Endometriosis
I'm pretty sure there have been discussions on this topic before, but a quick search didn't find anything particularly on-topic or particularly recent, so I'm making a new one.
My soon-to-be sister in law has been having major problems ever since she arrived in New Zealand ten months ago, culminating last month in keyhole surgery to remove endometriosis, and she felt a lot better for about two weeks, but the last week and a half she has been back to the same pain/associated depression.
Both her and my brother are feeling really stressed about the whole thing, as the doctors/gyno/surgeon basically all told them she should be fine after the surgery.
They're now looking into supposed nutritional factors that can help prevent recurrence/improve the situation - cutting out caffiene, alcohol and gluten. I really want to encourage her to add dairy products to that list, as she drinks a lot of milk at the moment, and that much dairy can't be good for anything.
Anyone currently suffering from endometriosis/ been there done that/ know any good tips/ideas/advice/help?
I personally know very little about it, but would really like to be able to help them out.... : (
OMG-- CUT DAIRY!!! that fixed it for me in less than 2 weeks... I was consulting about surgery, for endometriosis, after a year of progressively worse/ debilitating symptoms; then started having arthritis symp's too, read all I could about *that*-- I'm *38*, so freakin' arthritis is NOT OK with me!!!-- so anyway, dairy & gluten are the big arthritis triggers; I'd been thinking of quitting dairy for ethics reasons anyway, & gluten-free is a MAJOR eating change (ok, well, dairy too, at first, but to a lesser degree than gluten, imo, so I figured I try that first)... so: w/in 2 weeks dairy-free, arthritis symptoms gone & never have returned... AND, a bonus: endometriosis ALSO gone, & not returned! AND, another bonus: in the course of this 'experiment', I read SO much about why not to consume dairy-- there was so much I just didn't know!-- that I will *never* go back to eating it; & I think that would be true regardless of health issues... but I can't describe how much better I feel, regarding both joints & uterus, since leaving dairy behind. I went dairy-free 9/1/09, so it's been almost 4 months w/o symptoms: endometriosis surgery, kiss my a**!
So: tell her, just try it-- she doesn't hafta say, 'no more dairy ever,' if she's uncomfortable with that... but just TRY 30 days with zero dairy (teach her how to read food labels!!-- casein is the big trigger, & lots of things have casein that look 'non-dairy' at 1st glance ), and just SEE if it helps... turned it off like a light-switch, for me! I know everyone's different & all, but I know other people who have personally observed this effect, too...
Also: exercise! I know it's hard when you're already feeling bad, but at least 30 min at least 4 times a week (preferably 5) of aerobic exercise, with heart rate at about 80% of theoretical maximum, has been shown in double-blind clinical studies to reduce uterine symptoms like PMS/ PMDD/ endometriosis, AND depression (better than Prozac, with effects more long-lasting)... there's a good book called 'Spark: the Revolutionary New Science of Exercise & the Brain' that talks about the science behind this, which is very helpful reading if you *have* an intractable disorder (disorders?) that are likely to respond to exercise...
Hope that's helpful! PM me if you'd like more info on any of what I just said... good luck to your near-sister-in-law; hope things get better for her quickly!
A couple years back my doctor and I thought I had endometriosis, but I didn't feel it was severe enough to involve invasive sugery. My doctor tried switching by birth control around but that totally didn't work. I've found that after going vegan, and starting to exercise regularily, that my symptoms have nearly disappeared. As a side note these activities have really helped with my kidney stones (I had 9 at last count 3 years ago, I don't know how many now, but I feel less pain from them) as well.
Sorry I don't know more, I hope this helps.
awesome, thanks heaps for the helpful words, : )
I will definitely try to encourage her to give dariy-free a go, and also to up her exercise.
I'd love it if I could get her to try a vegan diet, but if we start with cutting out dairy, maybe I can get there one day... : )
Yeah, dairy-free would be a huge accomplishment. It's worth a try! You should tell her some of the anecdotes here. Read them to her. But don't tell her it's vegan testimonial, tell her it's from Suzie Q. Omni-with-Endometriosis, so she doesn't suspect propaganda.
Endometriosis sounds awful. Hope she can help it!
hey, thanks for that : )
She's a quasi-vegetarian but my brother is definitely not veg-leaning, so I've put it to them as a health thing for this particular purpose, rather than the crazy vegan sister trying to push my hippie lifestyle on them...
but just maybe, if she does it, and the endo gets better, she might open her mind to the other health/ethical reasons why it's so bad to put dairy in your body! Baby steps!
Another good thing to cut out is sugar. I have dysmennorhea that was associated with endometriosis. Ive had awful problems with it until I took it upon myself to eliminate sugar and up the greens. I didnt realize how much sugar was part of my life. I had honey in my tea, oatmeal, ate more fruits than veggies and was guilty of being a serial baker with my sisters. For two months I eliminated honey, decreased my fruits and up'd my greens, and decreased my processed grain consumption ( pasta mostly). By the end of the first month, my symptoms were close to none! I also eliminated dairy at that time too. I do consume some other sugars now and then, but in that self experiment I found sugar to be a big culprit to my suffering. Best wishes!! ;)b