Cross posted in Women's

Who would have thought that bladder irritants mattered so much.

I saw my former pelvil floor PT for urinary frequency. She said that caffeine and carbonation are bladder irritants. I stopped drinking San Pellegrino even though I loved it. I did not stop drinking several cups of caffeinated beverages a day but diluted them, as she advised, with non-caffeinated drinks. I started making infused water on my own from berries, culinary herbs and peeled and cut lemon, a recipe I developed on my own through trial and error. The water tasted delicious but my symptoms were actually getting worse which was very discouraging.

In the meantime, the old pelvic floor PT did not come back from maternity leave and I made an appointment with a new one. She asked me lots of questions including whether I drank citrus juices. I inquired why she asked and she explained that citrus can be a bladder irritant.

I told her about my method of cold infusion and we agreed I would try without cut up lemon.

My symptoms improved drastically and literally right away. So clearly for me lemon juice was a bladder irritant. But that ot could be such a bad one was utterly amazing.

I still occasionally drink black tea with a slice of lemon. Maybe once every several days. It does not cause urinary frequency. Drinking water with lemon juice all day long was very irritating.

I have learned that without cut up lemons, herbs and berries take longer to produce tasty infused water. So, not overnight but a couple of days in the fridge. But after such a long process the infused water is really refreshing. My favorite recipe is to mix fresh sage with frozen raspberries in a glass pitcher and refrigerate.

Yesterday I was at a pharmacy picking up a prescription and saw a woman put AZO into her cart. I wondered if removing irritants from the diet of both food and beverages could help her alongside AZO.