You might have recently been diagnosed with endometriosis or you might have symptoms that point in that direction.
What is endometriosis?
Before we look at what could help the body to steer back into balance, its first helpful to know what is. You can google it to get more detail, but basically it is the abnormal growth of endometrial cells (cells that normally only grow in the uterus) in places outside of the uterus.
Most commonly the cells are found to be growing on other organs in the pelvis such as on the ovaries, fallopian tubes, on the intestines and also in the vagina or bladder. But they can also grow in other places.
The problem with this is that, the endometrial cells always shed during menstruation. This is no problem if they are where they are supposed to be. But if they are somewhere where there is no outlet for this shedding, it can cause blockages and pain and infertility. Also, the cells when they are in the womb have programmed cell death at the time of menstruation and thereafter new cells are built – a nice clear out every month. But these abnormal cells don’t die and thus cause inflammation in the surrounding tissues.
Symptoms:
- very painful premenstrual cramps
- long periods lasting more than 7 days
- spotting between periods
- exhaustion
- diarrhea, constipation, bloating
- long term lower back and pelvic pain.
Why do I have it?
Its always good to have a think about possible reasons why a physical abnormality has turned up. With endometriosis its worth looking at what is not in its correct or appropriate place in your life. What do you need to change in order to be more true to who you really are? This kind of reflection should not be underestimated! Not just with endometriosis! With any physical problem.
So, what is physically out of balance?
Endometrial cells thrive on oestrogen. They need it to survive. They also create their own oestrogen. But too much oestrogen means the body has also too little progesterone (they are antagonists).
Oestrogen dominance (i.e progesterone level is too low and oestrogen level too high) is a problem that apart from endometriosis can also be the cause of many hormone imbalance symptoms such as irregular periods, bloating, painful swollen breasts, PMS, clumsiness, infertility, itchy or restless legs.
The problem with having too little progesterone is that its not just a simple matter of giving the body more progesterone and problem solved. There is often a complicated nuerohormonal mix that results in progesterone ‘resistance’ .
So what to do?!
Treatment
The remedies I use for treating endometriosis are chosen for their ability to treat not only the hormonal imbalance but also to treat the reason for your body slipping into this abnormal mode. So treating not just the symptoms, but also the cause. The remedies I use most commonly for endometriosis (which you can also google for more info) are: Carbolicum acidicum, Sabina officinalis, Secale cornutum and Hellaborus niger.
There are also some other effective tips I can give you on how to get your progesterone levels up. If you are interested, drop me an e-mail and ask me about what hanging out with friends, and drinking coffee has to do with it!
What now?
If you or someone you know are suffering with this or these kinds of symptoms, feel free to book yourself in for an “Information Session” on my website to discuss if I might be able to help you. This short appointment can be done over Skype or in person in my practice.