
Everything in the body is connected and therefore we cannot look at just the bladder in isolation.
Therefore, I will be including more general health topics that I feel may be of interest when aiming for better health.
The Usual…
Apart from the above, I will still aim to write regular articles about all aspects related to bladder health, always trying to look at the research as much as possible…
Jacqueline
January 1, 2018Happy New Year.
It would be interesting to know if any members have been involved in the Clinical Trials for UROMUNE. It sounds very promising. However, do you have to be clear of an infection when you have the vaccine, or can it be effective even if you have bacteria lurking under a bio film?
Layla
January 5, 2018Hi Jacqueline, I don’t know much about this vaccination nor have spoken to anyone who’s tried it. I will have a look. Vaccinations are supposed to ‘train’ the immune system to have antigens against certain pathogens and therefore prevent an infection. However, biofilms hide bacteria from the immune system so my assumption would be that something still would have to be done about those.
Sheryl
January 1, 2018Sounds wonderful, Layla! I think all the upcoming plans you have, both for the blog and beyond, sound really good. Looking forward! x
Layla
January 5, 2018Thanks, Sheryl!
Artemis Alexakis
January 1, 2018I look forward to your “guinea pig” blog and everything else in store for us in 2018. :-). Congratulations on finishing your Nutritional Therapist training! I always look forward to your emails and read your new posts as soon as I see that they are up. Thank you for all you do! Sincerely, an I.C. sufferer
Layla
January 5, 2018Thank you, Artemis! That means a lot to me 🙂
Chelsea
January 14, 2018Hi Layla
Well my head is spinning cause I was diagnosed with IC yesterday. I have been online ever since reading everything I can about this crippling condition that I have suffered with for…well let’s just say I can’t remember not having it. However the worst thing about my history is that I thought it was always a UTI and have been on strong antibiotics of every kind for probably years longer than you have been alive. I am scared to death I have done so much damage that I will never get straightened out. I was just in so much misery and this is all the doctors would offer me. I felt like I was dying anyway so I felt it was worth it at the time to get some kind of relief. I feel kinda lost where in the world do I begin to tackle this? What should I take & eat but who should I see that can test me for: CRP, ESR, as well as do the stool testing? I just feel overwhelmed as I sit here in pain. The dr that diagnosed me didn’t make me feel very hopeful…her suggestion was to just continue to take my Macrobid and that I should call my insurance to find out if they will cover the instillation procedures…? I didn’t feel like this dr is a good fit for me, the way I was treated made my husband angry and he won’t let me return which I agree with. I live in WA state very close to Portland OR and feel like I really need to see someone who can guide me, I just need some relief. I am sorry this post was so long. Thank you for all the info this website has provided and I have no doubt you will be very successful as you work towards this new chapter in your life. Just wish you were where I am and I could be one of your first clients. I will keep in touch and let you know what happens.
Layla
January 17, 2018Dear Chelsea,
I’m very sorry you’re suffering like that. Don’t despair though, damage can be improved. I would see if you can find a functional medicine doc near you, someone who can run some tests. One of CRP or ESR is probably enough. There’s ubiome, where you can sequence your gut microbiome (Although this is not a diagnostic test per se, you need to know a bit about what you’re looking for). MicrogenDX testing could be good to see what’s going on in the bladder but you’d need to find someone to order this for you.
Diet wise I’d start with cutting processed foods out, especially sugars and refined fats. Consider an ancestral approach to diet (paleo type) – you’d want to remove inflammatory foods.
I will be offering distance consultations (via Skype) in the future, so if that’s something that interests you you could sign up to my newsletter (if you haven’t already) to be notified when I launch this. Wishing you all the best
Connie Gaugler
February 3, 2018Layla,
I stumbled upon your blog as I too have just been diagnosed with IC. I am a health coach and felt pretty in control of my diet until this happened. I have read the research on how IC could be autoimmune related, or histamine/mast cell or oxylates could be aggravating it. I am trying to nail down my diet, as I have always eaten pretty clean, paleo based so trying to figure out where to go from here. I see you say bone broth made a huge difference, but understand bone broth is high in histamines, so if my IC is histamine related wondering if that would make it worse. Looking for
natural ways to do this, but I am in a ton of discomfort, feeling the urge and frequency is not good for quality of life. I would love to speak with you, even if you haven’t finished your training and know some schools require “practice” clients and I would be willing to do that for you. If that would be possible please contact me at my email address that I will enter on your newsletter sign up. Thank you so much for reading my comment. Connie G
Layla
February 4, 2018Hi Connie,
Many thanks for your message. Sorry to hear you have issues despite your already healthy diet! You are right about bone broth and histamine – if this is an issue you could try meat stock, gelatine powder or collagen hydrolysate (I’m not sure about histamine in gelatine though).
I will send you an email soon about speaking with me. Layla