This Endolife

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

This week’s episode is a snippet from my upcoming course, The Endo Belly Course. I realised when creating this lesson, that this information is info everyone should know, not just my students! So today’s episode is all about what’s a ‘normal’ and healthy gut vs. what is the endo belly? So first up, I wanted to actually talk about what the endo belly is. The ‘endo belly’ is not actually a medical term, but instead is a name the community has coined in reference to the severe bloating we often experience. So, there isn’t technically a set definition, but it is generally thought to be severe bloating/swelling that tends to be attributed to endometriosis and is sometimes accompanied by pain. Some experts, articles and endo patients also include gut problems within this term too, but not always. My definition, from my training and from seeing so many clients with these symptoms is that the endo belly is exaggerated/severe bloating, often accompanied by gut symptoms, pain or discomfort - but it is not always cau

This episode is a quick IG Live to answer your questions about endo belly and The Endo Belly Course! If you missed the live and you still have questions, please feel free to just DM me or drop me an email. Doors close on The Endo Belly Course at 10pm tonight and won’t reopen until next fall (2022). We already have a lovely group of 50 and I would love to welcome you if you feel this could help you. In this live, I answer... What to eat to prep for a coeliac disease test. Whether you can do The Endo Belly Course when taking NSAIDs (because they can damage the gut). Whether you can do the course when on hormonal birth control (again, hormonal birth control affects the gut). If the course is suitable for those just out of surgery or about to have surgery. If you need a SIBO diagnosis to do the course (no!). How long you have to complete the modules and action steps. How The Endo Belly Course differs from Live and Thrive with Endo and my one-to-one coaching. Please feel free to post any other questions in the

Today on the show I am talking about one of the possible root causes of your endo belly – coeliac disease. Now, before you turn this podcast off because you think you don’t react to gluten, I am literally begging you to listen.  I have noticed a trend in my clients to dismiss coeliac disease as a possibility, because they don’t have immediate reactions after gluten. But – here’s the thing, the reactions from gluten are not always obvious and they don’t always happen straight away.  So, if you’re bloated all the time, tired all the time, maybe you have diarrhoea regularly or gas, or constipation, or maybe you don’t have any gut symptoms at all – but you have brain fog, fatigue and achy joints, then it may be down to coeliac disease.  And these symptoms don’t just have to occur after straight after gluten. In fact, according to the Food Allergy Research and Resource Program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, coeliac disease is a “delayed hypersensitivity reaction where symptoms develop 48-72 hours after

Happy Monday everyone! As I mentioned, today is another live Q&A style episode, with Friday’s episode being one of my regular recorded episodes. This is a nice, short Q&A but I many of those who watched really appreciated the questions and found the answers useful! So hopefully, there’s something in this episode for you too! In this episode I answered… How do you test for SIBO and what do you ask for? Advice on exercising with diaphragmatic endometriosis? Can you get rid of scar tissue/adhesions with other methods other than more surgery (short answer: YES!) I really hope this short Q&A was helpful and gives you guys some info/inspiration for your own healing journey. Listen and subscribe on your favourite player or listen directly/download MP3 here or just listen below! 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 Belly Healing Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo here. My cookbook

Today is another live Q&A from back in June, as due to being unwell and the passing of our cat, I have been unable to complete the planned episode for this week. But, this Q&A is chock full of the foundations of eating for endo, so I hope you find it useful. In this Q&A on nutrition for endometriosis, I cover… The research behind the anti-inflammatory diets and the most researched diets for pain. The key components of an anti-inflammatory diet. Why personalisation is so important. Deficiencies, absorption of nutrients and how to ensure variation. How to eat for blood sugar balance. I also answer some specific SIBO, gut questions and foodie questions. I really hope you find this episode helpful and it gives you some starters to support you with your own tailored endometriosis diet.  Listen and subscribe on your favourite player or listen directly/download MP3 here or just listen below! Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free

  This episode is another live Q&A and I managed to convince Chris (who hates public speaking, IG lives, etc.) to help me answer your questions about relationships and endo. I had so many questions submitted in the end that we answered the ones that were sort of directed to Chris and I/about romantic relationships and I’ll answer the remaining in another live soon! So in this Q&A we answer... Advice to a partner on how to support you when they say they feel “helpless”. Is Chris into holistic/naturopathic health and does he find what I do interesting. Suggestions for helping a partner understand endo. How to have fun with your partner again when endo gets in the way. Just to give a little bit of context, Chris and I have been together almost 8 years, and have been friends for I think 11 or years! He was my friend when I was first diagnosed with endo and we were literally a month into our relationship when my endo symptoms returned. We have a joint column together on Endometriosis Net and Chris has al

 So last week I did an episode on adhesion formation post-surgery and how that can affect or literally cause endo belly – and you guys loved it! And I’m glad that you did, because I had another linked episode to follow up with, a part two in a way… So today, aside from adhesions, I am talking about the ways in which endo surgery could have worsened or even caused your endo belly. Now of course, adhesions are included in that, but they’re a big topic hence the separate episode, so I encourage you to listen to that if you haven’t done so already! So, let’s dive in… 1)   Number one is constipation. The medications, like pain relief and some of the other medications they may use in surgery,  can be a cause of constipation following your laparoscopy. Even just having to water fast and not eat anything before surgery, can cause constipation.  There’s also the possibility that if you don’t feel like eating much post-surgery, or you’re stressed from surgery, your gut feels sore after surgery or you suddenly eat

Today’s episode is another bonus Q&A and this time it was more light-hearted and fun. This time I’m talking about endometriosis and the associated skin conditions, and I’m also sharing endo friendly skin care tips! In this episode I talk about... My personal experience with rosacea and eczema and how I healed those after over a decade of suffering with them. How treating SIBO improved my skin in so many ways but also dehydrated it and caused some surprising skin issues! My skin care routine, favourite products and gua sha technique that are all endometriosis friendly. The link between endometriosis, histamines and eczema. The link between SIBO and rosacea. Cystic acne, endometriosis and oestrogen and how to begin healing acne. Endocrine disrupting chemicals in skincare and how they affect endometriosis. I hope this Q&A is both fun and helpful! Listen and subscribe on your favourite player or listen directly/download MP3 here or just listen below! Let's get social! Come say h

So, you’ve had an endometriosis surgery and you’re really hopeful that’s this is it – you’re going to have some relief, for a while at the least. Maybe your periods are better, your chronic pelvis pain is better, things are improving. But after a few months, the endo belly comes back. Or maybe you get it for the first time ever. You’re bloated all the time or maybe you bloat badly after meals, or maybe it gets worse over the day? Perhaps it’s also accompanied by IBS issues like constipation, gas, or loose stools. If any of this sounds familiar, this episode is for you. Whilst surgery is essential for many people, it doesn’t come without its risks. And I honestly feel like it’s a disservice that these aren’t more talked about. So today, I’m talking about why you may get endo belly for the first time, a return of it or a worsening of it as a result of adhesions, and what you can do to prevent them.  If you haven’t heard me bang on about these guys before, adhesions are a form of scar tissue. They are web-li

This episode is another endo Q&A and in this live I answer: Will endo get worse or stay the same? My personal experience with mould and how it affected my endo co-conditions. Will endo continue to cause issues even if you’re not having pain? Tips for managing the kind of pain flare that leaves you on the floor. Post-period pelvic pain and what to do about it. ...And more! I really hope you find this live helpful! We covered A LOT of super interesting topics in this one. Listen and subscribe on your favourite player or listen directly/download MP3 here or just listen below! Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free Endo Belly Challenge here. To become a The Endo Belly Course Founding Member, email me at hello@thisendolife.com with ‘Yes’ in the subject line. 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,

Okay, so a number of you have reached out to ask me whether I’m going to talk about my next steps for SIFO treatment, which I wasn’t originally going to do as I have an expert in mind to invite onto the show, but as a number of you asked, I hope that sharing my story will be somewhat helpful for you!  So, unlike with SIBO where I had quite a long-term plan in mind, this I am more so feeling out my journey because as I discussed in my previous update, I’m not 100% sure if the issue is gut dysbiosis or SIFO. So, to recap, let’s start with what SIFO is. SIFO stands for small intestine fungal overgrowth and it’s when fungus like yeast (or other fungi) grow in the small intestine. We do have some normal, non-harmful levels of fungus and yeast in the large intestine, but they become a problem either when they overgrow or when they’re found I the small intestine.  Unfortunately, the symptoms of SIFO are exactly the same as SIBO, so it can be very tricky to identify between the two. What makes it harder is that te

Today is another recording from an Instagram live I did - this time all about endometriosis and chronic fatigue. In this episode, I discuss - Why does it happen? Covering the link between endo/chronic pelvic pain/chronic pain conditions and low cortisol, inflammation and mitochondria dysfunction, gut health issues and nutrient malabsorption, hormone imbalances and blood sugar dysregulation. Whether fatigue will fatigue get worse the longer you live with endo. Why fatigue might be worse after your period. Whether fatigue is still common after excision surgery. What’s the best/quickest way to get iron levels up. I really hope you find this episode useful! Let's get social! Come say hello on Instagram or sign up to my newsletter. Sign up to my free Endo Belly Challenge here. To become a The Endo Belly Course Founding Member, email me at hello@thisendolife.com with ‘Yes’ in the subject line. Sign up to the wait list for my course, Live and Thrive with Endo here. My cookbook This EndoLife, It Starts w

A few weeks ago, I shared an episode on addressing low moods in your luteal phase (that’s your premenstrual phase, which occurs after ovulation and lasts around two weeks), and I started with low blood sugar. In this episode, I want to talk about the other common issue which can cause low moods at this time of your cycle, and that’s low progesterone. I was originally going to also talk about low neurotransmitters as well, but actually just low progesterone alone has so many parts to it (and I didn’t even touch upon them all!) that I think it would be good to separate this theme into three episodes, so one on blood sugar, one on low progesterone and one on low neurotransmitters. That way, you can work on an area and observe the difference, rather than trying to address all the issues at once, when some of them may not even be relevant to you.  If you haven’t listened to my previous episode, then I really strongly suggest you start there and begin balancing your blood sugar first, because you may not even nee

For the next few weeks I’m experimenting with something new - two episodes a week! I’ll be releasing my usual podcast episode and a live Q&A recording, so anyone who doesn’t follow me on Instagram can tune in there. I want to see how you guys like this format and then if it’s something that is working well, we’ll keep to two a week for the most part. As a result of this new change, this week’s first episode is a recording of my SIBO live Q&A. Small intestine bacterial overgrowth in our community is a big, big deal. Current research has shown that possibly 80% of us with endo have SIBO, and having SIBO may even be a risk factor for developing endo in the first place... BUT having endo can also cause SIBO so it’s a real chicken or the egg scenario. In this Q&A I break down: The stats behind SIBO and IBS with endo The treatments for SIBO: antimicrobials, antibiotics or the elemental diet. Why you can’t just treat it with one round of over the counter herbs (there are specific time frames and quanti

Okay, this is a bold statement but… this is my most favourite This EndoLife episode ever. You all know I’ve been fascinated with the world of chronic pain science for a long time now. In fact, I did an episode on lowering pain signals through calming the brain and nervous system back in 2019 but I’ve been on a continuously evolving research journey since. And this research has led me to Curable, an app for chronic pain, that works by helping to reprogram the brain and nervous system so we can unlearn pain pathways and reduce chronic pain flare ups. I absolutely love Curable, and use it with my clients to help them to address the ways in which trauma, stress and a heightened nervous system could be contributing to their pain levels. Often I find it’s the missing piece of the puzzle in someone’s endo healing journey. So I am so excited to introduce you to this week’s guest, social worker and psychotherapist Christie Uipi. Christie is on the Scientific Advisory Team at Curable, and is specialised in chronic pa

This week’s episode is a good one! Today I am talking to Dr. Brianne Grogan. Dr. Bri is a pelvic floor physiotherapist who helps people to recover from pelvic floor dysfunction, pelvic pain, bladder and bowel dysfunction and pelvic floor injuries through her online programmes and free resources (like YouTube)! She is the author of Lady Bits: Understand Your Body, Elevate Your Health, and Reclaim Your Spark Naturally, the founder of FemFusion and Vibrant Pelvic Health and is the podcast host of Dr.Bri Talks Lady Bits. I was so excited to have Dr Bri on the show because I get so many questions about how to work out safely with endo - lots of you want to move your bodies, but you're scared of making the pain worse or doing damage! Many of you have also expressed that you have fitness goals and that you’re fed up of just doing yoga or stretching exercises, so I really wanted to talk to someone who actually creates workout videos and who could speak to these issues. In this episode we discuss: Which types of

Okay so a while ago I ran a poll about PMS and endo, and I wanted to know what symptoms you struggle with. Turns out, the majority of you get low moods during your luteal phase. In fact, out of the hundreds of you who entered the poll, 93% of you said you struggle with low moods and mood swings during your luteal phase. So today’s episode is the first in a two part series. Today I’m going to take you through one of the key causes of PMS mood swings and I’m going to provide you with my go-to strategy for starting to tackle it, and then in the second episode, I’ll be taking you through the secondary causes and strategies.   So number one, where we’re starting, is to balance your blood sugar, and truly, this is one of the most important things you can do if you want to improve your moods during this time, lower inflammation and balance your hormones. This is really key and this is why I’m starting here. If you’ve got your blood sugar sorted, then clearly this isn’t your main cause and the next two causes in th

Today’s episode is a SIBO update from me… and it’s an exciting one! I FINALLY have a negative test - or is it? Yes, nothing in my treatment journey has been straight forward so far and apparently, that’s not going to change any time soon! In today’s episode, I share: My experience on the second round of the elemental diet and why I LOVED it! My struggles with the low histamine bi-phasic diet and what finally got me on track. My experience on antibiotics for SIBO (rifaximin, metronidazole and neomycin) and the not so great response from my immune system. The symptoms that got better - and the symptoms that got worse, despite a negative test result. The dilemma as to whether my SIBO test results are negative or a hydrogen sulphide flat line. Why I think I may have small intestine fungal overgrowth and what my next steps are with testing and treating. My prevention of relapse strategies including supplements, hypnotherapy, vagus nerve healing and more! This is a LONG episode but