This Endolife

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

As some of you know, I’ve been a bit sick recently with suspected shingles! As a result, I am just in too much pain to sit and record an episode, so today I am sharing another healing story. This time, I’m chatting to Neisha. I wanted to share Neisha’s experience because I think her story will resonate with many of you because she just discusses so many relevant topics. Neisha started my course Live and Thrive with Endo on the pill (though she didn’t want to be on it and didn’t feel well with it), severe period pain, low moods, fatigue and severe allergy reactions. Working through the course she now feels well pretty much all of the time, her allergies and hay fever have disappeared, she has tonnes of energy, she has transitioned off the pill and she has better moods and feels empowered about managing endo. Before we dive in I wanted to just let you know that this chat with Neisha was originally recorded as a testimonial for the course, but the course is closed now and won’t be open again until next year -

Just a short announcement to say there isn't an episode today as I am taking a break from the podcast this week, to welcome my new course students and spend time settling them in! I'll be back next week with a new episode. 

Before I get started I just want to remind you that my course Live and Thrive with Endo is open for enrolment. In this 8-week course, you will transform the way you manage endometriosis and learn the tools and strategies for reducing your symptoms naturally so you can thrive with endo and get your life back. This course is a step-by-step outline of my exact one-to-one coaching programme; a road map for reducing pain, bloating, fatigue and brain fog (not to mention all the other symptoms!). It is the most comprehensive and clear resource I offer, other than working with me directly... And today I just wanted to let you know that I’ve added my SIBO bonus module to the course and you’ll receive this when you sign up before Tuesday midnight BST.  Classic signs of SIBO include:  Bloating Constipation Abdominal pain and cramping Diarrhea Inflammation Nause Vomiting And current research is indicating SIBO prevalence in the endo community at 80%, so it’s really worth investigating.

Today we’re doing something a little different. For the past few weeks I’ve been recording testimonial videos with people who have taken my course, and I really wanted to share some of these stories because they’re just so incredible. I know a lot of you expressed an interest in hearing more positive and uplifting real life experiences with managing endo, and as I personally found these stories so inspiring, I thought you guys might as well.  So I’m starting with Rachael’s story and I’ll leave Rachael to share her experience in the podcast, but to give you an overview, Rachael was suffering with PMDD, chronic fatigue that was affecting her ability to work and painful (endo) periods which required her to use opioids to get through. She’d recently had excision surgery but was still suffering with an array of symptoms and was feeling desperate and didn’t know what else to try. Once Rachael started the course, through making nutritional and lifestyle changes, Rachael was able to: Stop using opioids to get he

So, now you’ve learnt all about the link between HPA axis dysfunction and endometriosis, in today’s episode I want to provide you with some of the core foundational strategies for healing HPA axis dysfunction.  Before I dive in, I do want to state that healing HPA axis dysfunction can take some time, especially if you’re prone to living in the flight or fight response – so what I mean is, you’re default mode is feeling stressed, or anxious, or you spend a lot of time rushing around or over-committing yourself to endless to-do lists. If this sounds like you, don’t worry, that’s me too, and it’s many of my clients and for those of us who are like that, it can take some deep unlearning of these patterns before we can really get to see significant improvement. We can certainly feel better, and many do, but I think to really thrive and not keep returning to this cycle of low cortisol burnout, we need to change some of these habits. So, for example, one of my clients loves to work and runs her own business like I

Today’s episode is all about probiotics which are suitable for SIBO and endo related IBS. Now of course, this is a huge topic and there are so many different probiotics out there, which can often just get confusing and overwhelming, so with this podcast my intention is for it to be succinct and easy to digest, with a smaller array of probiotics to start exploring on your initial steps to gut healing.  Unfortunately, I think over the years probiotics have been a little misunderstood, and of course, we’re still learning so much about the gut microbiome (which is the good gut bugs found in our large intestine) that this area of research is still developing.  But regardless, what often happens is that we’re led to believe that we should just take a broad-spectrum probiotic, meaning it has lots of different strains in it – and that we should take this if we have gut health issues, and that will sort the problem out. Unfortunately, that’s really not always the case and for our community, I would exercise caution

Okay so today I’m talking about hypothalamic pituitary adrenal dysfunction. A mouthful, I know and for ease, it’s called HPA axis dysfunction. If you haven’t heard of HPA axis dysfunction, you may be more familiar with the term ‘adrenal fatigue’. And yes, if you’re thinking adrenal fatigue was sort of debunked as not being real, you’d be correct, but HPA axis dysfunction is very, very real and there is a huge wealth of research and evidence behind it. Adrenal fatigue was essentially an attempt to describe what is happening with HPA axis dysfunction but it oversimplified the process and made it seem like the adrenals sort of ‘ran out’ of energy, which isn’t the what happens and misses a big part of the story.  I imagine, originally, when the term was coined, it did come with the full explanation of HPA axis dysfunction, but eventually through the spread of social media, it perhaps lost that meaning. But anyway, the bottom line is HPA axis dysfunction is real, and it’s incredibly prevalent within the endometr

So last week I took you guys through the ways in which inflammation, gut health and hormone levels can increase bloating in the lead up to your period. This week I want to give you some tools to actually alleviate that bloating, now you know why it’s happening. I’m going to give you two types of tools, one set to deal with in the moment of bloating and another set for which are long-term strategies to help you to address the root cause.  So, let’s start with the tools you can use in the moment. Many of these tools I’m about to share are based on my training with world leading SIBO doctor, Dr Allison Siebecker. I’m using her doses, which are safe and effective and if you’d like a reference for these doses, they are actually available on her website, under handouts, in a handout called Symptomatic Relief Guide. So these doses are available publicly, you don’t need a prescription for them, but always consult your doctor before starting new supplements.    1.  Number one is using a prokinetic. A prokinetic is

Transcript: Recently I polled my Instagram to find out just how many of you are suffering with PMS on top of your endo symptoms and the results were pretty staggering! Unfortunately, Instagram didn’t keep the number of votes so I don’t know how many people actually took part in this pole, but the percentage of people who did and who suffer PMS was 86%.  I know from past experience that the week leading up to your period and the week of your period, can often be when endo really rears its head for a lot of us, so adding PMS symptoms as well is of course not what we want! I went on to poll your symptoms specifically and there was not one symptom that fell beneath the 50% mark, with most of them being around 70-90%, so you guys are dealing with a lot of symptoms. I was originally going to do one podcast episode dedicated to PMS and endo, but after I saw these stats, I felt like it really would be too much to take on in one show and that some of these symptoms that you guys really scored high on deserve more f

As some of you may know, I’m doing a lot of work at present to free up my pelvic area from adhesions and tightness caused by pulled fascia and a tight pelvic floor, which in physio speak is a hypertonic pelvic floor. So I thought  this would be a great time to talk about some strategies you can bring into your daily life to help loosen adhesions and a frozen pelvis. Transcript: I’ve talked about adhesions and fascia before, but let’s do a quick recap of what adhesions and fascia are.  So fascia is a thin sheet of tissue made from collagen that sits beneath your skin and holds your organs and muscles in place. It also surrounds all the organs, nerves, blood vessels, etc. Fascia surrounding the body is like a bed sheet, if you pinch it or one end, the rest will wrinkle. So what can happen when we’ve had surgery is that these incisions create puckering and scarring in the fascia, which ends up tightening the fascia and pulling it in other directions. Fascia can also become distorted from inflammation, injur

If you have bloating or what’s commonly known as the endo belly - SIBO is something to pay attention to. Small intestine bacterial overgrowth is incredibly common within the endometriosis community, in fact, recent research has shown that up to 80% of endometriosis patients may have SIBO. So how can you treat it if you test positive? One of the treatment options is the elemental diet, and today’s episode is all about my experience of the elemental diet for SIBO. Those of you who are following my SIBO journey may know that I’ve already completed three rounds of antimicrobials, to find out how that went, have a listen to episode 126 - My SIBO Treatment: An Update. After three rounds my hydrogen was at 63ppm and my methane levels were at 10ppm, given that the elemental diet reduces gas levels by 70ppm on average, this seemed like a good time to try the elemental diet and potentially clear my SIBO in one final round. So what is the elemental diet? The elemental diet is a powdered (sometimes liquid) formula tha

As you guys know, endo is a full body disease which causes a host of symptoms throughout the body and also often comes with co-conditions that trigger these symptoms, heighten them or add new ones. IBS issues are a problem for many people with endo and it’s important to address these, not by masking but by getting to the root causes. The reason why getting to the root cause is so important is because gut inflammation is a key cause of pelvic pain and could even contribute to the continued growth of endo. Seventy percent of your immune system is in and around your gut and inflammation is simply a normal immune response. Inflammatory immune cells are released in response to injury, infection, bacteria or some kind of threat and these inflammatory cells cause swelling, pain and heat as they get to work on healing the area. Now leaky gut or intestinal permeability occurs when tiny holes appear in the gut lining. Think of the gut lining as a sausage skin, it’s a tube from the mouth to the colon that seperates w

Do you have endometriosis and struggle with the ‘endo belly’? Do you have fatigue and brain fog? Maybe you have other unusual symptoms like swelling or puffiness, rashes or skin conditions like eczema or rosacea. If any of these sound familiar, you may not just be dealing with endo alone. I’ve only ever done one other client story, but judging by the number of downloads, you guys found it helpful so I thought I’d share another! This is Sophie’s story of treating SIBO, candida and histamine intolerance whilst living with endo. I wanted to share Sophie’s story because her case is complex and her healing path hasn’t been easy or linear, and so for those of you who are struggling right now or feel overwhelmed by the idea of taking on SIBO, I think you’ll find Sophie’s experience, her hope, her patience and her perseverance inspiring. Sophie came to me due to her painful sex symptoms, bloating and histamine reactions. We quickly discussed that severe SIBO was at the root of most of her issues (the painful sex we

This week I caught up with the wonderful Jessica Murnane, talking about her new book, Know Your Endo, which is out now. If you didn’t manage to catch the IG Live, you can listen to our interview here, where we talk about: How she found writing a book about endo - in the middle of COVID! How to prioritise your health with endo without feeling guilty or overwhelmed. Defining what your ‘best’ is with endo and how to walk the line between accepting that some symptoms may not fully resolve (but can be reduced) whilst also recognising when there is a deep root cause to be investigated. How she celebrates her progress with endo and practices self-compassion. Her key tools for managing endo including knowing your endo, stress management, good food, movement and changing our body/home products for more endo friendly versions. Navigating relationships, having friends with endo and looking after yourself in community spaces. How to be an advocate for endo without the burn out! Jessica’s ne

Excruciating pain, heavy bleeding, nausea and vomiting are all symptoms many of my clients first come to me with. Whilst I first and foremost use nutrition and lifestyle changes to help my clients resolve their endo symptoms, there are also supplements that have been shown to specifically lower premenstrual and menstrual problems such as pain and nausea, and I use a selection of these when necessary with my clients. I’ve seen so much success with these supplements that I included them in the supplement module of my course, Live and Thrive with Endo. In today’s episode I’m sharing another clip from this module, this time focusing on the supplements that help to relieve these specific symptoms. Last week I shared the supplements shown to target endo and some of those supplements have also been shown to alleviate dysmenorrhea and other menstrual issues too, so I would definitely listen to both of these episodes. Also, I want to make it clear that I believe in using diet and lifestyle changes to manage endomet

As many of you may know, I’ve been busy delivery my course, Live and Thrive with Endo, which has just finished! As part of the course, I created a bonus module all about supplements for endometriosis, pain, inflammation and hormones. In my book This EndoLife: It Starts with Breakfast I actually go into supplements that have been shown to target endometriosis, but in this module, I dive even deeper. For those of you who are in need of some extra support with your symptoms or who are curious about the evidence behind supplementing for endo, I wanted to share a part of this module, specifically, the supplements which has been shown to directly target endometriosis and reduce its symptoms, severity and growth rate. Also, I want to make it clear that I believe in using diet and lifestyle changes to manage endometriosis, and getting to the root cause(s) of our symptoms. I usually use supplements later in my coaching with clients, to allow them to experience changes in their symptoms from an anti-inflammatory diet

You’re doing everything ‘right’ yet you’re still having flare ups. Does this sound like you? If so, I think you’ll find this mini episode helpful! Today’s episode is another special episode from my live Q&A calls with my Live and Thrive with Endo Course coaching group. The questions they’ve been asking have been amazing and I know will resonate with many of you, so I decided to share some of my answers to some of the most frequently asked questions. In this episode I’m answering the question ‘Why am I still getting flare ups when I’ve made so many changes to my diet? How much of an impact does diet really have?’ In this episode I discuss: Why we generally begin with diet changes How we can be eating anti-inflammatory foods but still triggering inflammation with imbalanced blood sugar How stress can impact pain signals How infections and gut health can worsen inflammation in the body Why it’s important to explore pelvic floor health and adhesions when healing endo Other factors to

Is constipation a symptom of endo? Is it more common within the endo community? Why does it happen? What can we do about it? Constipation is something that I see with a lot of my clients and is something that Registered Dietitian and Master of Applied Nutrition Cindy Dabrowska sees too! In fact, if a client is struggling with constipation, this is one of the first areas that Cindy addresses because good gut health is crucial to healing with endo. As part of Endometriosis Awareness Month Cindy and I took to Instagram Live to discuss this common gut health issue within the endo community and I decided to share it here as well because it’s such an important conversation! In this episode we discuss: Why constipation occurs so often within the endo population and how it can affect endo healing. The key causes of constipation that Cindy and I commonly see. Simple strategies you can begin to try at home to begin alleviating constipation and improving gut health. Some of her favourite supplements an

This week as part of my IG Live series for Endo Awareness Month I chatted with my friend and colleague Tara Ghosh to learn all about the benefits of Arvigo Therapy for endometriosis, bloating, constipation, adhesions and SIBO. Tara is a wonderful Arvigo Therapist and wellness consultant dedicated to supporting people with periods to improve their health through accessible and simple at-home strategies. In this conversation we discuss... The origins of Arvigo Therapy. How Arvigo Therapy works and how it benefits the body. How and why Arvigo Therapy can help with endometriosis pain. How Arvigo therapy can help you reduce IBS and SIBO symptoms that often accompany endo such as bloating, constipation and nausea. How Arvigo Therapy differs from visceral manipulation and whether Arvigo massage can help with adhesions or a ‘frozen pelvis’ How to work with Tara and learn Arvigo Therapy to practice at home! I really hope you enjoy this conversation and find it as fascinating as I did! Lis