Tag Archives: overactive bladder

Fibromyalgia and IC: An Energy Science Understanding

bladder pain, fibromyalgia, IC, Interstiial cystitis, Uncategorized, , , , , , ,

It is estimated that many people with fibromyalgia(FM) have an IC like symptom complex in mild form as well only to exacerbate as the years progress   As a matter of fact that’s why IC is now looked upon as a syndrome of diseases rather than an isolated disease of the urinary bladder   The energy science due to its way of looking at disease doesn’t create disease labels but sees all problems in the body as imbalances of qualities and hence with such a system of healing leaves clustering of disease labels as the way to understand how to treat

So if the imbalance is just Vata and Pitta in the urinary tract it’s just IC(if Vata is predominant you will experience frequency and urgency but not burning pain labeled as overactive bladder OAB)   But as you will see if you see Vata and Pitta both affect the muscles of the body along with ama then FM can coexist with the IC symptoms

Fibromyalgia is rheumatoid arthritis(RA) like pain that doesn’t involve the joints   All of the complaints are related to the muscular and connective tissue system with the accompanying aches and pains   The commonality between RA and FM is ama

Tongue Monitoring and Ama

The bodily systems are fully exposed on the tongue  By scraping the tongue in the am and checking it out you get a snapshot of how the body is   If you’ve been traveling and you have had cracks and crevices on the tongue these become more prominent   If there have been several days of heavy eating the tongue will show more coating due to the digestive strength being weakened    It’s a very good way to monitor your health on a day to day basis

So if you see a brownish, yellowish, or white coating on the tongue it implies that there is undigested material in the GI tract that needs to be digested   This material is called ama and is a significant contributor to chronic disease   If you have a coated tongue the first step in recovering your health is to clear ama from the GI tract which I’ll spend some time with you in the future

The Creation of FM

Once the qualities of Vata become excessive in the colon where Vata primarily localizes Vata due to its mobile quality carries this toxic residue of undigested material through the lymphatics and blood to the muscular tissue    This produces irregular temperatures due to this ama in the blood stream(it’s like the fever experienced with overeating)   Vata localizes with its ama load in certain Vata predisposed areas of the body, namely the shoulder and pelvic girdles

Pains of FM vary   As in the bladder if just Vata is involved then clinicians label the problem as OAB   And so if just Vata is involved then the pain of FM can be variable, migrating, and excruciating    If Vata in the colon is blocked by excessive hot or Pitta then the pain will be burning and sucking, accompanied by a metallic taste in the mouth(Pitta in the blood layer), experiencing a smokey aroma, and notable irritability   If Kapha and Vata are involved the pain will be dull but will be sweet because it lets you sleep

Psychological or Mind Aspects of FM

From an energy science perspective the subconscious mind is located in the connective tissue of the body   All the tissue that connects the muscles together, attaches them to bones, and maintains form of the body is related to this connective tissue system that we call fascia   So fascia is the subconscious mind and those emotions that you don’t want to face get pushed into the fascial layer

This is why when Vata enters into the fascial layer of the body it creates instability, anxiety, and fear   This is due to the mobile quality of Vata but leaves you the owner of the body very ungrounded because the subconscious mind is ungrounded

It is not infrequent that people go into yoga poses and experience emotional releases due this very fact

But if Pitta is there with Vata not only may you experience anxiety but also anger and irritability   And if Kapha is present with Vata then you may experience inertia, lack of motivation, lethargy, and mental fatigue

Summary

So this is an overview of FM and its relationship with IC and you can see why it would be so easy for these conditions to overlap   The ama condition of FM differentiates itself from IC where there is no tissue layer for the ama to localize   In IC the ama has no place to localize and so it’s simply passed through in the urine   But it can’t do that in the bodily tissues    There’s no place for it to be removed so it has to accumulate in some tissue to which Vata has carried it

The treatment for FM and IC together doesn’t vary much more than if you were treating them as separate diseases    You first have to get rid of the ama which I will talk about in future blogs

Until next time                                                  To Health as a Skill  Love DrBill

 

 

InterStim and Its Use with IC

bladder, bladder pain, CPPS, IC, Interstiial cystitis, Uncategorized, , , , , , , , ,

When confronted with a chronic disease two questions usually come up   1  Why is this happening to me?  2  How can I get relief from these miserable symptoms that are plaguing me day in and day out?   The first question will be difficult to answer based on the current model of healing and is based on theory

And the second question is more to the point of “allow me to get comfortable so I can at least function”   This question also has loads of responses doing online searches because you are empathetic to the other’s suffering and want to alleviate it if you can  What would life be like without this chronic pain?  What would I be able to do that I can’t do now?

The Surgical Option and the Overactive Bladder(OAB)

The FDA approval for the surgical use of Medtronic’s InterStim is for the OAB syndrome not IC   And the urinary frequency/ urgency and urge incontinence is improved by the device in about 50-70% of cases as reported in 2009 but  usually doesn’t eliminate completely the voiding difficulty so as to give normal bladder function   The use of the device has carried over into the IC patient group because of the desperate needs of the IC patient to at least control the voiding problem aside from the associated pain

This is to say, the IC pain complex will not be taken care of by the device   As always there are anecdotal reports of pain cessation but this is not what the device is designed for

There will always be a surgical or mechanical alternative to chronic pain or for that matter any problem   Weight loss surgery, pancreatic islet cell transplant for diabetes, and for the OAB  InterStim has become a surgical option in the management of IC   If you pass a 2 week trial period then a permanent stimulating neuromodulator can be placed in a subcutaneous pocket overlying the right gluteal region

The bladder is innervated  by the sacral nerve roots S2-3  By placing needles that emit a low grade electrical current to the nerves going to the bladder, the nerves sending signals from the bladder that urination needs to occur(resulting in frequency, nocturia, and urgency) get overridden by the nerve stimulator   The result is a reduction in the bothersome voiding pattern of OAB but not the pain complex

Complications range from 10-25% and related to the mechanical aspects of the procedure such as infection and dislodgement of the wires due to falling or jarring can occur particularly if the needles are not well seated    At times such stimulation can bring on chronic pain from the placement compounding the problem rather than making it better

The Energy Science Perspective

Surgery is a part of the energy science of Ayurveda discipline   It clearly recognizes that surgery can be the best option in certain patients   But it also brings to the table a rich understanding of the origin of disease and therefore uses the surgical option in a more refined way   When adding the matter science technological approach to disease this can lead to a very effective holistic medical system

With this being said the use of a mechanical device should not be offered unless there has been an adequate trial of nutrition using energy science guidelines  Over the last 10 years I have personally witnessed OAB symptoms resolve using this kind of nutritional approach

As discussed in my upcoming book, IC Bladder Pain Syndrome, the OAB separates itself from the disease label of IC due to the pain component   You see the OAB problem is a Vata disturbance of bladder function whereas the IC disease label is a Vata AND Pitta disturbance of the bladder leading to not only the OAB symptoms(Vata)  but the Pitta energy pattern presence leading to the sharp shearing pain of IC that can be episodic and recognized as the flare

Patience is the KEY  Don’t Jump Too Fast

Using a surgical approach is an option  Using a nutritional approach is an option  But if the latter has not been given an adequate trial then that leaves the former as the only viable option

So my suggestion is to not act too hastily and give the energy science approach a really good trial before you open yourself up to the potential problems associated with surgery    And if you elect to have the implant know that the pain may not be affected

All the best                               To Health as a Skill     Love DB