"My name is Jessie and I'm from Detroit, Michigan and I'm currently living right now in Freiburg, Germany. I was diagnosed with Interstitial cystitis in September of 2022 but my symptoms began around February of 2022.

 

It kind of started where I was just doing my normal routine of going to the bathroom at the end of the night and then immediately after I went to the bathroom I just had the urge to have to go to the bathroom again and that lasted until 3 A.M in the morning until I was able to fall asleep.

 

I just had this constant feeling of like I just had to keep going to the bathroom and then it would go away for like a month and then it came back and then it started from being monthly to then weekly. Then after that I got burning sensations as well when I was going to the bathroom.

 

So through all of this it was not a fun time and navigating what was going on with my body and everything while being in a foreign country was also very challenging. 

 

I definitely felt very alone because at the time, I was on my study abroad and I really felt like no one else understood what I was really going through. I was 22 and I was young and still am and I really just I didn't understand how something like this could happen to someone my age. 

 

I just really felt super isolated from everything and really from just enjoying my life.

 

Then it was in October, a month after my diagnosis, I was actually on the way to visit my friend in Chicago and I was just super defeated and I didn't really know what to do and I was pretty much at rock bottom.

 

I just went on Spotify and that's where I came across Cali's podcast. That's when I heard about Road to Remission, but at the time I just wasn't able to financially afford it so I initially joined the IC Collective and I started there.

 

Then by February of 2023, I wanted to control my life, I wanted to just get better, I wanted to figure out what my root causes are and I decided to join Road to Remission.

 

Through Road to Remission, my root causes and the things that I figured out were my biggest triggers were actually not food triggers which was a huge surprise for me because at the time I basically wasn't eating anything. I was really strict on the IC diet! I did not drink any alcohol and I was a 22 year old you know so this was like one year after I was legally able to drink and I wasn't even enjoying any of that.

 

Through Road to Remission, I found out that my two main root causes and biggest triggers are actually stress and the other one being hormonal base.

 

My favorite part of Road to Remission was the hormone class that we had and that really taught me about seed cycling and how to actually eat during different cycles of my menstrual phase and it really, really helped me a ton with managing my symptoms as well as learning how to decrease my stress really helped me a lot as well.

 

So I finished Road to Remission in the middle of April and it is now the middle of September and my quality of life has been improved so much.

 

I now basically am able to eat everything, I have successfully tested everything back into my diet!

 

I was also gluten free and Beverly, the nutritionist for Road to Remission, told me just to test wheat again while I was going through my elimination diet. I did and I tested that also successfully so now I am able to eat wheat again which is also huge because I was not eating that since 2019.

 

I basically am able to live my life normally! I do get tiny little flares here and there but I've learned the tools and I know how to manage them so much more than what I did before Road to Remission so I'm not fearful of it which also really helps calm down my stress which then also helps prevent a really bad flare

 

I don't know what I would have done without this program. Road to Remission has changed my life and I don't think I would be in such a positive mindset or really be able to enjoy my life how I am now if it was not for Road to Remission!

 

So if there's one thing that I can tell someone who's maybe hesitant ,who's maybe worried with the financial costs ,at the end of the day Road to Remission is so worth it and all I can say is just join! Your life at the end of Road to Remission is going to be so significantly better than what it was before.

 

I just I don't know I would have done without it so thank you again so much to Callie and Beverly and yeah it's been a roller coaster but I'm so grateful to have the support of everyone in Road to Remission and the community and just know that I'm not alone anymore and that everyone you know is going through this crazy journey together but we're all here for one another and I couldn't be more grateful."