Your Personalized Endometriosis Treatment Plan

Endometriosis is a gynecological disease that causes symptoms such as painful periods or painful ovulation, chronic pelvic pain, painful bowel movements or urination, fatigue, digestive issues, infertility, or spotting before menstruation. Given the diverse manifestations of this disease, it’s crucial to customize the treatment plan to your specific symptoms and goals. Several factors influence the severity of endometriosis symptoms, necessitating a thorough analysis of their impact on each patient.

Inflammation.

Because endometriosis is primarily an inflammatory condition, the treatment plan will focus on decreasing inflammation to reduce pain and symptoms. This may include diet and lifestyle changes, targeted supplements, stress reduction techniques, or functional medicine testing to identify any nutrient deficiencies or microbiome dysbiosis.

Microbiome.

Digestive symptoms like “endo belly” bloating, constipation, loose stool, abdominal cramping, and gas all point to dysbiosis and inflammation in the gut. This inflammation and dysbiosis can worsen pelvic pain and cause hormonal imbalances, for example affecting the way excess estrogen is excreted. Working with diet, lifestyle, and supplements or herbal therapies are key in ameliorating symptoms. Microbiome testing to look for SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth), candida, parasites, or other dysbiosis can also be helpful.

Autoimmunity.

Although not technically classified as an autoimmune disease (yet), endometriosis shares many characteristics of autoimmune diseases. Because you can’t have an autoimmune disease without leaky gut, working on gut health with diet, key supplementation, a good quality probiotic, and herbal therapy is key to modulating the immune system to decrease endometriosis symptoms. Vitamin D supplementation, antioxidant support, acupuncture, stress reduction, and Naturopathy can also be helpful for helping balance the autoimmune aspect of endometriosis.

Nervous system.

Studies show those with endometriosis tend to have higher levels of perceived stress, and animal studies show that stress can exacerbate endometriosis growth. This means it’s crucial to focus on deactivating the sympathetic nervous system (responsible for the "fight or flight" response) while optimizing the parasympathetic nervous system (responsible for "rest and digest" functions). To achieve this balance, addressing stress management and adrenal health becomes essential. Acupuncture is a great tool because it directly activates the parasympathetic nervous system, helping to regulate cortisol levels and reduce proinflammatory cytokines. Additionally, incorporating adrenal/cortisol testing, journaling, meditation, and exercise can play a key role in managing a dysregulated nervous system and supporting overall well-being.

Hormone balance.

Although endometriosis isn’t a disease of imbalanced hormones, the above factors can definitely lead to a variety of hormonal imbalances. Since estrogen helps fuel the growth of endometriosis lesions, it’s imperative to make sure the liver and digestive system is properly detoxing excess estrogen to avoid its recirculation. People with endometriosis also typically need help supporting cortisol (stress hormone) and progesterone, which can help control the proliferation of endometriosis.

An effective treatment plan for endometriosis must encompass all of the above considerations. We will then monitor your progress so we can make sure we are getting the results that we are looking for. Endometriosis is a chronic condition, meaning that we may always be managing the symptoms to a certain degree. The goal is to be able to let diet and lifestyle do most of the work without weekly acupuncture sessions or dozens of supplements. However, I usually see an initial commitment to consistent treatment to be the most effective in producing and maintaining the best results. As your symptoms change, so will your treatment plan and frequency of treatments. If we aren’t getting the results we are looking for, there are always other options or things we can try. 

Feel free to contact me if you or anyone you know is suffering with endometriosis.

In healing,

Allison Locke, R.TCM.P FABORM OBAAM IHP