Despite what you might have heard or read, it is inflammation, not hormones, that underpin your Endometriosis symptoms and the progression of the disease. Hormones do play a role, and I’ll write a separate article about that, but they’re not the driving force.

And there is good, bad and ugly news about this inflammation.

Let’s start with the ugly (so we can end with the good, and there definitely is good news!). The ugly news is that Endometriosis is an inflammatory disease and that you have chronic, systemic inflammation. All your organs and tissues are in a constant state of inflammation. This inflammation is the ‘engine’ behind the severity of your symptoms and the progression of your disease.

So what is the bad news?

The inflammation is caused by problem with your immune system and your digestive system. When your immune system is triggered, one of the mechanisms it uses is inflammation. It produces specific pro-inflammatory cells, and unfortunately, women with Endometriosis produce an abundance of these pro-inflammatory cells. The immune system also produces cells that remove whatever pathogens or cells that triggered the immune response in the first place. And guess what? Your immune system does produce them, but they don’t function very well. So the result is this chronic, systemic inflammation.

But how is your immune system triggered? Well, that’s where your gut comes in. You very likely have leaky gut (or gut hyperpermeability), which causes undigested food particles to get through the gut wall into the blood stream. These particles are not meant to be there, and your immune system is triggered to fight these invaders.

We also know that the microbiome of women with Endometriosis is out of balance. You have too many of the bad bacteria and not enough of the good ones. The good bacteria play a very important role in moderating the immune response. And the bad bacteria produce chemicals, or endotoxins, that trigger the immune system.

And now for the good news!

There is so much you can do with nutrition to improve your gut and reduce your immune response, which then reduces inflammation.

The first focus is on healing your gut, and a key strategy is to find out what foods you are intolerant to and remove those from your diet.

The second focus is on improving your gut microbiome, to make sure you have not only a lot of good bacteria, but also a wide variety of different bacteria.

Keep an eye on the next few blog articles. I will go into more detail about your immune system and will also take a closer look at leaky gut.

Are you wondering if your diet contains foods and drinks that increase your inflammation? I have a free report for you “5 Things you Eat and Drink that Make your Endometriosis Symptoms Worse”. You can download it here: https://www.subscribepage.com/5thingsyoueatanddrink