Let me begin by establishing the fact that this post has nothing to do with pornography so click away now if that’s what you were expecting. Instead today I’d like to discuss my great displeasure with the female organ called uterus. I’ve come to dislike it very much. As a 33 year old woman suffering with endometriosis I feel compelled to write about my journey with the hope of reaching some other women that my research may help.
I have a great doctor but doctors don’t tell you everything, you always have to do your own research. I’ve been suffering for years but never knew what I was suffering from. I was finally diagnosed in June of 2006 and began hormone therapy. Unfortunately, I did not respond to the non-invasive treatment and ended up undergoing laparoscopic surgery in April 2007. After the surgery not much changed and I went back on the pill in August 2007, now I’m trying a new pill because the original pill didn’t help much either. So here I am on week one of new pill hoping that this will work and offer some relief to the pain and the otherwise really crummy irregularity that I’ve been experiencing for nearly 2 years. I recently started an exercise program and stopped smoking, in an effort to get really healthy I also started researching how diet and nutrition can affect endometriosis patients. WOW were my eyes opened, now I know why doctors might not tell us too much.  We’d all be hypochondriacs if we knew what they knew.
I’m not too happy to share that the diet is pretty restrictive. Don’t eat red meat, milk or cheese, stay away from fatty foods and anything processed and no refined carbohydrates etc. Just a small summary of what I saw I should stay away from due to the fact that the foods listed, either contain estrogen which is bad for an endometriosis patient or stimulate the prostaglandins that have a good side and a bad side the bad side increases inflammation and pain. Ouch! Of course I am paraphrasing the extensive research I’ve done but you get my drift. Things like plastics leech estrogen as well. I am just blown away and a little freaked out to say the least.
My mom and I were talking about how many syndromes and diseases seem to be increasing in the last 20 years. The number of children diagnosed with autism is at an all time high for example. We all know cancer might as well be today’s black plague and on top of it all we’ve got these subtle little things like misbehaving reproductive organs creeping in. So we talked about the worry and then my research basically supported the fact that all of the modern technology that goes into our food production and containers and the process in general has really negative effects on the body.
I read an article the other day that talked about soy containing harmful anti-nutrients because of the way soy is fermented and refined in the modern process (unlike the original Asian process). Oh I’m not supposed to eat any soy products either just for that reason, apparently the toxins found in soy products also contributes to pain and inflammation of the endometrial tissue. Oh and don’t heat anything up in the microwave that is in a plastic container!
On the one hand I want to abide by all the warnings and eat better so I can get my symptoms under control and hopefully get pregnant this year. Yet on the other hand I’m angry and discouraged because I feel like all the bad stuff is everywhere and all around me. I’ve done well to remove the things that I know for a fact aren’t healthy, like smoking but it’s become very clear to me how there are so many other environmental things affecting my health. And here I was thinking I had some control. What ever happened to the people who drank and smoked and still had healthy normal babies? Is it all hype? Tell me what makes you crazy and we’ll rant together. My next post will be about my job or my family or something I promise I won’t make you listen to my complaining uterus again. Ok I crossed my fingers on that promise!