For a long time I believed that experiencing dark spotting before our period or at the end was simply a sign of toxins being released through our uterus – yes! the uterus is a fabulous way that women can release toxins. However, what always baffled me about this idea is that it didn’t always make sense. Some women were eating incredibly healthy, had done my cleansing module and were doing all the things I recommend but were still experiencing this dark, yucky blood at the beginning or end of their period. What was also interesting is that they also experienced quite a bit of pain with the experience. Something wasn’t adding up and as usual I needed to dig deeper to understand and discover what other factors could be triggering their symptoms.
This is when I referred back to my Mayan Massage training that I did back in London and within it I remembered a whole section on our uterus and how it’s position would influence things like pain but also explained the dark, manky blood at the beginning and end of our period. I also distinctly remember the practitioner who ran the course, being surprised at the time that my uterus was sitting in the perfect position, which she explained as being unusual for women with endometriosis.
What I discovered was that our uterus and the positioning of it, can greatly affect our monthly and the pain we experience during our monthly. Because women with endometriosis tend to have adhesions around the uterus, it can be a reason for the uterus not sitting perfectly in the middle and thereby creating some of these symptoms.
In today’s video, I want to share and explain the various positions that your uterus may be sitting in and what symptoms you could be getting from that, plus I naturally also share some solutions that you could explore with me.
As mentioned in the video… the Mayan Massage video is here: http://www.endoempowered.com/mayan
To find out more about Serrapeptase and my full review of the product, click here.
Yoga and particularly inversion focused poses are fabulous for getting your uterus back in place :). You can gradually move your uterus and loosen adhesions without doing anything too drastic. Plus, Yoga has the added advantage of alleviating anxiety and nourishing your body through muscle building and deep breathing. To find out more about the Yoga Challenge, register your details here.
Have you tried any of these methods? Have you found relief?
Over the last few months, I have simply not felt up to creating anything for Endo Empowered. I had this strange kinda numbness, mixed with feelings of overwhelm and on a deeper level, I just couldn’t bear the idea of being criticised for my thoughts or even my hair!
There has been quite a few emails of women writing in and sharing their journeys with losing a parent and I truly value your support and knowing that I am more than just someone who shares insights about endometriosis but also someone who experiences set backs and life challenges.
In this video, I wanted to share my thoughts on what has made me retreat a little bit from the work I was putting out there on Endo Empowered and why I just stopped creating.
I know that we all need space and time to go through emotional things in our life and I think knowing that you would still be here for me, really gave me the space to do that.
I have worked with women around the world who often come to me in desperation in wanting to feel better with their endometriosis. These women are truly struggling and will often break down in tears when talking to me. They are desperate for things to be different and on the surface, it looks like they are willing to do anything to get rid of the pain. As I dig deeper and try to understand what they have tried and where they are at within their own endo journey, a few interesting things often come up. The most interesting is the language these women use when describing their situation. They often describe their situation as being hopeless, like they are never going to feel better or that they have tried everything. The interesting point here… they have convinced themselves of these ideas and these thoughts plague their mind. They rattle these ideas around in their head day in and day out and are repeating the same phrases to themselves on a constant basis.
Another interesting set of phrases then appear. They start to describe the things they have done to eat better and what they have done for their health and I often hear the description as being “hard to stick to” or “they just want to eat like their friends and not have to eat healthy because of having endometriosis” or “they don’t want to feel restricted in their diet”. They describe the “healthy lifestyle” as something they have to force or something that they put on their “to do list”. It is rattled off like it is a chore and something painful that they have to endure.
Here is what is interesting about these two examples. They are examples of how we can use our mind to provide an outcome for our health. In the first example, these women are repeating phrases to their body on a daily basis and yet they are expecting a different result. If you repeat to yourself that you feel tired over and over again… then that is exactly how you will feel. Tell yourself that you feel recharged and energised over and over again and you are more likely to feel that way. The key point here is this: notice the words and thoughts you repeat to yourself and notice the outcome you gain with it. Tell yourself that you will be in pain and the likelihood is, that you will. Tell yourself that things are improving and you are starting to feel better and you will. The mind is so incredibly powerful and yet many of us dismiss this power and believe that we need some major fix to feel better. In many cases, it is simply a shift in thinking that can transform your health.
Try this for the next 7 days: repeat to yourself each morning: My body is healthy and well and I feel good within my body.
The second scenario is something I love to play with. It is the idea of changing a perception you have of yourself and imagining yourself as a different person or a different version of yourself. Imagine the ideal scenario of a stereotype of a person who is healthy. Imagine what that person looks like, how they dress and how they behave. Imagine how much energy they have and how good they look. Imagine the choices that a person like that makes. They are the ideal version of a healthy person. Now, imagine you becoming that person. Imagine being that healthy person and simply choosing to behave in a way that falls within that stereotype or identity of yourself. That person would never eat rubbish food or do things which would be harmful to their body. That person wouldn’t see sugar-laden foods as something they are missing out on. They simply don’t visualise food in that way. They would view foods as either nourishing and good for their body or harmful and make choices based on what would be best for their body. It wouldn’t have anything to do with “missing out” or “being restricted” as those foods simply don’t appeal to this healthy version of you. You, as the healthy version of you, simply has no desire to eat those foods and doesn’t have any interest in choosing things which harm your body – whether you have endo or not. Do you see the difference?
Try shifting your idea of yourself to a healthy version of you. Imagine yourself as already healthy and what choices you would make for yourself. If it helps, pick a celebrity or person you know as healthy and imagine yourself within their life and what choices they would make.
When you make this shift in your thinking, eating healthy and being a healthy version of you becomes really easy. It becomes logical and simple and you seek out ways to eat healthier by choice.
I guess what I am trying to demonstrate to you within this article is that you have incredible power to heal, to feel better and to make better choices which are not based on anything you will read or be told but rather it is based on what you believe. Try shifting your beliefs about yourself and what you believe to be possible for yourself and your journey and see where those roadblocks are.
If you need proof and guidance on how to find enough to change those, please let me know and I will share some article and researched papers to show you what is possible for you.
Here are my top 5 foods which I have found to be consistent at reducing pain and aiding in healing with endo within the body. An interesting concept which I guess I need to mention is that pain is closely linked to inflammation within the body so if you are ever unsure, think of foods which are anti-inflammatory and you will be heading in the right track in trying to use foods as a source of medicine for your body.
Black Cumin or Nigella Oil (also called black caraway, kalonji)
I won’t lie to you. This stuff is strong and it tastes strong but the benefits are incredible! If ever you have wanted something that addresses a bunch of stuff at the same time – this is your miracle juice! It fights off some of the nastiest bacteria – some which have become antimicrobial-resistant. Things like staphylococcus, tuberculosis, influenza, gonorrhoea and of course good old candida. The reason it is so powerful against these is the key phytochemicals found within the nigella seed – namely Thymoquinone and Thymol. These key phytochemicals fight off moulds, fungi and bacteria.
What is even more cool about Nigella Seed oil is that these same constituents also fight free radicals and preserve some of our most important enzymes, namely glutathione peroxidase and glutathione-S-transferase. For those of you, who have joined my REACH beyond Endo program, you know that these are key within the detoxification processes within the liver.
This is really a secret formula for health and I put a splash of it on my food as often as I can. My favourite way to have it is in some lightly steamed spinach with salt & pepper.
This is a fabulous tea and can easily be taken in a powder form and hidden in a smoothie if you don’t like that “green” taste. With over 1300 studies and with the National Insitute of Health calling it the “plant of the year”, you will want to get this stuff into your body!
The biggest benefit here is that Moringa is a natural antioxidant. This means it reduces inflammation in the body and aids in your liver. Anything that hurts, is swollen, causes pain or persists is generally related to inflammation and this little tree can help! Think of stomach pain, endo pain, bloating, diarrhoea, gas pain, adhesion pain, chronic headaches, kidney stones, interstitial cystitis, thyroid disorders and fluid retention. Moringa will aid in reducing all of those!
The greatest benefit of Moringa is that it also contains heaps of natural healing nutrients like protein, vitamin A, potassium, calcium and vitamin C and offers a whopping dose of each of these – hello nutrient-rich diet!
Some studies have suggested that it can aid in balancing hormones naturally as it aids in the detoxification pathways with natural increases shown in glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase.
Once again this fabulous plant also has fungal and yeast fighting abilities (bye, bye Candida) and can ease stomach pain, kidney damage and ease digestive complaints.
Start slow on this one with 1/2 a teaspoon of dried moringa per day for 3-5 days and then gradually increase. Don’t overdo it as it can have a laxative effect on some people. *Avoid during pregnancy.
L-Glutamine
This is one of the 20 naturally occurring amino acids (think protein) in the body and it gets used a heap by your body. I get it in a powder form and take about a teaspoon on an empty stomach in a little water. It doesn’t really have a taste but has oh so many benefits.
It helps our bowel health tremendously and helps reduce any inflammation you might be experiencing. It is quite common for us endo ladies to also experience bowel issues such as IBS, Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, diverticulosis and leaky gut. This can cause similar pain to endo and sometimes it is hard to distinguish between the two!
L-Glutamine helps repair some of that inflammation and any gut-related immune response that might be going on. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Immunology discovered that THS 2 response stimulates inflammatory cytokines to be released. This is common with anyone who has food sensitivities and L-Glutamine has been shown to reduce this response significantly.
Many of us with endo would have damaged our gut and potentially caused stomach ulcers by taking pain-killers for years and year – I certainly did! L-Glutamine has been proven to heal these for us.
It is also a fabulous way to improve recovery after an intense workout – hence why it was first discovered within the bodybuilding industry!
You can get L-Glutamine from foods too – like bone broth, spirulina, asparagus, wild-caught fish and turkey but I prefer to supplement with it as it is super easy, doesn’t taste bad and I can feel the effects immediately.
I take about 1 teaspoon in water before food, after my fitness routine or Yoga routine in the morning.
What are your favourite foods and supplements that you would recommend to someone with endo?
When we first think of endometriosis we think the worst feeling of it all is the pain. The dreaded sunken pain that wells up in our abdomen. Or perhaps you might feel that the worst feeling is all the hormonal upheaval of it all and how you can’t seem to feel like a normal person – you feel either really down or hyper excited.
Perhaps you think the worst feeling is the endless questioning of what is going on inside your body and the terrible anxiety that builds up around all of that. The endless thinking and worrying that endo is spreading and that you simply have no control over any of it.
Or maybe you feel like the worst thing about endo is that no-one truly understands and that you wish somehow your voice could be heard. That someone would listen and appreciate just how much you are truly struggling with it all.
Maybe for you, it is the mask that you put on to the world, that you resent more than anything. The feeling like you can’t really be yourself or express how much pain you are really in because you don’t want others to think you are just seeking attention or even worse, that they share some weak attempt at sympathy. You’d rather be strong and have others not know what is going on… or would you?
Or perhaps you are more like me. That the worst feeling of all is actually the feeling of letting others around you down. The inability to stick to your word. The having to go home early because you are just too sore to carry on. The endless apologizing and hoping that others understand. Whether it is letting your boss down at work or your friends down at a party or even harder, letting your husband down in bed, it is all the worst feeling in the world. The having to simply accept that you can’t push through anymore and that sadly in doing so, you have to let others down.
I think for me, that feeling was the worst because I consider myself to be someone who follows through on her word. Someone you can count on and someone who is there for others and when my body went against that, it really frustrated me so much. It made me feel incredibly powerless against the endo. The ironic thing is that perhaps because I am always that dependable person who gives so much, I probably exhausted myself on some level which of course indirectly affected my health and well-being.
I know this is not one of my usual hopeful and uplifting posts but I always want to share some of the harder sides of endo so you know you are not alone in any of it. I have been there sweetheart and I also know that you can get to a place where you can be there for others and where endo doesn’t control your life.
There was one day in particular that stands out in my journey with endo. I was visiting my aunt in Germany and she had spoken about really wanting to create a fishpond in her backyard. My husband and I naturally chipped in to help. The trouble with having fish in Germany is that the fishpond needs to be deep enough so when the water freezes over, the fish can swim to the bottom of the pond and still survive. This means the pond needs to be super deep – like more than a meter and a half deep. Well, you can imagine how much digging that required!
So, we began digging and digging and we eventually took a break for lunch and I went for a little visit to the toilet – as you do. Well, I had discovered that my period had arrived. It was a complete surprise and what was even more amazing is that here I was digging in the warm sun and working quite physically hard and I had experienced absolutely no pain. It honestly felt like a huge achievement because if that had been a year or two before that, I would most certainly not have been helping out and would have probably been laying in bed, resting, while my husband did all the work.
I guess what I want to reveal with all of this is that all those nasty things you currently believe to be the worst feelings of having endo can be taken from your life and your thoughts. You can get to a place where endo doesn’t feature and you can do all you want to do. No more letting people down and no more feeling defeated.
I want that more than anything in the world for you sweetheart and in my next webinar series, you can discover exactly how it all can happen for you.
You deserve to live a normal life and I know it is possible. Please know that you can.
