Managing Endo via Diet and Lifestyle Changes – Transcript

Arti Shah: Hello, lovelies. My name is Arti Shah, and welcome to another episode of A Ray of Sunshine, a journey of an endo warrior and everything in between. Welcome home.

In today’s episode, we discuss management of endometriosis, diet, and lifestyle changes. As you know, by now, there is nothing normal about endometriosis or living with this illness. Living with endometriosis is all about creating a new normal because the normal before the diagnosis is thrown out the window. Creating this new normal has a massive impact.

Not only on your physical life, but on your social life, your mental health, your relationships, your education, your career and life as a whole. The Golden standard treatment and the best possible treatment for endometriosis, as discussed in my previous episode, is an excision surgery done by a trained endometriosis excision specialist.

However, this surgery is not accessible to all due to the financial aspect, and because there are only a handful of endometriosis excision specialists in the world. So managing this debilitating condition the best way we can, is the only option. That is, until we seek an excision surgery done by a trained excision endometriosis specialist.

Unfortunately, by this time, the illness has not only worsened, but progressed onto other organs of the body, causing other conditions for most of us. The thing is, even though we have dreams, goals, and aspirations that we want to fulfill, have a successful career, and a beautiful family unit of your own.

It’s sometimes stripped away from you because of this demon called endometriosis. For this reason, it’s very easy to fall into depression, doubt yourself, feel low and unworthy. But we must channel our mental head space and focus on adjusting this new life with endometriosis. It’s really hard, but it’s not impossible.

And remember that there is always help, so please seek help, be it professional, or with friends and family who don’t judge you based on your illness. The reality is that even though you love getting to be normal and doing normal things, whatever normal is, the truth is you have a condition, and so you need to rest and slow down and listen to your body and how it responds to everything that you need to do.
However, there are many steps we can take to manage a life with endometriosis. The initial challenge is first accepting this condition, once you’ve been diagnosed and learn of it. And then learning how to deal with this new normal. Your body will continuously remind you of this. Accept it and celebrate your new normal endometriosis life, the best way you possibly can.

Yes, you will have ups and downs, highs and lows, but this is all part of the journey. Rule number one, listen to your body. Listen to your body. Listen to your body. Your body speaks volumes, and so listening to your body is a must, when it comes to living with any chronic illness. The best way to understand your symptoms is to investigate your lifestyle, make certain adjustments by understanding these symptoms and also understanding your triggers.

Writing a journal to understand your journey with endometriosis helps you to make better life choices and make living with this condition that much more manageable. Have you ever asked yourself, “why do I feel great some days and crappy on others?” 

And what do those nagging symptoms actually mean? Maybe that’s your body trying to tell you something and so you must listen to it.
There are so many factors that we have to consider when trying to manage a life with endometriosis. Inflammation is not always a bad thing. It’s actually necessary for our survival. However, inflammation can become a problem when it is chronic and can potentially lead to very serious health conditions.

Endometriosis is an inflammatory disorder. Inflammation can lead to increased pain, fatigue, tiredness, or sleeping disorders. Itchy skin, abdominal pain, chest pain, allergy or autoimmune disease, and general feelings of unwellness. Stress is another factor. Excessive stress can raise the body’s stress hormones, and therefore, when you are stressed, your body releases more cortisol and adrenaline than is healthy. That has other implications for your health and disrupts your other hormones, which also affect the ovaries and sex hormones, making your symptoms for endometriosis worse. Therefore, you may miss a period, or it may come early or late when you’re experiencing high levels of stress. Again, this is how your body is talking to you, so please pay attention. Exercise is another factor to factor in when living with endometriosis and managing it. And sometimes the last thing you feel like doing when you’re in a whole lot of pain, is exercising, but it can help in a multitude of ways.

Exercising with endometriosis takes a lot of effort. Chronic pain and fatigue make it difficult to do physical activity, but you must push yourself. Exercise releases pain relieving endorphins, strengthens your muscles, helps relax tight muscles, improves blood circulation, delivering oxygen and nutrients to your body, and decreases this estrogen in your body that endometriosis is dependent on. Not all form of exercise is good for you, so be sure to find out exercises that are best suited for you and your journey and work with experts in this field. Diet plays a huge role in managing endometriosis, and I only say this from my own personal experience, because it has made a tremendous difference for me. Because endometriosis lesions creates its own estrogen and can be estrogen dependent. I eliminated a lot of foods from my diet. I stopped gluten, certain dairy products. I’m okay with certain chocolates and certain cheese, thank God, because I do need some sanity.

I eliminated saturated fats, certain forms of sugars and meat from my diet, almost nine years ago. However, I replaced certain foods with super foods, creating a balanced diet that works best for me. I also introduced probiotics, curcumin tablets, daily intake of chi seeds due to the high content of omega three, Ashwaganda powder, baobab powder, magnesium oil, CBD oil and zinc to these changes.
I found out that I was allergic to many ingredients and produce, so eliminated that from my diet too, which resulted in a drop for pain and inflammation. This, I found out by undergoing a very detailed skin prick allergy test done in India. Following a healthy and anti-inflammatory diet that is suited for your own journey is one of the most important things we can do when living with endometriosis. 

Although many other factors come into play as well. When it comes to the diet, yes, certain foods may worsen endometriosis symptoms, but this is a very personalized journey and what works for you may not work for me. And what triggers me may not be the same triggers for you. The diet changes I have made have helped me and still helped me reduce inflammation in the body and as a result, reduce pain. I still have really bad flares and relapses, and yes, this journey can be very confusing. And that is why it is important to get all your advice and information from the right sources available.

Managing endometriosis with the support of non-conventional or natural treatments and specific self-help remedies can help you control your symptoms and improve your overall health. I have found that using natural remedies for endometriosis has had many benefits as they are safe and non toxic. And support my body to assist natural healing as much as possible.

I started my holistic journey by making a lot of crucial lifestyle changes, diet changes that work for my body and my journey. Introduced yoga, meditation, strengthening of muscles by going to the gym and finding out what works best for me and started learning animal flow and Tai Chi. These are forms of exercises that have helped me balance and strengthen a lot of my muscles and my Chi.

It is essential to reduce inflammation, improve immune function, and optimize hormone levels. These alternative therapies are completely individualized as each patient suffering from endometriosis experiences this condition differently. And because natural treatments for endometriosis start with treating leaky guts, supporting the immune system, balancing hormones, and treat multiple conditions altogether, I opted for introducing acupuncture to manage this battle with endometriosis. Acupuncture helps improve the circulation of your Chi or your vital energy source. It does this by applying pressure to certain points along the meridians of your body, which are the channels that your chi flow through. When your Chi energy is appropriately balanced between yin and yang and is flowing smoothly, this leads to good physical and emotional health. However, if your Chi moves out of balance to either the yin or the yang extremes, this leads to ill health. Chi is a Chinese word that describes the concept of powerful healing life force of energy. Ancient Chinese believed that everything in the universe is made up of Chi energy, including you.

I started my acupuncture journey because I wanted to balance my Chi, yin and yang. I am not, however, promoting acupuncture. I am only sharing my experience and what has helped me through this journey battling endometriosis for over 25 years. The beauty about acupuncture is that it works on treating multiple illnesses together.

In the sense that I didn’t have to go see different doctors for different conditions that I was battling due to endometriosis or even childhood trauma conditions. The acupuncture doctor, Dr. Lee, who I started my journey with, together with his amazing team, have been treating me for multiple conditions in every session.

My journey with acupuncture has been a rollercoaster ride, to say the least, but a very interesting and beneficial ride. It has come with a lot of emotions, a lot of changes, and a lot of perseverance, to say the least. I remember the initial days I used to go for acupuncture, and that was every two to three days, and now I only go once a week or sometimes even once in two weeks.

Castor oil packs are a great tool to help naturally promote reproductive health. Castor oil helps reduce inflammation, breakup stagnation, increase lymphatic flow, strengthens the immune system, improves the liver’s ability to detoxify, eases cramping when used on the abdomen, calms the central nervous system, and may help reduce the bloat of an endo belly.

I make my own castor oil packs when I need them. Start when menstrual bleeding ends and use daily or every other day for 30 to 60 days ideally. Continue for two to three months at one or two times per week. Do not use if you are pregnant when you’re on your period or when bleeding. Again, I’m not promoting any form of alternative remedies. I’m just telling you my experience at what has worked for me. Remember all of this works hand in hand together. It is not just selecting one or the other, but you have to make a holistic and a multi supportive change. Managing endometriosis through this route is so much more than just simply changing your diet.

It’s not easy, and it takes a lot of willpower, resilience, and discipline. It takes a lot of trial and error. It takes a lot of ups and downs, highs and lows to eventually figure out what works best for you to manage your journey with endometriosis, until you can eventually see an excision specialist.

Also, make the wallet friendly choices and be mindful of what you also put on your skin. The holistic journey is not only about what you put into your body, but what you put on it too. Understanding your triggers is the most important step and a mix of these treatment options you can take to manage this journey with endometriosis better.

As you experiment and make changes, you’ll notice what triggers a flare, bloating and upset stomach and endo belly fatigue, pain, and you can begin to know how to tailor not only the diet to suit you, but how to better manage this condition and have more good days and bad days. Though you will have some days when you won’t know what has triggered or fled some of the symptoms. On such days, just take time out, rest and breathe. 

This is how I manage my journey with endometriosis. I truly hope you find this episode helpful. And be sure to reach out if you need any assistance.