I had the full CDSA (Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis) 2.0 test by Genova Labs done. The results were not actually all that surprising to me, though I did rule out some things I had been curious about and confirm that some of what I’ve been doing is working. The good news is that my basic digestive function is fine and I came up negative for parasites. I also had good levels of healthy bacteria (those Natren probiotics have been working) but came up positive for yeast. Surprise, surprise…after 2 years I still haven’t gotten rid of the nasty little bastards.

So, with the help of the new doctor, I have a new treatment plan that addresses not only the bacterial imbalance in my gut, but also incorporates a plan to heal my intestines with supplements and by eliminating foods to which I’m allergic.

With my previous diet, I was still allowed to eat spelt, kamut, and bread occasionally as well as yogurt and cheese. Through muscle testing, my new doctor has established that all gluten and dairy products are allergens for me, at least for now. So perhaps part of the reason my intestines weren’t healing was because I was still irritating them no matter how strict my diet was otherwise.

In addition to eliminating those foods (as well as alcohol, other fermented foods, and of course limiting sugar), I’m taking quercetin for inflammation, l-glutamine to help heal the small intestine, and a pharmaceutical grade IgG supplement (similar to colostrum) also to promote healing. To kill the yeast, we’re using garlic, which tested as a “high inhibitor” on the CDSA sensitivity panel, and is also something I haven’t tried yet. Don’t ask me how much this all cost. Ugh. I’ve got my fingers crossed that it works.

It’s sort of a long story, but basically, after last fall, I regressed a bit. I had quite a few flare-ups for a while, though I haven’t had one for quite a while now. I’ll admit, it was partly because I wasn’t following all of Matia’s instructions. It just got hard to stick to the diet after so long, and I wasn’t making the progress that I wanted to be making. The funny thing is that at this point I feel that my digestive system is kind of the stumbling block to getting my bladder to heal the rest of the way. On a day to day basis my bladder bothers me much less than the constant bloating that I still have. For the last few months I’ve been taking a break from treatment, but may go back to it in the near future. It was working slowly when I stuck to it, but I figured there was no point in spending all the $$ if I didn’t follow the diet. And it sort of seemed like no matter what I did the bloat still wouldn’t go away. I tried doing some acupuncture with someone local in the hopes that she might be able to make some progress where Matia could not, but it didn’t help much. So I’ll probably try to gather the resolve to go back to Matia’s program in the near future.

Even though I’m not 100%, I can basically eat whatever I want now without it bothering my bladder much, but food was never my trigger for flare ups anyway. I find that the yeast and intestinal issues do still get worse when I eat any sugar or too many carbs or fruit. But my bladder generally feels pretty good…not completely normal, but I don’t really think about it most of the time either. And I’ve been at least maintaining the last few months even though I haven’t stuck to the diet completely.

Thanks for your interest.

I’ve been on the diet for a little over 14 months now, and am doing well. I’m maybe 75% of the way through treatment. Most of the time I don’t think about my bladder, although I still have some urgency sometimes, and minimal pain with urination. The diet isn’t too difficult anymore since I’ve added in many foods along the way. I can eat out without too much trouble, and I no longer feel deprived. I’m still battling with the yeast and have some bloating when I don’t limit the carbs enough. It’s a bit frustrating, but I know eventually it’ll be gone. My digestion has greatly improved.

I’m much healthier than when I started in a lot of ways, and I’m still getting better. I have much more energy. My skin is clearer, although still not perfect. I can enjoy sex again.

I thought that I would be done with all this by now, but since I’m not I just keep reminding myself of how far I’ve come, and how much I’ve learned about myself. I’m much more in touch with the things that are going on in my body. I think I used to be a lot crabbier. Now I know that when I’m crabby it’s usually because I drank some coffee. That may seem unrelated to my bladder, but it’s something I learned about myself because of this process. It’s very scientific. I only change one thing at a time, so if I have a symptom I can pinpoint the cause of it. Before, I never knew what was going on inside of me.