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Kristin Shares Her Amazing Story of Discovering Naturopathy and Falling Pregnant with Endometriosis!

Kristin has been waiting in anticipation to share her amazing story with us! She was lucky to have found the natural path to healing!

Hi Melissa,

 

Well, I am LONG overdue on this email. I really want to share my story with you and others, however, life has been incredibly hectic and I needed a serious opportunity to sit down and put my story down in writing.

So, here goes (like your story, you may want to sit down with a nice cup of tea for this):

I had a beautiful baby girl in October 2008. Never had a history of pain, did have lengthy periods but I was always told I was just one of those girls who had long periods. I went with it, and accepted it. After I had my daughter, I continued to feel pretty good. I had gained a considerable amount of weight with my pregnancy, but managed to lose it quickly. I was on maternity leave, enjoying my time with her and we were active!

I returned to work in November 2009. By March of 2010, I started feeling pain with my periods. At first I thought I was just imagining it. I had never felt any discomfort before. I never even had symptoms of PMS! The pain grew progressively worse. Finally, I made an appointment to see my doctor. I mentioned I was having severe pain, so she prescribed Naproxen and ordered an ultrasound. I was told I probably just had painful periods—nothing to worry about. My ultrasounds turned up nothing. I took the Naproxen as needed when I had a period.

In December 2010, my husband and I decided we wanted to start trying for a second baby. I was optimistic, but I had this horrible feeling that the pain I was feeling could hinder my chances of getting pregnant. Sure enough, when I saw my doctor for my annual check-up, we knew something wasn’t right. That’s when things started spiraling out of control and my life changed completely. I was referred to an ob/gyn. Lovely doctor. I was referred quickly. After a series of tests (cat scan, 2 MRIs and a ton of bloodwork), I was called back into the doctor’s office. She sat me down and explained to me that it appeared as though I had endometriosis and a laparoscopy was needed to confirm my diagnosis. She booked me in for the surgery the next week. I had no idea how invasive that surgery could be. Apparently I had it everywhere—endo was on my bowels, bladder, spleen, appendix, and this wonderful disease had fused my uterus and rectum together causing the severe pain and swelling. She told me that otherwise I was very healthy and should have no problem conceiving another child. This happened in March 2011.

We were devastated. Based on the amount of pain I was feeling, I just couldn’t shake the feeling that I couldn’t have another baby. I lived with this new knowledge for a few months and then my mother made the suggestion that I speak with a naturopath. She had a friend with lupus who had experienced HUGE benefits from seeing a naturopath. So, I made an appointment, had my first consultation in August 2011.

From there, I started down the path to drastic changes in my lifestyle. I started taking numerous vitamins and supplements: multi-vitamin, folic acid, melatonin, and B6. I also started charting my temperatures (BBT). I continued this for a few months. I have to admit I didn’t see a change in my pain, but definitely saw an improvement in my overall health. I was catching fewer colds and flus. During this time, I also started yoga. I needed a different form of exercise. Previously I had been an avid runner, but that had also become difficult because of my pain levels. I also started to see an acupuncturist who helped me immensely. I could see her on my extreme pain days, and she could help my pain decrease to a much more manageable level. It was amazing.

I also saw another acupuncturist who conducted a Meridian Stress Assessment on me. What this does is test imbalances in the body. It entails measuring electrical conductivity on acupuncture points on the hands and feet using a little probe (for lack of a better word). Once my imbalances were recognized, she provided me with a list of recommendations. Turns out I had many imbalances and quite a few food sensitivities. Like everything else, I went into this full speed ahead. Overnight, I changed my diet drastically. I cut out dairy, wheat, refined sugars, etc. It was not easy, and I can tell you honestly that I had a severe withdrawal. Who knew cutting out that stuff cold turkey makes you a raging lunatic? Just kidding, it wasn’t that bad, but I did experience fatigue, fever-like symptoms, etc. We also discovered I had high levels of candida in my body, a common condition with endo sufferers.

By January 2012, I was a different person. I had made huge lifestyle changes, diligently took my vitamins and charted my temperatures. We learned that I had a short luteal phase. Another common occurrence with endo since it is an estrogen dominant disease. Most people lack the appropriate levels of progesterone (also the hormone that sustains pregnancy for the first 12 weeks) associated with the 10–14 day luteal phase required post ovulation. My naturopath recommended some new vitamins. We learned that I was severely iron deficient so iron was added to my list of supplements as well as green tea extract, Estrosense and progesterone cream (prescribed from cycle day 6–28). Now, for anyone who is not familiar with Estrosense: It is meant to act as a hormone balancer. It is designed to break down the “bad estrogens” as well as cleanse other toxins from the body. I took 2 tablets per day, and the ingredients included: calcium d-glucarate, indole-3-carbinol, green tea extract, turmeric, milk thistle, rosemary, lycopene, and sulforaphane. I also started taking Serrapeptase. In February 2012, I had another appointment with my ob/gyn. She was pretty supportive of all the supplements and lifestyle changes I made, however, she indicated that maybe I needed a bit more help. I was prescribed progesterone in higher doses than the cream could provide. 100 mg taken twice a day. In February, I saw immediate improvements. My pain for that month was cut down to one day instead of three as per usual. By March, it was less than a day, and I felt I could have made it through without my typical doasge of Naproxen.

By April… PREGNANT!!!!

Yes, it’s true. We are expecting this long awaited baby just in time for Christmas.

That is part of the reason it took me so long to write you. I wanted to make sure we were out of the first trimester. My story is personal, and it takes a lot of strength and humility for me to write this. Although my close friends and relatives know about my condition and what we went through over the last year and a half (and some of my colleagues cause it’s pretty darn hard to hide your pain sometimes), many people do not know anything at all.

We are in a great place, and with everything we did to change our lifestyles, along with the endless amount of love and support I received from my amazing husband and some of my dearest family and friends, we achieved something we were starting to believe wasn’t possible.

Anyway, this is a long story, but I just don’t know how to shorten it. I hope it helps some people in their path. If someone wants to contact me directly, please forward them to my email: endofendo@gmail.com.

Thanks for listening to my story.

Kristin  

 

Thank you so much for sharing, Kristin! If you have any questions for Kristin, feel free to ask in the comments section below.

 

Hugs, Melissa x
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This Post Has 8 Comments

  1. Kristin

    Hi Kate,

    I am sooo sorry for taking this long to get back to you. Things have been very hectic for us with over summer holidays, plus we just moved to a new house, and with the pregnancy and a busy 3 year old, I seem to barely make my way to the computer these days.

    To answer your question about the progesterone cream, I was put on discorene by my Naturopath. My OB/GYN then recommended I take a higher dosage suppository – Prometrium. My understanding was that it was recently approved by our FDA – the fall of 2011 I believe. I took a dose of Prometrium (100mg) twice a day for 14 days each month, and stopped taking the cream entirely. While I saw minimal improvement with the cream, I saw significant improvements by month 2 of taking prometrium – which was the month I also became pregnant. My Naturopath was happy with the Prometrium, and had said he would have liked to put me on it himself, but due to naturopathy limitations, he was not able to prescribe it. I live in Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada). My naturopath is Craig Herrington at Halifax Naturopath. My acupuncturist is Sarah Bing at Halifax Naturopath as well. A fantastic team! Hope this is helpful. Let me know if you need anything else. My email is endofendo@gmail.com

    Thanks so much,
    Kristin

  2. kate

    Kristen was your progesterone a natural cream?what was the brand? Who is your naturopath? many thanks!

  3. Kristin

    Good luck to you and all the best. If you have any questions about any of the treatments I had, please don’t hesitate to let me know. Anything to help.
    Take care,
    Kristin

  4. Anonymous

    Wow, Kristin…thank you so much! Reading your story has encouraged me greatly because I’ve had a similar story over the last year and a half. It’s been really heart breaking because we have no kids and we’ve been trying for nearly three years, but you’ve renewed my sense of hope. I’m going to see a Naturopath soon and hopefully they can help us as well. Thank you, and I’m wishing you and your family all the best!

  5. Anonymous

    Hi LeeAnn,
    All the best. Please, don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions about any of the treatments I experienced. I know my story is a bit loaded with information, but it was all worthwhile.
    Take care,
    Kristin

  6. LeeAnn

    Thank you for taking the time to share your story. It gives me hope. Much like you, I had a perfectly normal pregnancy (which took a little longer to happen then the “average”) but no signs of endo. Then after my little boy was born, I started having extreme pain. I’ve finally been officially diagnosed with surgery after four years. I will definitely be looking into this type of treatment.

  7. Kristin

    Hi Megan,
    Thank you for reading my story. I know how hard endo can be so what ever I can do to help others with this condition. I hope some of the information was beneficial for you.
    Take care,
    Kristin

  8. Megan

    I already wrote this on facebook, but I wanted to leave my comment here as well! Thank you so much for sharing your story. I really appreciate it and I am sure it took a lot of strength to write your story for all of us. Congratulations on your pregnancy!! Also, congratulations on feeling better and pain free and getting there the natural way! 🙂 You and your story are very inspiring. Thanks again for sharing! 🙂

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I'm Melissa

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