Hope for Endo Warriors: How to work with your doctor if you have endometriosis

Endometriosis affects at least one in ten women. Many fight for years to get their debilitating pain acknowledged and for their doctor to provide a diagnosis from which they can get treatment.For the majority the treatment offered is either long-term use of hormonal birth control and painkillers, which hold side effects, or surgery, the success of which is generally short term. Endometriosis is highly recurring and women can struggle for their entire reproductive life with the disease.However, there is hope!

Flo Living offers an alternative means to manage and relieve symptoms by empowering Endo Warriors. The Flo Living protocol embodies the message of endometriosis awareness – “Fight like a girl!” – with a diet and lifestyle pattern that syncs with your cycle.If you feel you have endometriosis be sure to insist that your doctor provide you with a pelvic examination followed by an ultrasound and laparoscopic procedure, including a biopsy of the endometrial material. Ideally you would have the procedure done by a surgeon who specializes in endometriosis.It’s all about advocating for what you want and helping your doctor treat you the way you want to be treated. You can set the tone and pace of treatment, simply share your desires with your physician. The best doctors work with their patients! You can speed up the process of diagnosis and recovery by participating in your own health care.

When you return to receive the results ask your doctor these three questions:

1) What is the severity of the endometriosis?

This will help you determine if you need to go the route of surgery or if you have time to work on your diet.

2) Where is the endometriosis mainly overgrowing?

Important to know especially if you are trying to conceive and again will determine how quickly you might need to take surgical measures.

3) What other blood tests can we do to look more closely at my immune response? How about my level of inflammation and prostaglandins?

In my next blog post this week I’ll be sharing the underlying causes of endometriosis and the natural way to work yourself back to health. Knowing if you have elevated levels of C reactive protein, elevated levels of PgE2, low levels of D3, and changes in your blood chemistry can point to how systemic this issue truly is and how focusing solely on your uterus is not the right solution. You’ve got to feed your immune system to beat endo!As well as the drugs and surgery your doctor will then offer you as treatment, there is a natural approach that addresses the underlying reasons you have the endometriosis in the first place.As you well know by now reading my blog, drugs will only mask the issue for as long as you are willing to take them and your condition will return when you come off. Research has shown that using the birth control pill for a problem like endometriosis can actually exacerbate the condition long term due to the effects it generates on the body from disturbing the gut microbiome, depleting the body of B and other key vitamins crucial to hormonal health and fertility, and compromising the liver's ability to metabolize toxic estrogen efficiently. The surgical procedure offered does not guarantee the endometriosis will not return in time and the impact can be only short-term without further support in healing the body.Women are prescribed these treatments because the majority of gynecologists are not trained in functional medicine. So expect them to suggest either of those two options as a course of treatment.Since optimizing your hormonal function through food is a relatively new option, most doctors have little faith that patients can handle this in their daily lives. Even if they know about this new research, they might not suggest it.But FLO Living knows Endo Warriors fight like girls!The more natural approach I’m describing takes three to six months to address the root causes of your endometriosis with dietary and lifestyle changes. We at FLO know you can handle this.After that time you can return for further blood tests with your doctor and an evaluation of your success. Neither drugs nor surgery will prevent or cure endometriosis, but the empowering FLO protocol offers a long-term solution.