I have suffered from endometrosis for over 16 years but have been pain free for about 2.5 years now. You will never be cured from endo but you can recover from it and be free from the pain.
First some history about me: I have had a total of 4 surgeries for endo, with only the last one being successful. My doctors swore the pain was all in my head because they absolutely removed all the endo during surgery. Yet my symptoms continued, usually about 3 months after a surgery: intense widespread pelvic pain, lower back pain (this is from endo on the uterosacaral ligaments, which is very common), bladder pain (intersistial cystitis or IC is known as endo's evil twin), ovarian pain (ovaries tacked to the sidewall), nausea, headaches, depression, constant fatigue. I was on every drug imaginable: continuous birth control pills for years on end, Depo-Lupron, depo-sub Q, danocrine, more pain killers than I can count, anti-depressants because chronic pain causes depression. I am sure this sounds familiar?
Okay. So I am going to start with the easiest changes that you can make today.
DIET
Quit Wheat. Do not eat anything with wheat in it and you may notice a lot less pain. 80% of women with endo are allergic to wheat. There are a lot of studies being done on this but the prevailing thought is that it is because of two different types of hormones that were introduced into wheat back in the 70's in order to make the heads more prolific and the stalks stronger- wheat was actually the very first genetically engineered food. When endo-plagued women consume these hormones, they mimic estrogen in our bodies. Endo is often characterized as a disease of excess estrogen so we want to reduce it as much as possible. Along these lines you should also not eat soy as it is overloaded with pythoestrogens and neurotoxins (the only soy products anyone should consume is fermented soy but that thread is for another time). Unfortunately, a lot of chemicals and pesticides mimic estrogen in the human body too so you will also want to eat organic as much as possible.
Quit Milk, Dairy and Beef. Cow products have something called type 2 prostaglandins, which is bad for your body because it causes inflammation. When those endometriosis lesions are inflamed (like when you get your period) it causes a lot of pain. So if you eat less of these products, you should have less pain and inflammation in your body.
Boost your Immune System. Historically I would catch every little bug that went around and was always sick. I definitely spent more time being sick than healthy- this is very common in women with endo. Although no one knows what causes endo (and there is a lot of controversy surrounding what exactly it is), many think that it is some type of auto-immune disease. So if you boost up your immune system you will start to feel better. Also, much of this will improve the pain pathways in your body
Start Taking Supplements and Vitamins:
- Ester C (or vitamin C- I personally couldn't take vitamin C when I had endo bc it aggravated my bladder due to the endo lesions present there)
- Vitamin B Complex
- Fish Oil and/or evening primrose (cold pressed cis-fatty acids reduce inflammation and have been documented to reduce the size of endometriotic implants)
- Bee Pollen (for energy, if necessary)
- Calcium/Magnesium
- Chelated Zinc
- Selenium
- Vitamins A & D
- Vitamin E
- Vitamin K
I know it's a lot but you will only do this for a brief time until you can get your nutrition on track then you will want to try and get these vitamins and minerals from food sources only and not pills. But its important to jump start this process bc many of us with endo are basically malnourished- you will notice a big difference once you start.
Eat Healthy!! Sugary foods and processed foods (stripped of their nutrients) will make you feel like shit, you want to try and eat natural whole foods as much as possible. (Much, much more on this in a later post.)
For more information you should read Endometriosis: A Key to Healing and Fertility Through Nutrition by Dian Shepperson Mills and Micheal Vernon.
EXERCISE
The great paradox - the endorphins from exercise will help the most with your pain but a lot of women find it impossible to exercise because of the pain. In that case, try walking and/or yoga. Yoga had been the most helpful for me by far, although I was in such a crisis before my last surgery I couldn't do the standing poses.
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