This Endolife

We are on the go again this week, preparing for our temporary return to the UK before we head to Sweden for December, so today’s episode is a replay - but one that I think is really relevant because I know so many of you struggle with this. Today I am resharing a very old episode about my story of beginning to change my diet and lifestyle for endometriosis when I first started on this journey, and how I went full throttle and burnt myself out - and then how I scaled back and made changes more sustainably to avoid overwhelm. And just as a heads up, this was recorded before I was finished with my training as a Women’s Health Coach, so I’m not as clued up on nutrition and lifestyle changes in this episode as I am now, but I’ve actually linked to some articles and episodes about nutrition for endo and the key pillars of healing I use with clients, in the show notes. So, let’s get to the show… Original text: It’s really easy, when you’re unwell, to want to fix everything as quickly as possible. When I started mana

Rachel Dutton a.k.a The Period Whisperer is pretty much one of the most knowledgeable women to grace this podcast. She is not only a women’s health coach, but a yoga teacher, reflexologist, aromatherapist and womb massage therapist to name just a few of her credentials. Rachel specialises in women’s health and fertility - including PCOS. As a PCOS warrior herself, Rachel knows first hand the struggle to get an accurate diagnosis, life with PCOS symptoms but perhaps most importantly, how to manage and even reverse symptoms. As this month is PCOS Awareness Month, I am giving you guys a little treat. Last month, Rachel came and delivered a private talk to the members of my Live and Thrive membership, and today, to celebrate PCOS Awarenness Month, I’m sharing it with you! Now, just as a heads up, some of this talk has been cut as I wanted to ensure my member’s privacy, and half the talk was a Q&A session. Additionally, Rachel’s talk was delivered with slides so you may hear her from time to time refer to somethin

Joana Bartlett is an interstitial cystitis warrior, who is thankfully in remission after spending years researching and training in a holistic approach to IC management. She is now a Certified Holistic Nutritionist, specialised in interstitial cystitis and takes a multi-faceted approach to reduce IC symptoms, addressing the whole body, not just the bladder alone. In this episode, Joana and I discuss… Here’s what we cover: Her story of interstitial cystitis and why her journey motivated her to help others experiencing the same chronic pain. The typical symptoms of IC, how it can manifest differently for each person and the various tests for diagnosis. The new subtypes of interstitial cystitis - bladder centric, pelvic floor and chronic overlapping pain conditions - and where endometriosis patients fit into this new type of categorising. The common causes of IC that Joana sees in her practice including low oestrogen, gut health problems, nervous system upregulation and pelvic floor conditions. Why Joana’s

Cheryl Woodman is a scientist, award-winning skincare formulator, acne expert and creator of Honesty For Your Skin; a safe space where you can find science-based skin help and where Cheryl also runs her online Acne Clinic. She’s been featured as an expert by Yahoo style, Byrdie and The Huffington Post and with good reason. Cheryl isn’t about quick fixes or skin fads, she’s all about root cause resolution and understanding the science behind skin. In this episode, Cheryl and I discuss hormonal and inflammatory acne and how it can be related to chronic conditions like endometriosis and PCOS, and what the hell we can do about it… Here’s what we cover: The difference between hormonal acne and inflammatory acne and how to know which one is the culprit behind your skin challenges. The key hormonal imbalances behind hormonal acne (testosterone, we’re looking at you) and their common root causes, plus how to resolve them. Some of the key causes behind inflammatory acne including gut health problems, changes to t

Dr. Linda Bluestein is a board-certified anesthesiologist, integrative pain medicine physician and former ballet dancer who specialises in coaching and educating dancers and other athletes and individuals at increased risk of hypermobility disorders. Dr Linda’s own experience with h-EDS eventually led her down a career path change that has seen her help countless others to live well with hypermobility and avoid chronic pain development. She is widely published, considered an expert on hypermobility disorders, and has lectured internationally. In this episode, Dr Linda and I sit down to discuss the link between Hypermobility spectrum disorders, hypermobile-Ehler’s Danlos syndrome, mast cell activation syndrome and endometriosis. Here’s what we cover: What we mean by generalised hypermobility, hypermobility spectrum disorders and hypermobility-EDS, and how they differ. What are the signs and symptoms of these conditions. The link between h-EDS and menstrual disorders, bladder dysfunction and pelvic pain and

We have just arrived in France after a 10 hour journey in 34 degree heat! Wow, was that intense! We’re now getting into our work routine but because we’ve been journeying, I have to squeeze my clients into one day, so can’t record a new episode this week. Instead, I’m reshaping an old episode which is literally providing you with my step-by-step protocol for endometriosis management and healing. I’ve developed this approach after spending seven years working with the endo community and on my own healing journey, and studying with leading specialists such as Dr Jessica Drummond and Dr Allison Siebecker. I hope by sharing some of my core steps, it’ll help you navigate your own healing journey and give you a foundation on which to build your own plan. It’s the 100th episode! To celebrate I’m sharing the foundation steps I take with my clients to create their personalised holistic healing plan for endometriosis. In this episode I share some of my main areas of focus when creating an endo healing plan: Nutrition

We are moving (to France!) and so today’s episode is a replay of a very early episode, that some of you may have not yet listened to! I see chronic stress and nervous system dysregulation a lot in our community - so I really encourage you to listen to this episode because healing is more than nutrition and supplements. If you were eating a totally anti-inflammatory diet but you were experiencing chronic stress, would that have an impact on your pain levels? My answer? It’s very, very likely. There are two key factors that cause further inflammation in our bodies when it comes to our lifestyle. Stress, tension and danger signals are often experienced in two places in the body: the neck and shoulders, and the pelvic floor. The body is trying to protect the vital organs in the pelvis and abdomen and so in response to stress, our body believes there’s danger and clenches and tightens the pelvic floor. This creates further pain, nerve sensitivity, muscle and organ dysfunction and distortion and ultimately up-regu

This week on the podcast I’m interviewing Arin Nicole, who you may know better as Moonli on Instagram. Arin is a functional hormone and endometriosis nutritionist with a particular interest in working with women and uterus owners who deal with hormone and inflammatory issues such as endometriosis, fibroids, period pain, mood swings, PCOS, and more. Her aim is to heal the root cause of people's symptoms through holistic nutrition. Arin has both endometriosis and fibroids, and is now in a place where her two conditions are really well managed and no longer cause her symptoms. I invited her on to talk specifically about fibroids, given that in the US, July is Fibroids Awareness Month. In this discussion, we talk about - What are fibroids The association between endometriosis and fibroids The signs and symptoms off fibroids How can someone get diagnosed with fibroids What causes fibroids The conventional treatment options vs. Arin’s holistic approach to managing fibroids. Please be aware that we do talk

This week on the podcast I’m sharing a conversation I had with herbalist and Forage Botanicals founder Natasha Richardson. Natasha develops natural remedies for period problems, as well as incredible products for bladder problems, fatigue and stress. She has a Facebook group where she teaches menstrual health and wellbeing and kindly invited me on for a chat with her and her audience. In this discussion, we talk about - SIBO and endometriosis - the signs, symptoms and prevalence How gut health can contribute to endometriosis development The various theories behind endometriosis growth including immune dysfunction and mast cells My views on hormonal treatments for endometriosis including whether we’re really getting fully informed consent and whether effectiveness is accurately portrayed The role of medicine vs. a holistic approach in endometriosis management. Some of these topics are delicate, and it can be tricky to navigate them when having a chat that isn’t a carefully pre-planned presentation, but I

Last week on Instagram I asked if anyone wanted to hear about my experience of two ECGs and a tilt table test as part of my ongoing chest pain investigations, and the majority of those who voted said yes! So, I wanted to record this whilst the experience was fresh in my mind. If you’re not sure why I had these tests, you can listen to episode ep.204/ the thing that’s been happening with my heart and why it’s important to talk about it in the endo community. So, as I said in my last episode about this, I am not a cardiologist, and I am not a health coach specialising in heart disease or any heart related conditions. As an endometriosis health coach however, I do see a lot of postural tachycardia syndrome and mast cell activation syndrome, both of which can cause symptoms like chest pain, dizziness, shortness of breath, palpitations, etc. and so many of my clients do have to go through these processes and tests to get the right diagnoses. Read more Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my

Last week I wanted to take a minute to process the Roe v Wade verdict, and to deal with my own personal health issues, as the latter half of last week I was having heart tests performed for two days and was travelling back and forth to London, whilst not feeling too well as a result of the tests. I think all of us had info coming at us from so many different directions last week and I didn’t want to add to that, especially without having the time or headspace to process it all and actually think through what I wanted to say. The other difficulty I face as an endo practitioner, is of course, the sensitivity of this topic within our community. I understand that discussions around abortion are hard, given that many in the community struggle with infertility, so this is a very difficult line to tread and in truth, because of the power of social media these days, I am worried that I’ll end up getting trolled or cancelled for this statement. So, before I proceed, I want to make it clear that I respect all views and

So, some of you may know that for the past, I guess, three years now, I’ve been deep in the trenches with interstitial cystitis. I developed interstitial cystitis almost about 17 or so years ago, following a car accident when I was 17. I broke my left hip, my pelvis, my spine and my pubic ramus and was temporarily paralysed, and was then on bed rest for several weeks. During this time I had a catheter put in, and unbeknown to me, this delivered the first of two chronic infections. Of course, for the first year any unusual symptoms and pain I had in the pelvic region I put down to the car accident, and then when I started developing endo symptoms a year later, once I was diagnosed, I assumed all bladder issues were caused by my endo. Read more Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. I’m excited to announce that I’ve joined a new podcast network called Connectd Podcasts. Connectd Podcasts is a new mission-driven network focused on helping podcasts like this grow and thrive!

On Christmas Day 2021, I thought I had a heart attack. It was Christmas night actually, maybe even the early hours of Boxing Day and I was woken up by one of the worst pains I have ever experienced. It felt like a metal clamp had locked around my heart and was squeezing it to the point of bursting. The pain radiated into my left arm and down into my hand, and my hand and lower arm were tingling and sort of numb. My chest was tight, it felt like I had a weight on it and I felt like I was struggling to get enough oxygen in. I still don’t know if I had a heart attack that night. My body and mind tells me it was, but at this stage, I’ll never really know – because I didn’t call an ambulance. Yes. I know it was stupid, and I regret the decision now, but there was a reason. Read more. Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. I’m excited to announce that I’ve joined a new podcast network called Connectd Podcasts. Connectd Podcasts is a new mission-driven network focused on helping

I’ve been noticing something for a while now. It’s always been a problem in society overall, I think it’s an issue that takes different form depending on the generation and the situation, and I’ve been acutely away of it throughout my endo career, but today I really want to directly speak to it because I am seeing it so much lately. Today I want to tell you that you don’t have to manage endo perfectly. In fact, I am urging you not to try to. And this is what I mean. In the past say two years, I’ve worked with a couple of hundred people, either one to one or in my course, and for the most part, many people do take a balanced approach, but in some, I’ve noticed this trend to be very black and white with endo management, very full throttle, very all or nothing. And I get it. Having had an eating disorder for the best part of my adult life and all of my teenage years, I understand how easy it is to become obsessive about certain food choices. And as a perfectionist and overachiever, I also understand the desire t

Today I am sharing a conversation with one of my past The Endo Belly Protocol course students about her incredible mindset shift and empowerment journey with endometriosis. Simone had been feeling helpless, hopeless and like endometriosis was in control of her life, and that there was nothing she could do about it. She’d been let down by the medical system for years, had a long journey to diagnosis and wasn’t getting the answers she was looking for. Since completing the course Simone has: Chosen her own symptom management protocols and knows how and what to do to manage her pain, endo belly and hormones. Feels empowered and in control of endometriosis, and feels like she has options, solutions and hope. Finally understands her body and endometriosis, gut health, hormones and inflammation are linked and affect each other. Have a listen to the episode to hear Simone’s transformation in her own words and her feedback on The Endo Belly Protocol and who she thinks will benefit from it. The Endo Belly Protocol

Today I am sharing a conversation with one of my past The Endo Belly Protocol course students about her incredible endo belly improvements and period transformation. Jess had been experiencing hormonal acne, light headedness and brain fog during her period, extreme bloating that made her look six months pregnant, painful periods, gassiness, abdominal discomfort and constipation. Since completing the course and implementing a few changes, Jess has experienced: An improvement in her hormonal acne and complexion. No more extreme bloating on a daily basis - any bloating is now isolated to the normal bloating we tend to get with hormonal changes during the cycle (and if you want to learn more about that, listen to episode ep.137). No more digestive problems so less gassiness, bloating, discomfort, etc. Her period pain is now at a 1 every cycle and her hormonal symptoms have improved, so much so, that she’s continuously calling each new period her ‘best period ever’! Have a listen to the episode to hear Jess’s

You may have noticed that my podcast thumbnail has changed to say This EndoLife Podcast by the Endo Belly Coach. Yep! I have switched my website and all of the work I do from This EndoLife to The Endo Belly Coach – nothing is changing about my work, but I felt this title better encompassed my passion for endo and the endo belly. And to celebrate, I’ve just launched my course The Endo Belly Protocol. In this seven-step course, you will uncover the root causes behind your endo belly, learn the exact protocols for healing, identify your unique triggers and endo belly aggravators and ultimately heal your gut and calm your endo.  You'll move from feeling overwhelmed, frustrated and at the mercy of the endo belly, to feeling clear and in control of your personal roadmap to healing.   If… You've had a surgery and even though your pain symptoms have calmed down (or maybe not), you're now having gut issues for the first time. You've suffered with gut symptoms all your life.  You can't get through the day without e

In this second edition of my special endo belly IG live series, I’m really focusing on SIBO specifically, diagnosis, treatment troubleshooting and why you may get a negative test - even if you’re actually positive. And if you are genuinely negative for SIBO, I also talk about the other possible root causes behind your endo belly. So, here are the questions I’m answering today: What’s the difference between chronic SIBO and one off? Which types of bacteria cause SIBO? Do GPs have an awareness of SIBO? What could cause a negative test if you’re sure you have SIBO? Do GI specialists on the NHS know how to diagnose and treat SIBO? What else could cause endo belly and bloating if it’s not SIBO? If you’ve found this live helpful or you’d like to learn more, or you’re just sick of the endo belly, I’m holding two free endo belly workshops this week… To support those of you who are struggling with overwhelm or not knowing where to start with beating the endo belly, I’m running a free workshop in two weeks – Creating a

A little while ago I asked you guys what your questions were about SIBO and endo belly - and my gosh, did you come through with the questions! So I decided to record my answers in a few Instagram lives and then share them as a podcast episode so more people can have access to this information. Here are the questions I am answering in today’s episode: What came first? Endo or SIBO? Are there certain people with endo more likely to develop SIBO? What is the connection between SIBO and IBS and how to differentiate between them? What are the stats on IBS, endo and SIBO? Are there any foods that make SIBO worse? Will I have to do a low FODMAP diet long term? Does diet help SIBO? Can SIBO cause B12, zinc, iron and magnesium deficiencies? I hope this podcast episode is helpful to you. If you’re wondering whether it’s SIBO or endo or something else causing your bloating, or you’d like to learn how to test for SIBO or just understand a bit more before you investigate further, have a look at my show notes belo

This episode is a special episode sharing a recording from a Q&A with participants from my recent Endo Belly Challenge. Over 150 people took part in the 4 week free challenge, and each week, they received an email from me with some education on the endo belly and what causes it and how to treat it, and then a related action step to help them minimise symptoms and begin treating the root causes. At the end of the challenge, to celebrate and wrap up, I held a private Q&A for anyone who wanted to ask questions about their experience with the challenge, their own endo belly issues or just about endometriosis itself. Today I am sharing some of these questions and my answers!  DISCLAIMER: Please remember that everyone’s experience of endometriosis is unique, and the decision to have or not have surgery should be made in partnership with your surgeon and medical team. The information I am sharing in this episode is just for informational purposes. I hope you find this episode useful! Free workshop: To support those