This Endolife

Today I want to share a story to inspire and lift you up. I know sometimes it can feel hopeless, and that’s why I love to share these client stories: because they offer hope, they show us what’s possible, they give us faith. In this conversation, Aamina, who is one of my past Live and Thrive with Endo course students and a current membership member, shares with us her story of transformation, from despair and desperation to empowerment and hope. Aamina came to my course with nausea and vomiting around her period, severe pain during menstruation and ovulation, and nerve and leg pain pretty much all month long. She now no longer suffers with nausea or vomiting, and has dramatically reduced her pain all the way down from an 8 to a 2 on the pain scale. This conversation was originally recorded as part of a testimonial for my course, rather than a podcast interview, so you’ll hear Aamina referencing to the course and testifying to it throughout, but within all of this, she peppers in her story, her wins, her pr

Okay so we’ve been taking about hormones and how to improve our periods for a few weeks now, so I thought it would be helpful to give you a quick run down on what the menstrual cycle actually is and what is happening with your hormones throughout all four stages, plus, what a healthy menstrual cycle looks like. Now of course, having endometriosis, you period probably doesn’t look healthy to you. Maybe you have really heavy bleeding, prolonged periods or a lot of pain. And wahilst we have to take into account that yes, our cycles and periods in particular will probably look different from others, we shouldn’t dismiss these differences as just because of endo and that there’s nothing we can do about it. In truth, there’s probably a lot you can do! Read more Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free workshop Creating a Roadmap to Endo Healing in 2022: The Foundations Workshop here. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo here. My new N

So last week we talked about oestrogen, and so today, clearly I’m going to move onto the other predominant hormone in the menstrual cycle, progesterone  So, let’s get started. Progesterone is famous for ‘fluffing’ up the uterine lining in the second half of your menstrual cycle, which occurs after ovulation, and this phase is called the luteal phase.  When we say fluffing up, progesterone is essentially further preparing the uterine lining to allow for implantation of a fertilised egg, whilst halting oestrogen’s effects of  cell-proliferation which thickens the uterine lining.  If the egg is fertilised, it will begin stimulating a steady blood supply to the lining to nourish the egg, via the formation of new blood vessels and additionally will trigger the release of nutrients from glands hidden in the endometrial lining (which is just another fancy word for uterine lining). It will also prevent uterine cramping so the egg can stay nice and secure and plays an absolutely essential role in maintaining the endom

We talk a lot about oestrogen on this show, and so today, I want to give you a complete low down on oestrogen – what it does, how it benefits you and how it can affect you when things go wrong.  Now, before we go ahead, I just want to share a trigger warning – I talk about reproduction and pregnancy in this episode. It’s not a huge part of it, but it’s there, so please feel free to skip this episode if you need to. Another trigger warning in this episode is that I talk about the connection between oestrogen dominance and obesity. If this feels triggering for you, please skip! It is the final point on the causes of excess oestrogen/oestrogen dominance, and comes after the point on endocrine disruptors. Read more Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free Ease Endo Tea Challenge here. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo here. My new Nutrition for Endo Masterclasses are out now and are on special offer for Black Friday. Get one mast

So, following on from last week, where I shared the most effective strategies, I’ve tried from the past seven years of managing endo, today I want to share what I do on my period to avoid a pain flare. Essentially, what I do on my period that allows me to experience either low pain levels or no pain at all, and if for some reason my levels do start to creep up, how I get them back down quickly and prevent them from getting worse.  Go back to last week’s episode if you haven’t listened to it already, but for context, before I started managing my endometriosis, my periods were excruciating. I would take pain killers upon pain killers with little to no relief at all. I couldn’t stand, sleep, walk, eat – pretty much anything.  Read more Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free Ease Endo Tea Challenge here. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo here. My new Nutrition for Endo Masterclasses are out now and are on special offer for Blac

Okay so as it’s the start of a new year I thought I’d do a reflective type episode.  I’ve been doing this podcast for a couple of years and many of you have been with me on this journey of transformation with my endometriosis, but I realised I’ve not really done an episode where I’ve shared my biggest needle movers in terms of endo strategies. I recently did a live on my key go-to daily strategies and this is a bit similar, but this is all about the things I am certain have made the biggest changes to my symptoms.  Now, they’re not the only changes – supporting my liver, improving my gut health, adhesion work, physiotherapy and many more strategies have made a big difference too, but if for some crazy reason my life depended on it and I had to give just four strategies that I think made the biggest difference, it would be these. Read more Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free Ease Endo Tea Challenge here. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and

Today’s episode is part of an end of year special series. I am resharing some of my most actionable episodes to help you reduce pain on your period and pain flares in general, and to balance your hormones for better periods, less PMS and healthier cycles. I am sharing these episodes because this time of year is often when some of our endo management strategies can go out of the window (and understandably so!). We might have more sugar, less sleep, more alcohol and more blood sugar dysregulation, and as a result, these can all raise inflammation and give our bodies a hard time when it comes to clearing old and excess hormones. So come January or maybe sooner, we tend to have more PMS, worse periods and more pain. So these episodes are designed to provide you with some tips you can quickly implement if you’re worried about your upcoming period, or you’re feeling rough and need some tips to improve your symptoms. Now of course, it’s natural that we want to indulge a bit over Christmas, and so these episodes are

Today’s episode is part of an end of year special series. I am resharing some of my most actionable episodes to help you reduce pain on your period and pain flares in general, and to balance your hormones for better periods, less PMS and healthier cycles. I am sharing these episodes because this time of year is often when some of our endo management strategies can go out of the window (and understandably so!). We might have more sugar, less sleep, more alcohol and more blood sugar dysregulation, and as a result, these can all raise inflammation and give our bodies a hard time when it comes to clearing old and excess hormones. So come January or maybe sooner, we tend to have more PMS, worse periods and more pain. So these episodes are designed to provide you with some tips you can quickly implement if you’re worried about your upcoming period, or you’re feeling rough and need some tips to improve your symptoms. Now of course, it’s natural that we want to indulge a bit over Christmas, and so these episodes are

Today’s episode is part of an end of year special series. I am resharing some of my most actionable episodes to help you reduce pain on your period and pain flares in general, and to balance your hormones for better periods, less PMS and healthier cycles. I am sharing these episodes because this time of year is often when some of our endo management strategies can go out of the window (and understandably so!). We might have more sugar, less sleep, more alcohol and more blood sugar dysregulation, and as a result, these can all raise inflammation and give our bodies a hard time when it comes to clearing old and excess hormones. So come January or maybe sooner, we tend to have more PMS, worse periods and more pain. So these episodes are designed to provide you with some tips you can quickly implement if you’re worried about your upcoming period, or you’re feeling rough and need some tips to improve your symptoms. Now of course, it’s natural that we want to indulge a bit over Christmas, and so these episodes are

Today’s episode is part of an end of year special series. I am resharing some of my most actionable episodes to help you reduce pain on your period and pain flares in general, and to balance your hormones for better periods, less PMS and healthier cycles. I am sharing these episodes because this time of year is often when some of our endo management strategies can go out of the window (and understandably so!). We might have more sugar, less sleep, more alcohol and more blood sugar dysregulation, and as a result, these can all raise inflammation and give our bodies a hard time when it comes to clearing old and excess hormones. So come January or maybe sooner, we tend to have more PMS, worse periods and more pain. So these episodes are designed to provide you with some tips you can quickly implement if you’re worried about your upcoming period, or you’re feeling rough and need some tips to improve your symptoms. Now of course, it’s natural that we want to indulge a bit over Christmas, and so these episodes are

Today’s episode is part of an end of year special series. I am resharing some of my most actionable episodes to help you reduce pain on your period and pain flares in general, and to balance your hormones for better periods, less PMS and healthier cycles. I am sharing these episodes because this time of year is often when some of our endo management strategies can go out of the window (and understandably so!). We might have more sugar, less sleep, more alcohol and more blood sugar dysregulation, and as a result, these can all raise inflammation and give our bodies a hard time when it comes to clearing old and excess hormones. So come January or maybe sooner, we tend to have more PMS, worse periods and more pain. So these episodes are designed to provide you with some tips you can quickly implement if you’re worried about your upcoming period, or you’re feeling rough and need some tips to improve your symptoms. Now of course, it’s natural that we want to indulge a bit over Christmas, and so these episodes are

Today’s episode is part of an end of year special series. I am resharing some of my most actionable episodes to help you reduce pain on your period and pain flares in general, and to balance your hormones for better periods, less PMS and healthier cycles. I am sharing these episodes because this time of year is often when some of our endo management strategies can go out of the window (and understandably so!). We might have more sugar, less sleep, more alcohol and more blood sugar dysregulation, and as a result, these can all raise inflammation and give our bodies a hard time when it comes to clearing old and excess hormones. So come January or maybe sooner, we tend to have more PMS, worse periods and more pain. So these episodes are designed to provide you with some tips you can quickly implement if you’re worried about your upcoming period, or you’re feeling rough and need some tips to improve your symptoms. Now of course, it’s natural that we want to indulge a bit over Christmas, and so these episodes are

Do you get full body pain? Does it affect your muscles, nerves or joints? Do you find that you need to rest after walking or find you tired more easily than others? It might not just be endometriosis. Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome is a group of 13 conditions which all affect connective tissue (collagen) in the body. Most are rare, but one type called hypermobility EDS is common - and out of those with this type of EDS, 6-23% have endometriosis. But that’s not where the connection ends… 32-77% of those with EDS have vulvodynia and or pain with sex. 33-75% have heavy menstrual bleeding.  73-93% have painful periods. Additionally, histamine intolerance caused by Mast Cell Activation Syndrome is a co-condition of Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, and we also know that overactive mast cells play a role in endometriosis. Not only can this cause more painful periods, but it can also create problems like allergies and eczema to name a few. Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome is also a huge risk factor for SIBO, and as you may

Do you suffer with the endo belly? Is it accompanied by bloating, diarrhea, constipation or abdominal cramping? Whilst I’m all about getting to the root cause and find out WHY you’re suffering with the endo belly (not to mention, healing the root cause) I also understand the need for short-term symptom relief whilst we’re on that journey. Today’s podcast episode offers just that. I am sharing the most effective supplement options that help to relieve endo belly flares in the moment. These are the tools and strategies we use in our SIBO training with Dr. Siebecker, but are safe if you don’t have SIBO but do suffer with IBS symptoms. You will find all the dose references in the show notes, but remember - as a health coach I cannot prescribe you a treatment protocol, this is education only and the aim is for you to take this information away to discuss your options with your doctor. Full credit to my tutor Dr. Allison Siebecker for teaching and providing us with these strategy relief tools!   Activated Cha

This episode is an IG live where I discuss the endo management habits that are a part of my everyday life and I pretty much couldn’t live without! Now, it’s definitely not as simple as ‘do these habits and your symptoms will be sorted’, that’s not what this live was about - this was just a little peak into some of my daily habits. When it comes to endo it’s about understanding and treating/managing the root causes behind your symptoms and that will differ for every person. BUT these are habits that have profoundly changed my experience of endo, and I also see work wonders for clients. They are: Anti-inflammatory nutrition Blood sugar management Magnesium spray/baths Omega 3 fatty acid supplementation An extra good quality, evidence-backed anti-inflammatory supplement (quercetin, curcumin, glutathione, etc) Daylight in the mornings Underneath these it’s also of course important to have the foundations of good health: Sleep Movement Stress management Good nutrition (but that’s covered above) Stress manageme

I first came across Dr. Ami Kapadia’s work through some presentations she held for an online SIBO conference. Her lectures focused on small intestine fungal overgrowth, yeast disorders and mould - and what I heard resonated with not only my story, but so many of my clients’ stories. And I’m not alone. Dr. Jessica Drummond often speaks on the connection she sees between chronic pelvic pain and yeast problems, and yeast/SIFO are prevalent issues within the SIBO community. In fact, left untreated, they can really hinder SIBO progress. The trouble is, they’re not easy to diagnose and the symptoms are often identical to SIBO, and at least a quarter of SIBO patients, if not more, also have SIFO. So, given that research is currently estimating that up to 80% of endometriosis patients also have SIBO, I wanted to invite Dr. Ami onto the show to discuss how to identify and treat years disorders both alongside SIBO and alone. Dr Ami. Kapadia is a family medicine and integrative medicine physician, with a special inte

This episode is an IG Live I hopped on to answer your questions in endometriosis and navigating relationships with family and friends. In this Q&A I answer: How to have fun with friends again? Feels like endo always gets in the way. How to handle family not understanding how endo affects my life? How to explain it to those who don’t get how impactful it is? What to say or do when a friend questions if you’re really in pain when you say you can’t go out? Also, a few of the resources I mentioned in the live: Endometriosis UK Endometriosis NewsEndometriosis News @vickiewilliams_ Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo here. My cookbook This EndoLife, It Starts with Breakfast is out now! Get 28 anti-inflammatory, hormone friendly recipes for living and thriving with endometriosis. Order your copy here. If you feel like you need more support with managing endometriosis, you can join Your EndoLife Coaching Pr

This episode is another live Q&A from Instagram. I had a number of you ask me about the training I did to became an endo health coach and what training is generally required, so I decided to answer some of those questions live on Instagram. In this Q&A I talk about - What motivated me to become an endo health coach. The work experience I had to prepare me to coach. The certifications I took to qualify as a women’s health coach. The certifications I took to qualify in endometriosis specifically. The certifications I then went onto take for SIBO. My business model (what working with clients looks like on a week to week basis). My plans for the future (naturopathic doctor)! My struggles with perfectionism and workaholism during my training and start-up period. Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo here. My cookbook This EndoLife, It Starts with Breakfast is out now! Get 28 anti-inflammatory, hormone friendl

Okay today I want to now talk about something a little more unusual, and that’s Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and its possible connection to endometriosis.  Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome is a group of 13 conditions which all affect connective tissue (collagen) in the body. Most are rare, but one type called hypermobility EDS is common.  Because the intestines are made from soft tissue, EDS affects digestion and often causes IBS symptoms. It is a major risk factor for developing SIBO, because it slows down motility. If you have EDS and SIBO, you will be chronic - but you can still live well! And we’ll get to that in the bonus lesson with Dr Allison Siebecker.  And just to hammer this point home about the connection between EDS and IBS, one study of 228 IBS patients found 48% also had EDS. Now the reason why I want to bring EDS to your attention is because I am seeing it more and more in my clients with both endometriosis and SIBO. Despite these statistics, to my knowledge, most experts do not consider EDS and endometri

This episode is from a mini IG Live answering your questions about painful sex with endo (which turned out not to be mini, more like 40 mins). Here’s the three most common questions I answered: Is there anything that will make sex with endo eventually not painful/how do I fix it? I’ve tried everything but still get pain, is surgery the next option? How to navigate painful sex without killing the mood? In this IG Live I talk about inflammation, adhesions, having a hypertonic pelvic floor, pain science and share lots of tools, resources and books to help you on your way to having less pain (hopefully pain free) sex. I really hope you find this useful! Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo here. My cookbook This EndoLife, It Starts with Breakfast is out now! Get 28 anti-inflammatory, hormone friendly recipes for living and thriving with endometriosis. Order your copy here. If you feel like you need mor