September is Interstitial Cystitis Awareness Month

September being IC Awareness Month, and given I currently suffer from it, I decided to write a post about it to help spread awareness of this invisible illness.

Interstitial Cystitis is a chronic illness that affects the bladder. IC may also be referred to as painful bladder syndrome (PBS), bladder pain syndrome (BPS), and chronic pelvic pain. I refer to it as one thing mostly:

Annoying.

This would be funny if it wasn't 100% accurate.

I was diagnosed with it in May of 2016. Overnight, the way I ate changed. I tossed the majority of the food in my cupboards because they were damaging my bladder and if I wanted to have a chance of healing, I couldn't be tempted. I went cold turkey with caffeine. At the time, I worked the 6AM shift at a local deli. Boy, did that suck.

Interstitial Cystitis, along with being a mouthful to say, is incurable. I take a daily medication that may or may not partially heal my bladder. The hope is that, one day, I'll be able to reintroduce foods back into my diet. Probably not Mountain Dew, but given they've started adding fake sugar to pop, I can't really complain. But I would like to eat chocolate again.

Have you ever heard of IC before? Can I get some good vibes sent to the people researching this disease so they can find a cure?

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