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Along the Healing Path : Recovering from Interstitial Cystitis
A holistic perspective of Interstitial Cystitis with information on various alternative treatments, herbs, and natural products in relation to healing from IC. There is a special section on vitamins, minerals, and IC, as well as a discussion of possible reasons why alternative treatments may not have worked for some IC patients in the past. Along the Healing Path offers a lot of helpful tips and information for IC patients who want to take a more natural/holistic approach to healing.
- GenresNonfictionHealth
183 pages, Paperback
First published September 26, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 23, 2011
First of all, I'm sorry you're reading this book because I too have had interstitial cystitis for a year now and I hate this ugly, ugly disease. This book has given me so much hope and is essential reading for anyone diagnosed with interstitial cystitis.
**EDIT***After 15 months of Hell I've gotten about 90% better. Whether it was this book, God, or my body just healed I don't know. Don't give up no matter how bleak and hopeless it seems!
**EDIT***After 15 months of Hell I've gotten about 90% better. Whether it was this book, God, or my body just healed I don't know. Don't give up no matter how bleak and hopeless it seems!
July 25, 2009
reviewed in retrospect July 2009:
I had a health scare in 2007. If you have heard of Interstitial Cystitis, I'm sorry. Really really sorry. I wish I had never heard of it.
But this book helped make me better. Doctors suggest a diet that has nothing that could possibly irritate the bladder. That rules out a lot of vitamins and minerals that your body NEEDS. Catherine Simone gives the most thorough explinations of what vitamins do, how they are used by the body, and what happens to you when you don't get them that I have ever seen. She also explains a list of herbs and how to prepare and use them. She gives a thorough list of therapies she tried, how they are supposed to work, and what helped her. Before this book, everything I had found talked about interstitial Cystitis as a bladder disorder of unknown cause. This was the first thing that suggested that the root causes could come from elsewhere in the body and really made me think of it as a whole body misfunction.
At the period of time that I read this book, I was in hell and this book put me on the road to healing. I don't think there is higher praise to give.
This book also led me to Dr William G. The Yeast Connection and Women's Health.
I had a health scare in 2007. If you have heard of Interstitial Cystitis, I'm sorry. Really really sorry. I wish I had never heard of it.
But this book helped make me better. Doctors suggest a diet that has nothing that could possibly irritate the bladder. That rules out a lot of vitamins and minerals that your body NEEDS. Catherine Simone gives the most thorough explinations of what vitamins do, how they are used by the body, and what happens to you when you don't get them that I have ever seen. She also explains a list of herbs and how to prepare and use them. She gives a thorough list of therapies she tried, how they are supposed to work, and what helped her. Before this book, everything I had found talked about interstitial Cystitis as a bladder disorder of unknown cause. This was the first thing that suggested that the root causes could come from elsewhere in the body and really made me think of it as a whole body misfunction.
At the period of time that I read this book, I was in hell and this book put me on the road to healing. I don't think there is higher praise to give.
This book also led me to Dr William G. The Yeast Connection and Women's Health.
June 11, 2019
This second of the three books penned by Catherine Simone is another essential addition to the library of I.C. sufferers.
Catherine informs us that I.C. is not just a bladder disease but affects the whole body. I.C. patients have a toxic body. We have to learn how to get rid of the toxins gently and slowly in order not to add to our discomfort.
One of our problems is that very few doctors, if any, understand what I.C. is, and how painful it is. This results in we ourselves having to take complete responsibility for our getting healed from the disease. (Of course, this is really always the case, whatever the nature of our health problems.)
The author points out that a toxic body and colon do not absorb nutrition , presenting further problems, and that a toxic body also promotes allergies and sensitivities. We I.C. patients are extremely sensitive. (I can attest to that.)
We need to 1) get out of pain 2) soothe our insides 3) feel our way through our healing 4) identify our allergies and sensitivities 5) identify our sources of toxins and eliminate them as much as possible 6) cleanse gently and slowly and 7) rebuild.
Re 4) she informs us about NAET (Nambudripad Allergy Elimination Technique). This technique uses acupuncture and/or acupressure together with kinesiology to identify and eliminate allergies. NAET practitioners are found in the US and several European countries (and perhaps elsewhere in the world, I don’t know). Check on the net to find a practitioner in your area. Unfortunately, there appear to be none as yet in Denmark, where I live.
Common sources of toxins are mercury amalgam fillings, pharmaceutical medications, cigarette smoke and chemicals, metals and synthetic materials. Not only do your mercury fillings have to be removed in as safe a way as possible, the mercury remaining in your body will subsequently have to be cleansed out too.
Catherine stresses that we all have differing symptoms, being “polluted” in different ways, and therefore need to find our own individual healing path.
Not only doctors but also many alternative practitioners fail to understand I.C. and try to dictate to us what we should do, since they don’t comprehend our extreme sensitivity, both to homeopathic remedies and herbs. I can attest to this also – absolutely. So these practitioners can hurt us too. We need always to trust ourselves first and foremost and be extremely cautious when trying new remedies and following the admonitions of practitioners who think they always know what’s best for us. Just because something is natural doesn’t mean it is safe for us.
This said, the book contains a very useful chapter on herbs. As in Catherine’s other books, the No. 1 recommendation is marshmallow root tea, which soothes and heals all mucous membranes and thus the bladder. There was new information in this book, so now I understand that more is not necessarily better - half a teaspoon is adequate for one cup and you just need to dunk the tea ball containing this amount into the cup of hot water a few times and don’t need to steep it for ten minutes.
Comfrey leaf tea also soothes and heals, and comfrey absorbs toxins from the intestines. Comfrey leaves are anti-inflammatory. Use it a few times a week, The benefits and drawbacks of many other herbs are also described, including raspberry leaf, cat’s claw, catnip, mullein, etc, etc.
There is also an important chapter about other natural products, including vitamins and minerals, lavender, tea tree oil, rose oil, baking soda, MSM, etc. etc.
Catherine talks to us from personal experience of these herbs and natural products and how they affected/alleviated her I.C.
In the final chapter we are given instructions and advice about healing baths. Use a baking soda base of app. ½ to one cup. Add a few drops of tea tree oil and a couple of drops of lavender or rose essential oil, for instance. Put a few pinches of comfrey leaf, sage and perhaps parsley in a tea ball and put it into the water. Parsley helps with bloating and edema.
Catherine provides us with advice on healing baths, skin brushing, rebounding, NAET, etc, etc.
This is a great, invaluable book for I.C. sufferers. The only negative factor for me about the book was the author’s use/non-use of apostrophes, poor spelling and the like, and this of course is of no importance in contrast to the invaluable help given about how to soothe our pain and effect our healing from I.C.
I would strongly advise you to buy this book, too (in addition to her two others), if you are afflicted with the disease.
Catherine informs us that I.C. is not just a bladder disease but affects the whole body. I.C. patients have a toxic body. We have to learn how to get rid of the toxins gently and slowly in order not to add to our discomfort.
One of our problems is that very few doctors, if any, understand what I.C. is, and how painful it is. This results in we ourselves having to take complete responsibility for our getting healed from the disease. (Of course, this is really always the case, whatever the nature of our health problems.)
The author points out that a toxic body and colon do not absorb nutrition , presenting further problems, and that a toxic body also promotes allergies and sensitivities. We I.C. patients are extremely sensitive. (I can attest to that.)
We need to 1) get out of pain 2) soothe our insides 3) feel our way through our healing 4) identify our allergies and sensitivities 5) identify our sources of toxins and eliminate them as much as possible 6) cleanse gently and slowly and 7) rebuild.
Re 4) she informs us about NAET (Nambudripad Allergy Elimination Technique). This technique uses acupuncture and/or acupressure together with kinesiology to identify and eliminate allergies. NAET practitioners are found in the US and several European countries (and perhaps elsewhere in the world, I don’t know). Check on the net to find a practitioner in your area. Unfortunately, there appear to be none as yet in Denmark, where I live.
Common sources of toxins are mercury amalgam fillings, pharmaceutical medications, cigarette smoke and chemicals, metals and synthetic materials. Not only do your mercury fillings have to be removed in as safe a way as possible, the mercury remaining in your body will subsequently have to be cleansed out too.
Catherine stresses that we all have differing symptoms, being “polluted” in different ways, and therefore need to find our own individual healing path.
Not only doctors but also many alternative practitioners fail to understand I.C. and try to dictate to us what we should do, since they don’t comprehend our extreme sensitivity, both to homeopathic remedies and herbs. I can attest to this also – absolutely. So these practitioners can hurt us too. We need always to trust ourselves first and foremost and be extremely cautious when trying new remedies and following the admonitions of practitioners who think they always know what’s best for us. Just because something is natural doesn’t mean it is safe for us.
This said, the book contains a very useful chapter on herbs. As in Catherine’s other books, the No. 1 recommendation is marshmallow root tea, which soothes and heals all mucous membranes and thus the bladder. There was new information in this book, so now I understand that more is not necessarily better - half a teaspoon is adequate for one cup and you just need to dunk the tea ball containing this amount into the cup of hot water a few times and don’t need to steep it for ten minutes.
Comfrey leaf tea also soothes and heals, and comfrey absorbs toxins from the intestines. Comfrey leaves are anti-inflammatory. Use it a few times a week, The benefits and drawbacks of many other herbs are also described, including raspberry leaf, cat’s claw, catnip, mullein, etc, etc.
There is also an important chapter about other natural products, including vitamins and minerals, lavender, tea tree oil, rose oil, baking soda, MSM, etc. etc.
Catherine talks to us from personal experience of these herbs and natural products and how they affected/alleviated her I.C.
In the final chapter we are given instructions and advice about healing baths. Use a baking soda base of app. ½ to one cup. Add a few drops of tea tree oil and a couple of drops of lavender or rose essential oil, for instance. Put a few pinches of comfrey leaf, sage and perhaps parsley in a tea ball and put it into the water. Parsley helps with bloating and edema.
Catherine provides us with advice on healing baths, skin brushing, rebounding, NAET, etc, etc.
This is a great, invaluable book for I.C. sufferers. The only negative factor for me about the book was the author’s use/non-use of apostrophes, poor spelling and the like, and this of course is of no importance in contrast to the invaluable help given about how to soothe our pain and effect our healing from I.C.
I would strongly advise you to buy this book, too (in addition to her two others), if you are afflicted with the disease.
May 27, 2019
This is the first book I've read on IC. It was the only one my library system had. I have purchased two other books on it & will read them as well. This is one woman's account of getting better & gives a general view with lots of information for me or someone who has it. She condenses the herbs & treatments at the end for a quick reference guide. She keeps it simple & I can tell her suffering was severe. Glad to have it for the exposure.
June 4, 2021
A little repetitive but helpful information especially for those that might not be aware of herbs and other alternative therapies. The sections on Reflexology, Accupressure, and Accupunture are a little light in my opinion.
June 26, 2025
Great book to recommend for patients with Interstitial Cystitis
Personal story of healing
Learned a lot about herbs and their healing properties
Poor editing and a lot of repetition of words and sentences
Personal story of healing
Learned a lot about herbs and their healing properties
Poor editing and a lot of repetition of words and sentences
January 23, 2023
In remission for a decade thanks to the ideas in this book. Changed my whole outlook on problem solving my health and helping others.
June 29, 2007
If you are living with IC, this is a good book to help get you thinking of different ways to handle the disease. There is a lot of good information about making tinctures.
July 29, 2015
I loved this book and it is full of great advice, but the notes are lacking. However, a lot of her arguments are now backed by current research.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews