I recently completed our family with the birth of our daughter, Paulina, in November. While I am not a fan of being pregnant, one of the few perks is not having a period for an extended period of time. For reasons that I cannot comprehend, my period quickly returned, not even 7 weeks postpartum, even while exclusively breastfeeding.
With the return of my period, it made me reflect on periods in general. One thing I’ve commonly seen in practice is periods changing (for better or worse) postpartum. Women with irregular periods are now like clockwork postpartum. Or previously easy periods are suddenly very painful and heavy.
I was once diagnosed with endometriosis, which is one of the reasons I pursued naturopathic medicine, so I couldn’t help but feel a little anxious about my period returning and what it would be like. With March being Endometriosis Awareness Month, I thought this is a great opportunity to bring some much-needed awareness to this commonly misdiagnosed condition.
Endometriosis <en-doh-me-tree-o-sis> is a condition where part of the lining of your uterus, the endometrial tissue, starts growing in places it shouldn’t. It usually sticks to the lower pelvic area but there have been some cases of tissue growing in different areas, like the lungs or nose. As you can imagine, tissue growing where it shouldn’t causes problems, such as bleeding and scarring, which can lead to different complications depending on where it’s growing. For example, if endometrial tissue starts growing on the uterine tubes (aka fallopian tubes), it can lead to issues with fertility.
The tricky part about endometriosis is that it can be difficult to diagnose. Endometriosis can cause symptoms such as pelvic pain, irregular periods, heavy bleeding during periods, lower abdominal or back pain, pain during intercourse, bloating, nausea, vomiting, pain during exercise, or pain with bowel movements.¹ Clinically speaking, pain can be due to a large host of conditions so endometriosis can often be overlooked. There’s also been studies that indicate that the level or amount of pain a woman has does not correlate with the severity of her endometriosis so a woman could have minimal pain which might lead a doctor to not strongly consider endometriosis but in reality, have a severe form of the disease.²
The gold standard for diagnosing endometriosis is through a laparoscopic surgery, a procedure in which they insert a camera through your belly button and look for lesions. In a few instances, endometriosis can be diagnosed with other imaging but medically speaking, laparoscopic surgery is considered diagnostic. However, for some women with suspected endometriosis, surgery may not be a viable option so diagnosis can be made based on symptoms. First line conventional treatment is birth control pills.
Luckily, natural treatments are more diverse and have less side effects than birth control or surgery. Nutritional changes, such as eating low inflammatory foods can make a big difference in pain and disease progression. Common inflammatory foods that can impact endometriosis include sugar, dairy, and red meat. There has been more than one occasion where a patient cuts out all added sugars and her next period, her pain reduces from 10/10 to 2/10! Most people don’t realize how much food can impact their symptoms, including pain.
There are also botanicals such as Verbena and Vitex to help balance hormones as well as cramp bark (Viburnum opulus) that can be used to help naturally ease the pain. Another simple way to help break up the scar tissue and reduce inflammation is with castor oil packs. Using castor oil topically over the uterus with heat is a great anti-inflammatory and pain reliever. As always, check with your medical provider to make sure these suggestions are right for you.
In addition to nutrition and herbs, there is a growing body of evidence that endometriosis is associated with environmental toxins like polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).³ Reducing your exposure by avoiding dairy, meat, and contaminated fish can be a great first step. It’s also important with any inflammatory condition to support your body in its ability to effectively detoxify and remove environmental toxins. Dr. Kassimir has a great virtual workshop coming up that helps make detoxing gentle and easy.
With endometriosis affecting at least 10% of women, it’s time we acknowledge just how frequently this painful condition is overlooked or misdiagnosed. As more public figures begin sharing their personal experiences with endometriosis, the hope is that increased visibility will lead not only to greater awareness and research, but also to deeper compassion and stronger support for those living with it.
1. “Endometriosis.” Medscape. <http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/271899-overview>
2. Marana R, et al. “Evaluation of the correlation between endometriosis extent, age of the patients and associated symptomatology.” Acta Europaea Fertilitatis. 1991, 22(4):209-212.
3. Yu ML, et al. “Menstruation and reproduction in women with polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) poisoning: long-term follow-up interviews of the women from the Taiwan Yucheng cohort.” International Epidemiological Association. 2000; 29: 672-677.
