A couple food items I am wonderin' about

[aprilchen]

Hi,

I am wondering about a couple food items. How do you tell if marinades and worschestire sauce is ok? What should some key ingredients be that I should look to avoid?

Also, is it really true that as an IC patient, you can't have ANY chocolate? What about a small amount such as what is in Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies? It isn't alot, but I was wondering how much would affect ICer's?

Also, does anyone know any good web sites to get recipes that are IC friendly? I know there's a cookbook on here, but I was wondering about online sites.

Thanks.

[ICNDonna]

Worchestershire sauce has vinegar, which is usually a problem. I make a brown stew recipe that calls for 1 tsp in the whole stew --- it might bother some who are extremely diet sensitive, but is okay for me.

Mostly I just use a regular cook book and make some adjustments as needed.

If you make your own cookies, you could substitute white chocolate chips or maybe carob chips for the chocolate. A little bit of chocolate doesn't bother me, but if you're really diet sensitive, you'll want to stay away from it.

I hope this helps.

Donna

[marymove]

When I make cookies, I make a few with just one or two chocolate chips in them, and that doesn't bother me at all.!

[tigger_gal]

this is hard to answer since we are all so different when it comes to food triggers. do a google search an see if you can find another IC food trigger list.

[Big Red]

All of the above you listed are bad for me. but I also have stomach problems. Chocolate didn't bother me to give up because I don't like it.

[Annie2]

The IC diet food lists are meant to be a guide for you to follow in the process of learning your own personal tolerances and triggers. These lists were developed by gathering info from MANY ICers over a period of time. They reflect what is safe, may be ok and usually a problem for the majority of people with IC. Only by going through the elimination process can you discover exactly which foods your own bladder will tolerate and which ones cause problems for you.

As for marinades, they may or may not be a problem for you. Unfortunately, the only way to know for sure is to try a small amount and see how your bladder reacts. Remember, different marinades contain different ingredients so your reaction might be different depending on the ingredients. Meat marinades are one of my biggest triggers and I must avoid them. However, there are others who don't have a problem with them.

I just read the list of ingredients on a bottle of Worcestershire Sauce. They are:

Vinegar (acidic and a problem for many of us)

Molasses

High Fructose Corn Syrup

Anchovies

Water

Hydrolyzed soy and corn protein (a hidden source of MSG which is a very common problem for ICers---Google hidden MSG and you'll find a whole list of terms that mean there may be MSG in that ingredient). Also, soy is acidic and many of us have problems with soy or soy products.

Onions (problematic for some of us)

Tamarinds

Salt

Garlic

Cloves (problematic for some of us)

Chili Peppers (an obvious problem for many of us)

Natural Flavorings (another hidden source of MSG)

Shallots(mild onions, but could cause problems for some)

As you can see, there are many ingredients in the sauce that could cause problems. Because there are so many ingredients that are common bladder irritants, Worcestershire Sauce is on the usually problematic list. Like, Donna, you might be able to tolerate a very small amount. The onlly way to know for sure is to try it. But do try a small amount to start with and see how your bladder reacts.

There are lots of good recipe sites on the web, but none that I am aware of that have only IC-friendly ones (other than the recipes on this site). I have several recipe sites I like, but I do have to be creative and substitue for ingredients that are problematic for me or leave that ingredient out.

Chocolate contains caffeine and that is a common bladder irritant. Once again, it is an individual matter. Some people cannot tolerate any chocolate, others are ok with small amts. and still others have no problem with chocolate.

Going through the whole long process of testing and discovering your own personal triggers and tolerances is frustrating, I know. It is well worth the time and effort, however! Once you know your own triggers, it gets a whole lot easier!

[Berkshire Road]

And don't forget to take your prelief, sweetie!

[aprilchen]

thanks

And don't forget to take your prelief, sweetie!

Thanks guys! I appreciate your advice. I tried some Worschestire sauce tonight and it does aggravate. I just had to take a pain pill because of it.

[lnseagraves]

Hey,

As for another website, IC Association's website has a "Whats cookin'" page thats pretty good. I check that one out regularly. There is also the IC Chef cookbook on this site.

[patricia1]

I am sure you know that we are all so different in what tiggers our IC symptoms and what does not.

For my choc. is okay. Something funny with my is that I can eat Heinz Ketchup fine, but if I try others and cheaper ones, my IC goes haywire.

It takes sometime to figure out what bothers you and what does not. Good luck to you.

[aprilchen]

Thanks guys for the information. Patricia, if you don't mind my asking...it looks as if you had the Interstim put in twice and then removed twice. What happened? I am considering it but also still have to see the specialist on the 22nd. Anyway, I was just asking because I want to be as informed as possible about the interstim. My problem is mainly retention and the DVD I had sent from medtronic said it can treat that also.

Thoughts?

[patricia1]

April, I dont mind at all talking about what happened with My InterStim's. The more information you have the better informed decision you will make. And should something happen later on you can be more prepared.

I actually still have my 2nd one, I am still waiting on a schedule to remove it. I had to cancel the first one and was not able to be put on the schedule the 2nd go around.

Actually they are several that have gotten the InterStim due to retention and it has helped them greatly. I believe it is one of the things that the InterStim is FDA approved for. IC is not though.

Anyway I got my first one in Sept 2001. It worked well for about 6 months then my symptoms started creeping back up on me, even with reprogramming it still was not working right. It would also make my big toe on the left foot curl under. I also had lost alot of weight and the unit was placed in my waist area. Because of the weight loss it stuck out really bad and would bother me when I wore my pants and so forth. Then in May 2002 I lost my job and that left me with COBRA for seveal months. During this time I filed for SSD. Then in November 2002 I was in 2 rear end car wrecks the same day. How many times does that occur to one person. Shortly after this my toe curling got worse and then I starting have shocking pains in my left leg when I need to have a BM. They would shock me so much I could not move my leg until I turn the unit off. During this time I lost my insurance and the doctor who put it in would not help me. He told me several times the problems I had were normal and not to worry. I then started going to the state hospital we have in Louisiana, that if you have no insurance or poor, the state pays for you medical care here. But they had no doctor there that was know. in InterStim and it would take another 8 months for him to get there. So in May of 2005 I went in for a revision. They put the new one in my bum area. The new one still does not help my symptoms like it should. I then started having musle twitching on the left leg, both upper and lower muscles. I then found out that 2 of the leads are not working right. I then again lost some more weight and the unit sticks out in the bum and I can move it around. Because of all of this and the problems I have and am having I am just having the 2nd one removed to. He stated that if I opted for another one (3rd) I would more than likely have to put it in the abdoman area consider it keeps sticking out on me.

Remember this is only my story, and there are many of others that have had problems, but also there are many success stories.

What I tell anyone consider this, is to look at the long term outlook. Not just today. I think about fincial outlook. Cause when I started having problems the org doc wanted nothing to do with me and refuse to help me. And if not for the Charity hospital we have I would have been lost until I got my Medicare. I know it is hard especially when you are at the point this is your last resort, I was there and still am. But every options needs to be looked at when considering this. Some people have had life long nerve damage. Thankfully mine was not perm. But some have been.

Should you have any other questions just let me know.

[mary124]

Most sauces bothers me (Worschestire, BBQ sauces) If I want spag. sauce do home made anymore, because that somehow puts me in a big flare, so I have to buy Del Monte canned, but even with that I have to put added water in it so it doesn't bother me.
Chocolate -- as long as I don't eat a lot of it, I'll be ok. But that is a problem for me because, I go overboard.
Last night, my eldest son who works for Papa Johns bought home a pizza (he knows I can't eat it- unless he doesn't put on a lot of sauce, which I'm surprise he didn't) and he said this is for you. Half of it was made just the way I can eat it! I was happy, I can't remember when the last time was that I had a pizza.

[RobinD]

Mary124

What a sweet son to be thinking of you! He'll make a very caring husband someday.

[aprilchen]

I am seeing a specialist next week in Oschner's Clinic of Urology in New Orleans and he is supposed to be world renowned for this Interstim thing and for IC. Apparently, he has done many of them and everyone I have spoken to about IC in this area said that clinic is a good one to go to.

Good Luck!