Endometriosis
Endometriosis
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Endometriosis is a painful condition that affects the womb but often also other systems are involved. We know understand that big role the immune system play in endometriosis and because of this the condition should be looked at as an immune condition that affects the reproductive organs rather than a reproductive condition. There are many conditions that have an imbalanced immune system at the core of their casualty, and there is so much that can be done with nutrition to put it into remission.
Essentially, what is happening is endometrium tissue grows outside the uterus, but usually within the reproductive area causing inflammation and pain in the affected area.
Below you will find a list of causes, one or more may be relevant to you. I can help explain to you what's going on in you as an individual via tests and detailed assessment. We can then tailor a bespoke way forward, making sure you completely understand what your body is asking for.
Autoimmune links
Strongly associated with imbalances in the gut
Usually a lack of progesterone in the second half of the cycle
What Do We Do About It?
What Do We Do About It?
Autoimmunity is where the immune system attacks self tissues rather than invaders. There are many autoimmune diseases that affect various parts of the body and we are now understanding endometriosis as an autoimmune condition that affects the uterus. Tissues that should belong to the uterus are found elsewhere in the body in endometriosis and the digestive tract is a common system to be affected, perhaps because of it's close proximity to the womb. You can see why, if there is endometrial tissue in the gut for example it shouldn't be there, so the immune system attacks it. This creates an inflammatory reaction and signals to the body that there is a stressful invader, this environment is the opposite of what the body would like in order to encourage optimal fertility.
The goal of treatment is to calm the immune system and remove things that were causing it distress. Once the immune system is calm, it is usually in a better mood and therefore does not keep reacting to the things that were previously causing it distress. Our immune system is designed to protect us and functions on a 'better to be safe than sorry' approach, meaning it would rather over react to something than not react. With a little help we can reassure the immune system that all is well and create an environment that promotes healthy immune function.
The system most focussed upon is the digestive tract as perceived stressors/invaders often enter the body through the gut. Foods, bacteria, yeast, and parasites all contribute to the overall stress load in the gut and any of these can be perceived as safe or harmful by the immune system. Sometimes we have to remove foods or bacteria for example in order to remove the stress promoter. We also need to work on emotional health to help calm the immune system and ensure immune supportive nutrients are in abundance.
If there is perceived stress to the immune system which is one of the underlying mechanisms of endometriosis, this is likely to have a knock on affect of hormone metabolism as a protective mechanism by the body to discourage pregnancy at such a stressful time. This means that progesterone levels often drop lower than would be optimal in the second half of the cycle. There are specific things we can do to increase progesterone, however rather than working on this insolation, we often find that ameliorating the root cause (immune imbalance) is enough and this has a natural knock of affect on improving luteal phase progesterone levels.
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