I had Interstitial Cystitis (IC) from July 5, 2012 to September/October 2013.
In August 2014, I summarized everything I did that I believe helped me or may have helped me get to remission:

 

Diet - I ate only lentils, beef, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and fresh ground SEA salt for ~3 months. NO CHEATING WHATSOEVER. (substitute any fresh meat (NO AGED/SEASONED/DELI MEAT) I am sure other very bland diets (high in beta-carotene!!!) could do the trick, but that was mine.

Water - only Arrowhead water (any spring water should do). DRINK ONLY SPRING WATER AND USE ONLY SPRING WATER IN COOKING. 

Baking Soda - ½ tablespoon morning and evening to alkalize the urine

pH test strips - to make sure my pH was 7-8 

Hydroxyzine 10 mg in the evening

Instillations: 8 Parsons+ Dexamethasone instillations followed by ozone gas instillations, done twice a week for 4 weeks. I actually had 3 more Parson’s instillations after this, but I do not know if they mattered. The ozone instillations were done at Choices in Health in Boulder, Colorado. 

3 Desert Harvest Aloe max-strength twice a day. These were hand-delivered to my home by the owner of the company due to a shipping delay. They sound like snake oil, but that is a man who believes in his product, and so do I. My review is on their website. 

1 gram each KAL brand Glucosamine/MSM (no chondroitin) twice a day. Mine were corn derived, not seafood derived.

I was also taking 1 Natren Megadophilus probiotic pill per day, without the capsule, mixed in water.

I later added NOW's Quercetin and Bromelain, but that was after the tide had turned.

I also took 6 weeks of Diflucan for “Candida” but I don’t know that it mattered. I also took two Uva Ursi pills at the recommendation of a naturopath, which gave me wicked stomach cramps. I only mention it because it was shortly before my symptoms vanished. 

Also, do not swim in pools unless they are salt water. Chlorine gets in your skin and is filtered out in your bladder. It gave me a horrible flare. I also changed all my toothpaste, deodorant, soap, and shampoo to natural/unscented products from Whole Foods, but I don’t know how much it mattered. I am back to using all normal products. 

I recently got a UTI, and the area felt inflamed, and I had retention and bladder pain upon palpation, but it was nothing close to IC. I took Macrobid for a week, and it all resolved, just like pre-IC times.

I have been able to do all of the following without bladder pain: run, have sex, sleep through the night, sit through a theater movie, go on long car trips, wiggle around while sitting, take B vitamins, let my urine go acidic, drink alcohol, vaporize weed, and eat: restaurant food, Wendy’s fries, processed snack food, frozen chicken nuggets, ketchup, fruit, red onions, tomatoes, high-oxalate food (tons of spinach), nuts, peanuts, chocolate, dairy, soy, gluten, you name it, no flares, no blood in the urine, nothing. I went from being able to hold ½ cup of pee to 2 cups.  

I still have pelvic pain from chronic tightness and myofascial trigger points because I did not figure this stuff out soon enough. The Desert Harvest Aloe owner brought me the pills in 2012 and I did not take them seriously for a year - shame :( I was treated extensively with months of antibiotics by Ruth Kriz to no avail. I flew out to LA to be assessed by Matia Brizman, and I tried her regimen for a few months.They did not help me, but I adopted some ideas and practices from Matia that could have helped (probiotics, anti-yeast treatment, spring water, natural products)