I have so many clients who come to me because they have Endometriosis but also have other health concerns, such as thyroid disease, multiple sclerosis, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), asthma, dermatitis and varies allergies. Many of these other health concerns are auto immune diseases, or have some connection to the immune system.

Endometriosis is not officially classified as an auto-immune disease, but it does have some elements of it. One of the interesting findings is that women with Endometriosis have endometrial auto antibodies. Antibodies are memory cells that have been ‘trained’ by the immune system to recognise specific pathogens, usually viruses or bacteria. Auto antibodies are immune cells that, for some reason, have decided that certain cells or tissues in the body are a threat. The endometrial auto antibodies are able to recognise endometrial tissue and when they do (which is often of course, because you have lots of endometrial tissue) the immune system is triggered.

But why would I want to know about any other health concerns you may have?

As a natural health practitioner, I look at the whole person. And when I help you create a diet that is right for you, I need to take into consideration what else is going on, health-wise.

Because if I don’t, and I just give you recommendations for your Endometriosis, I may make another health concerns worse. And that’s the last thing we want to do!

I’ve had a few clients who also had multiple sclerosis (MS), for example. Now, many women with Endometriosis are iron deficient, and if I didn’t know they also had MS, I would recommend they eat red meat twice a week, to make sure they get the iron they need. But red meat is not a good food if you have MS.

Thyroid issues are another example, where I would have to be careful what I recommend around eating brassicas.

And there’s another reason why I think it is much better to focus on your whole health, instead of just your Endometriosis when we create your diet. Let’s be honest, changing your diet is hard. My thinking is that if you are going to put the effort in to change your diet, we might as well try to find one that helps you with all your health concerns, instead of making changes for Endometriosis, and the further down the track tweak it further to deal with your PCOS, or your asthma, or your dermatitis, etc.

And sometimes that means I have to do a lot of research to learn more about the nutritional elements of a disease I’d never heard about before. Which I love!

So, if you have Endometriosis and/or Adenomyosis and also other health concerns and you’d like to have a chat about what we might be able to do with nutrition to make you feel better, just book a free 30-minute Endometriosis SOS Call.