How to prevent and improve endometriosis
Endometriosis is one of the effects on the female cycle that can lead to fertility problems.
Endometriosis is ectopic endometrial tissue, that is, outside the usual place, which is combined with the alteration of two systems: the immune and the hormonal or endocrine. In this article you can learn in more detail what endometriosis is, its causes and how it relates to female fertility.
Precisely because of this double causality of endometriosis (immunological and hormonal), it is considered that endometriosis should be assessed and treated from a general or systemic point of view and not only gynecological.
And therefore, not only gynecologists can help improve endometriosis diagnoses, but from many other areas of health tips to help prevent the onset of endometriosis, mitigate its symptoms, or prevent recurrence (recurrence of the disease when it had already been overcome).
Avoid constant activation of the immune system
This is something easier said than done. Actually, it is not that it is difficult to avoid the constant activation of the immune system, but there are many causes of the activation of the immune system, so you must be attentive to many factors.
The advantage is that the recommendations to avoid an overactivation of the immune system also have an impact on general health, not only for patients with endometriosis.
Therefore, These recommendations to improve endometriosis are valid for the whole family!
Eating healthy to improve the symptoms of endometriosis
The body needs quality nutrients, and vitamins and minerals need to be absorbed through fruits, vegetables, quality protein, nuts and seeds.
To keep the body healthy, you must also avoid excess flour, sugar and juices. The best thing, if eating healthy “doesn't work for you”, is that you contact a nutritionist who can give you tools to eat better, and a follow-up to achieve your goals of eating healthy.
Caring for the digestive system to improve endometriosis
It is not just about eating well, but that our body is in a position to take advantage of what we eat correctly. There should be no continuous inflammation, heartburn, excess gas, constipation, or the presence of pasty stools, to give a few examples. If so, better seek professional advice from a gastroenterologist, nutritionist, or psychoneuroimmunologist.
Move your body -and not just because of endometriosis-
Exercising is great, yes. But not everyone enjoys it, and in fact, many people end up not moving because they don't like exercise.
If you are not one of those who exercise in the classic way (running, swimming, playing basketball, going to the gym), try to move your body in any of its millions of ways: walk to work, go for walks, dance at home , set an alarm to get up every hour if you have a sedentary job... The body is ready to move, and if we don't, the body receives a warning signal: something is wrong. And immediately the immune system responds by activating.
Sunbathe, or what is known as vitamin D
Sunlight is fundamental, as if it were just another nutrient. We live in a country with a lot of sun but where a very high percentage of the population is deficient in this vitamin due to lack of sun exposure. To the point that it is being massively recommended to supply this vitamin to all newborns, in a country where there are many hours of sunshine.
This vitamin is not only relevant for fixing calcium to the bones but is also involved in building muscles and muscle strength, and in the immune system. A poor state of the intestinal flora can also influence a deficit of vitamin D
Control your stress
Stress is something natural and a good survival tool for the human being. We have had peaks of stress since the beginning of humanity and our body is designed to secrete certain substances that make us more efficient under stressful situations.
But despite the fact that our body continues to respond in the same way as it did millions of years ago, stressors have changed and, above all, have been perpetuated over time.
Today we are not persecuted from time to time by a predator (stressor from the beginning of time), but instead we have a stressor that is maintained over time: the pressure of the boss or the mortgage. And the body cannot bear to continuously live under stressful situations.
Get enough rest
Not sleeping is already a stress in itself. In fact, sleep deprivation has been used as a form of human torture. If the human being does not sleep, he literally goes crazy.
And without going to that extreme, little sleep alters us enormously: it alters our perceptions, our ability to make decisions, our susceptibility, our irritability...
But beware!
Consequences of not getting enough rest
- It alters our digestive and intestinal mucosa,
- It alters our caloric needs,
- It makes us choose foods of poorer quality and with a high caloric load to compensate for the cost of stress,
- It makes us feel tired and avoid energy-expending behaviors such as moving or exercising.
Keep hormones in check
The Sex hormones that come from cholesterol must be eliminated. The liver is the organ responsible for disposing of these hormones once they have done their job. And it must do so in an agile and coordinated way in two phases. If its activity is slowed down by a fatty liver, due to a lack of cofactors (energy, folic acid, B12 and minerals) or due to an excess of other tasks to be carried out, the hormones may not leave the body in the desired time and cause estrogenic activity. exaggerated.
Avoid excessive estrogen production
To avoid excessive estrogen production, which can play a role in endometriosis, it is important to avoid insulin spikes, manage your stress and lose weight.
You must avoid insulin spikes that stimulate the aromatase hormone, which is responsible for transforming androgens into estrogens.
Avoid sweet drinks even if they are natural, at least for a while. The sweet liquid enters the blood very quickly and generates a high spike of insulin. And avoid high glycemic load foods (You can find listings on the internet like this one: https://www.fundaciondiabetes.org/upload/publicaciones_ficheros/71/TABLAHC.pdf )
You should avoid sustained stress that increases hormonal production in general.
And, last but not least, you should try to lose weight: the cells of the fatty tissue, the adipocytes, act as an endocrine organ on their own, producing hormones and altering their natural equation.
Improves the detox capacity of your liver
It is important to let the liver rest a bit and help it in its work.
How?
Avoid an overwork of the liver by filtering too many toxins that reach it from the intestine. In fact, the intestine must maintain its correct permeability.
Factors that increase the permeability of the intestine:
Stress, gluten, nightshades (tomato, pepper, eggplant and potato) or legumes. It does not mean that you must necessarily eliminate them, it will depend on the cases, but it does mean that you control their consumption.
Tips to improve the detox capacity of the liver
On the other hand, avoid the artificial fructose used in processed products and convenience foods. Don't be afraid of the fructose in fruit. It would take 12 apples a day for their fructose to put a burden on the liver. But beware, if you abuse juices you can increase the amount of fruit you consume without realizing it.
Avoid excess caloric load in your diet or you could even consider eating a little less so as not to make the liver have to transform this excess into substances that can be stored by the body such as glycogen or triglycerides. All this is done by the liver.
Within the diet we could recommend sulfur products such as leeks, garlic or onions or radishes.
And finally, use a simple detox infusion with herbs such as milk thistle, artichoke (link to detox infusion)or black radish and combine it with digestive infusions, type is from this LINK
Acupuncture.
The renowned Cochrane association concludes that, although more studies are still lacking to corroborate the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of endometriosis, the benefits obtained in the existing studies are significant. Other studies have successfully tested acupuncture to reduce the symptoms of the pathology as well as to reduce the size of endometriomas (cysts of endometrial tissue that are located in the ovaries). Treatments require persistence and are medium-long term.
These are all general tips.
If you want to deepen or personalize your case, do not hesitate to go to a professional for advice. Also, in the case of endometriosis, if you are considering becoming a mother in the future but you are not yet looking for a pregnancy, you could consider vitrification or freezing of oocytes.