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Remember, this is educational information only and not medical advice (and I am not a doctor nor an expert on endometriosis). Always check with your qualified medical professional before making any changes to your treatment plan.
Full body approach
Apart from endometriosis being found in 11 different body systems, endometriosis can affect/cause symptoms throughout the entire body. Because endometriosis is a complex inflammatory condition that can affect the full body, it’s recommended that the patient work with a multidisciplinary team with excision at the cornerstone to address the disease from a full-body approach.
The endometriosis domino effect
At the Endometriosis Summit 2021, Dr Iris Orbuch (excision surgeon and co-author of the book Beating Endo: How to Reclaim Your Life from Endometriosis), gave a presentation about the endometriosis domino effect. The first domino is endometriosis, but as we go for years with untreated disease in our bodies, there are more cytokines and chronic inflammation, more structural changes pulling on our anatomy and fascia, more pain modulations, and more nerve fibers can go from endometriosis lesions to the central nervous system.
We may start with endometriosis, and over the years the dominoes fall and we then have multiple more diagnoses and symptoms because of endometriosis’s direct or indirect effects on the body. I myself now have SIBO, mast cell activation syndrome, fibromyalgia, interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome, and pelvic floor dysfunction. Not to mention the impact that having endometriosis and any other co-conditions has on our mental health!
What does this mean for us? That even if we are fortunate enough to have excision surgery to remove endometriosis lesions at the root, we may still need to identify and address co-conditions and other pain generators to see more relief. Conversely, even if we can’t have excision surgery at this time, we still may be able to manage/diminish our symptoms, or improve our overall quality of life, by addressing various aspects of our health.
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