March is ‘endometriosis awareness month'.
1 in 10 girls, women and those who were born female suffer from this disease and yet, there is still so little information available.
Endometriosis is a hormone condition, where an overrun on oestrogen causes an
imbalance. Tissue, similar to the lining of the womb, starts to grow in other places, like for
example the ovaries.
This results in severe pain around the menstruation cycle, sexual intercourse, and in some cases it can even lead to infertility.
I was diagnosed with endometriosis last year, after years of suffering during my period and
countless visits to the doctor, when no one took me seriously.
Last year changed everything though. During lockdown, where I had the opportunity to wind
down a little, take time to listen to my body more, and the symptoms I had.
I investigated more, shared my story with other women and consulted my friend and
nutritional therapist Emily Fawell.
All this personal research had paid off and I was able to point my consultant in the right direction.
After much of his initial refusal to listen to me and years of pain I knew what I had:
From the diagnosis via a video consultation to the operation date were only 4 months.
This reflects how serious my condition was already, and I will spare you the nasty details.
Now I feel a lot better and I want to speak up to make you, my friends, aware of this illness
so that you consider it, should you go through something similar.
Emily has shared with me her top nutritional tips for endometriosis sufferers, to help you to
bring your hormones back into balance:
- Aim to eat 6 – 8 portions of vegetables a day.
*We excrete old hormones via the gut, so need plenty of fibre to facilitate this.
- Eat lots of broccoli – daily if possible.
*Broccoli contains a compound (indole 3 carbinol) which supports the body to metabolise oestrogen.
- Cut down on sugar
*It exacerbates inflammation and endometriosis is an inflammatory condition.
You may want to consider removing gluten and dairy from your diet too, for the same reason.
- Lower your intake of coffee – it’s a burden on the liver and promotes heavy bleeding.
- Increase your intake of phytoestrogenic foods such as garlic, beans, lentils, chickpeas, pomegranate seeds, nuts, seeds, apples as they can have a positive impact on hormone balance.
Working with a professional nutritional therapist can help you to make positive changes to
your diet.
Contact Emily for more information emily@4wellpeople.co.uk or visit her website
She also offers a free 20 minute discovery consultation, where you can find out which diet is best for you.
In the UK it takes an average of seven, yes seven, years to diagnose endometriosis. So many
women around the country suffer and do not get the support they require to get better. Please
join me and make people aware of this and that there are treatments available.
This year a petition raised awareness of Endemetriosis and triggered a parliamentary debate at Westminster Hall which highlighted the difficulties of being diagnosed or even sometimes taken seriously by GPs and gynaecologists.
The positive result of the debate is that education in recognising symptoms is required for general practitioners and that hospitals need teams of specialisms to treat it, not just gynaecologists as endo is a multi-specialism illness.
If you want to know more about it click here
Stay safe and look after yourselves.
