Endometriosis: A Key to Healing Through Nutrition. Michael Vernon

the body suddenly lets us down, the shock of feeling disabled is stunning and frightening. One feels out of control. Suggestions for treatments are made and you try them all. You just want to be well again; but fighting illness day in, day out causes despondency and great sadness for the lost time.

      The medical profession has no absolute cure for endometriosis. It can support the patient and suppress the disease symptoms, but often the drug and surgical treatments do not get to the root of the problem and promote healing. Research shows that symptoms usually return within 18 months, after drug treatments are stopped. It is not uncommon for women to have taken five or six different drugs, one after another, and to have had several operations and still be in pain. Once all the reproductive organs have been removed, some members of the medical profession assume that endometriotic implants can no longer grow and women’s symptoms can be dismissed and even ridiculed. Your local endometriosis group can advise you who is the right practitioner for you, and who is the most caring and compassionate.

      • CASE STUDY •

       Barbara B of Kent

       The first benefit was the mental boost from feeling that I was actually taking control, doing something about my endometriosis. Within a very short time I had more energy and people stopped telling me how dreadful I looked! I also lost weight, which was great. I took the vitamin supplements and generally worked hard to improve my diet. My endometriosis was extremely severe and yet, even now, four years after a laparoscopy to remove cysts and reposition my womb, I remain totally free from endometriosis. My surgeon finds it unbelievable and constantly tells me how lucky I am. Thank you for all the support at the worst time in my life.

      So what is this book going to do for you, the reader? Hopefully it will inspire you to know how magical your body can be. Both authors want to help you to find ways to let your body begin to heal itself. If you can give it the tools and the fuel it needs to fight the disease, that is a good start. Chapters 8, 9, 10 and 12 are a basic guide to the practical steps you can take as you attempt to heal yourself.

      The keys to well-being are all around us. It is like a treasure hunt, but the treasure is not precious gems or gold; it is even more precious – health. For without that we can do nothing. Health is something which money cannot buy, but effort and willpower can take us a long way towards our goal. Strive to make it happen.

      Feeling healthy and well is a right. Life without health can be intensely distressing. But it is important to fight to stay well, and one of the ways to help yourself heal is simply through eating good quality food. The word ‘diet’ is a misnomer. This is really just a Healthy Eating Life Plan – HELP – to bring you onto the road to recovery. It is an area of life over which you do have control. It is hoped that this book will inspire all women with endometriosis, and give you an insight into an area of self-help that is not difficult to follow. It will act to guide you, to choose food wisely, to enable you to absorb all the nutrients from your daily food intake, without making a meal of it.

      Don’t count on anybody else coming along to relieve your stress.

      Put yourself in charge of managing the situation.

       Ron Pound

      Take your health into your own hands and work with your body. Look after it. After all, it is designed to last almost a century, according to the latest research on ageing. At least a lifetime, and we all want that lifetime to be full to the brim.

      Good luck on the road to recovery. There is light at the end of the tunnel. As Mary Lou Ballweg of the International Endometriosis Association, headquartered in the USA says ‘Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness’.

      It is up to you. There are many paths back to health – nutrition, gentle exercise and relaxation all have their part to play. Bring them together in your own life. Be gentle with yourself and learn to pace yourself. When the body has been ill for some time, it takes a while to get it back on track. There is a need to nurture yourself back to health. Take your life in both hands and let’s go!

      Too much of a good thing can be wonderful.

       Mae West, Actress

      SUMMARY

      1 This book gives you the information about how endometriosis behaves and how nutrition may help you to combat the disease. Each chapter has a summary of all the key factors for you to follow, should you so wish.

      2 Your body wants to be well. You are giving it a fighting chance to good health through choosing good quality food, fresh air, natural daylight and gentle exercise.

      3 You are unique. Your body biochemistry is individual to you and needs treating as such. What works for one person may not work in the same way for you. Find out what suits you. Use your intuition. What feels right? Use this book wisely as a guide.

      4 Your body cells use nutrients as building blocks to renew damaged tissues. These nutrients come from the freshest foods.

      5 You can use your food choice to reduce inflammation and pain.

      6 Arm yourself with a wide range of information which will enable you to choose wisely which treatments you feel are right for you. Never allow anyone to coerce you into having a treatment which feels wrong to you.

      7 You can take control over what is happening to you by trying some self-help techniques, and working with your body, which is giving you signals that it needs help. Be gentle with yourself.

      8  The medical profession has no cure for endometriosis and drugs and surgery can only suppress symptoms. Nutrition can help to speed up healing after surgery and, in some cases, can reduce the side effects of drug treatments.

      9 Orthodox and complementary medicines can work alongside one another and enhance healing.

      10 Develop your own Healthy Eating Life Plan – HELP yourself to heal.

       www.endometriosis.co.uk

       www.makingbabies.com

       www.nutrition.us.com

2 How endometriosis affects your body

      All is flux, nothing stays still.

       Heraclitus, 540–480 BC

      OH NO! MY PERIOD HAS STARTED AGAIN – SO SOON?

      How many times have these words been uttered by women? The menstrual period has a way of appearing at the most awkward time and interfering with daily life. With endometriosis, menstruation may worsen, leading to severe, sometimes excruciating, pain and possible subfertility. It can interfere with normal daily activity, and we can shy away from learning about endometriosis when the cycle provokes such distress. When the monthly cycle includes pain or lack of a hoped-for pregnancy time after time, it becomes physically and emotionally draining. Other women seem to have no period pain and to fall pregnant so easily – it all seems so unfair. We stand aghast and become angry with our own body and its failings.

      The reproductive system is the core of our feminine identity and its many subtleties and biological intricacies could be better understood. It should be celebrated as the focus of the origin of new life and menstruation should NEVER be painful. By understanding the reproductive system, you will be better able to understand endometriosis and how proper nutrition may help your body biochemistry to stay in balance and help you in your fight against this disease.

      Our bodies are wondrous things, and understanding the amazing ways in which they work will help us to see more clearly what should be