Non-Surgical Management Options

Para leerlo en español, clic aquí.

Remember, the information on my website, podcast, Instagram, and any other ways I communicate and/or produce content is educational information only and not medical advice. Always check with your qualified medical professional before making any changes to your treatment plan for endometriosis or any other health problems. See my full disclaimer here.

Your medical professional’s knowledge

The treatment recommendations a person receives for endometriosis typically depends on your medical professional’s skills, experience, and knowledge, so when looking for an endometriosis specialist, it’s important to understand endometriosis and know about the different treatments so you can make an informed decision on your care. Your medical professional may not be able to offer you all the tools available to manage endometriosis, as some may be outside of their scope of practice (example: surgery is a tool but they are not surgeons), and/or they may not be aware of all the tools available.

There is no one right treatment or management option for everyone

Since endometriosis is a chronic, full body illness, many people find that to improve quality of life, this often includes addressing their diet, lifestyle, sleep, pelvic floor, hormonal health, gut health, mental health, thought patterns, and more. For some people, one or a combo of these may be enough to improve symptoms. Others find relief with hormonal suppression. Others find they don’t have sustained relief until they have excision surgery (often in combo with these other full body factors). It’s truly individual.

How we treat or manage our endometriosiss may change over time as well, depending on what we can access, if our symptoms worsen or improve, if our goals change, if we get new co-conditions, and other factors.

Non-Surgical Management Options

Diet, lifestyle, herbs, supplements, yoga, turmeric, green juices, finding self-love, alternate therapies, etc don’t remove, reverse, dissolve or cure endometriosis lesions, in spite of the many claims on the internet. However, any combination of these may help some people with their symptoms or overall quality of life (but it varies per person). It’s important to know that:

• Endometriosis can still progress on any diet/lifestyle/alternate therapy – even if we are pain free.
• Pain going away doesn’t mean our endometriosis went away. This distinction is crucial.

Diet, Lifestyle, Supplements, etc

See my page on Nutrition/the endo diet

Pain Management

See my page Pain Management

Hormonal Suppression

See my page Hormonal Suppression

Alternate therapies

Son examples are:

• Chinese medicine
• Acupuncture
• Pain reprocessing therapy

Pregnancy

Pregnancy is not a treatment for endometriosis. If a doctor recommends that you “just get pregnant”, it is definitely a red flag that your doctor is not knowledgeable about endometriosis.

Some people find that their symptoms improve during pregnancy, but others have a very challenging time, with their pregnancy increasing their symptoms due to how it impacts their adhesions, pelvic floor dysfunction, endometriosis lesions, chronic inflammation, progesterone resistance, and more.

Additionally, the recommendation to “just get pregnant”, while highly inappropriate, is also ironic since infertility is a disease symptom for some people, making it hard for them to get pregnant.