Self-Care for Endometriosis

When our bodies are out of balance, the first place this show up is in our menstrual cycle, and endometriosis is one way for our bodies to demonstrate this.  The below tips may seem like a lot, but I would say to take your time as you change things.  It takes time to make significant changes in our lives!  The women I work with find my support as they integrate these transitions into their invaluable.  It’s important to know you won’t be be able to do all of this right away, nor 100% of the time.  What’s important is consistently doing our best.  I’d suggest making one change, and when you’re settled with that, move onto the next. 

Charting Your Cycle

I suggest using a paper diary to do this, so you can chart what is happening for you each day.  Include information such as feelings / emotions, physical symptoms (eg breast / womb tenderness, cramping), your flow, your skin (eg are you spotty / blotchy).  The more detail you can add, the bigger the picture you will build of what’s happening for you throughout your cycle - and you can see where changes occur for you.  I always suggest doing this for a minimum of 3 months to build a picture.

Talk About Your Cycle

It’s only by talking about your symptoms and how they affect you that those around you can understand and offer support to you.  The only way we can get our needs met is by sharing with others what’s happening for you - our families are (sadly) not mind readers!  I live with my partner and our son.  They both have a good idea of where I am in my cycle because of how I talk about what’s happening for me day to day.  I always let them know when my period is on it’s way so they know to put less pressure on me, to allow me more space and when I have my period they know I want to meditate, journal and have early nights.  It may feel weird at first being so open about things, but the more you do it - the easier it gets.  Likewise with your employer.  Be open about what is happening for you.  What steps can be taken to make things easier for you.

Switch Tampons / Sanitary Towels

Most disposable products on the market contain chemicals that disrupt and impact our natural hormones, and even disrupt our vaginal bacterias!  Ideally you want to switch to reusable products such as menstrual cups (eg Moon Cup) or period pants (I personally LOVE Wukka - you want to avoid ones that contain plastics).  If you do need to use disposable products, as awareness grows there are more female friendly disposable products coming onto the market (eg Natracare, TOTM, FLO).

Ditch the Junk Food

Processed foods and those that cause inflammation need to be omitted from your diet.  Foods such as sugar, gluten, soy.  These need to be replaced with organic whole foods, and plenty of veggies.  You may also wish to introduce seed cycling, and foods that are anti-inflamatory (I make a golden milk each that is amazing for supporting my body and includes cinnamon, ginger and turmeric as well as a few other ingredients).  It can be SO hard to find the time to cook from scratch everyday, so I then to cook foods in double portions so I can freeze half for a day where I may not have time.  Bolognaise, curry, stew.  My other go to quick dinner is an omlette with LOADS of veggies in it.  Yum!

What are You Putting on Your body?

It’s not just what we put into our bodies that matters, it’s what we put on it too.  So many of the products in our homes (both beauty products and those we clean with) can contain harmful ingredients that mimic the estrogen in our bodies.  This can lead to a build up of estrogen over time, which causes imbalance in our hormones and thus leads to problems within our cycles!  It’s important to reduce exposure to toxins by switching to more natural products and adopting a more green cleaning routine.

Mizan Massage

There are many traditional medicine systems that include abdominal massage.  Especially for women.  Supporting not only their bodies not only through pregnancy and the post-natal period, but throughout our lives.  I actually arrived at Mizan to help me to overcome my own menstrual health issues - it’s magic and though I wish I’d found it sooner, it has brought me to the work of supporting women in reclaiming their menstrual and reproductive health.  Mizan is an arabic word that means “balance”, and the massage aims to improve the flow of energy within the body, including blood and lymph - this helps to restore balance so our bodies can heal themselves.

I firmly believe that my role as your Mizan Therapist is to support you in finding balance within your body, so your body may heal.  

Feel free to get in touch if you’d like to arrange a free 15 minute telephone consultation with me.