I'd say unless the recipe I got was from a site about Interstitial Cystitis, it has to be altered to not flare me after consuming. Usually, that means substituting one ingredient for another, but not always. Sometimes, the only thing I do is eliminate the offending ingredient.

Here are some ingredients I axe to make an recipe IC friendly that hasn't hurt how it tasted (at least in my opinion.)

I've always found this to be strong and most places I've seen it, not a lot is used in a recipe. It's something I've cut many times. Hubby has added it to his plate and has said there is a difference in taste, but both ways are good and he often forgets to add it to his.

There's been a few recipes I've had that included vinegars that I've tried without. They were recipes I found after my diagnosis, and I wasn't able to eat it with all the ingredients. But they still taste fine even after omitting the vinegar. I'd say if a recipe calls for vinegar, give it a shot still and leave it out. You might not even really notice.

What ingredients have you cut out and not replaced? Did it work out in your favor?

Another challenge is in the bag. Congrats to all who made it to the end, and a good attempt to those who didn't make it. It's a tough challenge, so don't beat yourself up.

I fared pretty well this year. It was my first time doing it on this blog, and I have to say, that made it easier than doing it on my writing blog. There are a ton of writers doing the challenge, so it was always a big deal for me to find them and try to make new connections. There were only a handful of people blogging under the topic of health, so it was easier to visit them all. I made a couple connections and one is also a writer, so bonus.

Like previous years, the first week I saw a nice bump in visits. After that, it slowed down. I got comments on most of my posts and some followers. Hello! I probably could have done better with visiting others, but my fatigue made that hard during the week. Sundays I tried to make a point to visit the list and new people.

As for the list, I really liked how it was done this year. Having the spreadsheet was nice because I could sort by topic and have them clumped by that. What would have been nicer was if there was an option to say what that day's topic was. Sometimes the link would say what a post was about, but not all the time.

I'm glad I participated with this blog this year. Like with my writing one, having my post pre-written really helped. It allowed me more time to visit others (when the fatigue allowed.) If I can come up with ideas for next year, I will do it again here.

For the month of April, I will be blogging every day (minus every Sunday but the 1st) about Interstitial Cystitis for The A to Z Blogging Challenge. Each day I will talk about a subject dealing with IC and my life living with it.

Today is Z and I'm talking about Zero Days.

You're probably asking what the heck is a zero day?

This is a concept I learned at during a writing chat called #writestuff. We were discussing writing with chronic illness. The concept of zero days were brought up. Basically, a zero day is a day where you don't do a single thing toward a goal or dream. There is a reddit post that explains it in more detail here.

How do you have a non-zero day?

It's simple. You only need to complete one task. That's it. Just one. It can be as big or as small as you want and for anything you want. When you're living with limited energy, this is an unique appraoch. I find it leaves me feeling productive on days when I'm running on empty. As long as I can get one thing done, I can call the day a success. I don't feel quite as helpless this way.

Today wraps up the challenge. I hope you learned something about IC and how to deal with living with a chronic illness. If you'd like to stick around, please do. I'll be posting more about things I've discovered, recipes, and life experiences with IC. Thanks for joining me.

For the month of April, I will be blogging every day (minus every Sunday but the 1st) about Interstitial Cystitis for The A to Z Blogging Challenge. Each day I will talk about a subject dealing with IC and my life living with it.

Today is Y and I'm talking about YOU!

It's a tricky lesson to learn to take care of yourself. But when dealing with a chronic illness, you have to be your best advocate. Your body is screwing up and causing you pain and discomfort. It's forcing you to give up doing things you love. You have to allocate your energy if you want to be productive. You have to push your doctor for answers. You have to know when to say yes and when to say no.

Taking care of yourself and allowing yourself to focus on you won't magically heal you, but it will keep you from making things worse. Always listen to your body and don't let anyone guilt trip you (especially yourself) for taking care of you.

For the month of April, I will be blogging every day (minus every Sunday but the 1st) about Interstitial Cystitis for The A to Z Blogging Challenge. Each day I will talk about a subject dealing with IC and my life living with it.

Today is X and I'm talking about eXhaustion.

Yeah, I'm having to bend the rules a bit for X because there are no words that I can find that relate to IC that start with X.

I touched on this subject a bit with my E post and energy, but one thing I've noticed dealing with chronic illness is the difference between exhaustion and being tired.

Being tired is you could take a nap, but you're not falling asleep the moment you close your eyes. It's still being able to get up and do stuff.

Exhaustion is you are drained. There is nothing left in the tank and sleep is the only way to restore it.

I've had times where I've been so exhausted that breathing felt like a chore. I'd think, "If I could just pause everything for a moment, I'll be okay." I feel lucky in I've never been so exhausted that I couldn't get out of bed, but there are those who have those days. (And I can assure you, they feel guilty for it.) It's a very helpless feeling because you feel life slipping by, but you just don't have the energy to do something about it. ​It's honestly something I wouldn't wish on anyone.

For the month of April, I will be blogging every day (minus every Sunday but the 1st) about Interstitial Cystitis for The A to Z Blogging Challenge. Each day I will talk about a subject dealing with IC and my life living with it.

Today is W and I'm talking about Weight Loss.

I lost 20 pounds thanks to being diagnosed with IC. When I'd tell people that they'd ask me what was my trick. Well it's simple, really. When food hurts and you have to avoid it, it's easy to shed those pounds because you can't eat anything.

Until you find your safe foods, you will struggle to eat enough. Sure, there will be a bit of elation. Wooo! I lost that pesky five pounds I've wanted to get rid of for years. But you have to be careful. If you can't find foods that are safe and aren't getting enough nutrition, you'll start to suffer more. Your energy, which may already suffer due to a chronic illness, will dip more. Too skinny isn't healthy. If you're losing too much and struggling to find things to eat, talk to your doctor and find a plan that will work for you.

For the month of April, I will be blogging every day (minus every Sunday but the 1st) about Interstitial Cystitis for The A to Z Blogging Challenge. Each day I will talk about a subject dealing with IC and my life living with it.

Today is V and I'm talking about Visibility.

What made me join this challenge was the lack of visibility IC has. Before I was diagnosis, I had no idea it was a thing. No one in my family had heard of it either. I've heard stories for people with IC who had urologists that didn't know what it was! No wonder it can take years to diagnosis.

Visibility of diseases, especially invisible ones, is important. People need to know they exist and can be treated. Someone out there may be suffering because they have no idea what's ailing them has a name and can be treated or managed. Plus, the more that know about it, the more research will be done. More people will study it and up our chances of finding the cause and a cure. That's something I think we can all get behind.

For the month of April, I will be blogging every day (minus every Sunday but the 1st) about Interstitial Cystitis for The A to Z Blogging Challenge. Each day I will talk about a subject dealing with IC and my life living with it.

Today is U and I'm talking about Urgency.

Urgency is the worst part of IC in my opinion. Don't get me wrong, the pain sucks too, but I can deal with that more than urgency. Urgency gets in my head and messes with me. One instance of it, had me almost unable to get leave the bathroom. I had to force myself because my brain and body was insisting that I had to go.

That's the thing, too. Your body is reacting and all the while your head is saying, "You really have to pee! You better get to the bathroom NOW. Do you want to pee your pants? A grown woman? You know how embarrassing that will be? Other people won't know why you peed your pants. They don't know you have IC. It doesn't matter that you just went. Get to that bathroom, like, yesterday."

And all the while, the logical part of you is saying, "But you just went to the bathroom. Your bladder shouldn't have anything in it. You don't have to go. It's the IC. Ignore it." But you can't help but fear the logical part of you is wrong. After all, your bladder feels like it's going to burst.

It really screws with your mentality. The fear that grips you that if you don't take action now, your bladder will let loose and the world will laugh at you.

For the month of April, I will be blogging every day (minus every Sunday but the 1st) about Interstitial Cystitis for The A to Z Blogging Challenge. Each day I will talk about a subject dealing with IC and my life living with it.

Today is T and I'm talking about Too Much Information.

One thing I'm trying to learn with it comes to any of my chronic illnesses is to not be afraid to be TMI with my doctors. With friends and family I'm going to sugar coat, but doctors' job is to deal with bodily functions. Those are never pretty.

It's a hard lesson to learn. There's a lot of shame with things our bodies do naturally. People mock certain things that are considered gross. No one wants that, so we shy away. But it's important for our health to say, "My body does this." After all, it might not be normal and something that needs to be addressed.

Never be ashamed to tell your doctor what your body is doing. Your face might feel hot and look as red as a tomato, but this is the doctor's job. They aren't supposed to judge.

For the month of April, I will be blogging every day (minus every Sunday but the 1st) about Interstitial Cystitis for The A to Z Blogging Challenge. Each day I will talk about a subject dealing with IC and my life living with it.

Today is S and I'm talking about Substitutions for foods.

When whole swaths of food and ingredients become off limits, figuring out substitutions is vital for IC. Some of the things I have to avoid are soy, anything spicy, anything citrusy, anything vinegary, MSG, caffeine, anything acidic. So lots of foods are now off limits to me. If I want something like Chinese or Mexican, I had to find a substitution. Fortunately, people with IC longer than I have figured out substitutions and shared them online. I've blogged about a few I've tried already.
 
Substitutions don't have to get fancy either. Sometimes it's as simple as using a different ingredient. Whenever I see a recipe that calls for buttermilk, I just use milk. Chocolate? Use carob. On occasion, I also just leave out the triggering ingredient. Like many things related to IC, it's all trial and error.