Natural remedies for endometriosis

What are the best natural remedies (food, herbs, lifestyle, etc) for dealing with endometriosis?

The general idea is to have a baby as a young woman, and this will help endometriosis. What if thrush is a problem? When I used Nystatin from the dentist, it helped my FSH/LH loop and after 33 years of 2 month cycles (sometimes 4 months with no cycle) I experienced monthly cycles for 7 years. No one takes enough magnesium, do they? I have never taken enough. Being on a low yeast/mold diet helped me with endometriosis, and magnesium. Boron helped with the excess yeast in my system. The mouth is where we breath, eat, and drink. Why is this not covered by insurance for teeth for most people? Poor dental hygiene, low grade infection, can cause many problems with fertility/endometriosis/miscarriage.  Silent Disease, C. Fairchild (Academia dot org)

Charlotte Fairchild wrote:The general idea is to have a baby as a young woman, and this will help endometriosis.

Funny you should mention this.  I asked my doctor last week and they said that this was recommended in most of the 20th Century, but is no longer considered a valid treatment.  It works in too few patients to be a medical treatment, and it was considered putting undue pressure on a person's autonomy - aka, it made the woman feel that she MUST have a baby to stop the pain but having a baby is supposed to be the woman's choice.  

I can confirm, advising women to have babies is no longer standard of care.  In general I find the online textbook UpToDate to offer good "standard of care" information and here's what they say:

ENDOMETRIOSIS TREATMENT
There are several treatment options for endometriosis:

●Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)

●Hormonal birth control

●Other forms of hormone treatment (gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogs)

●Surgery

Each treatment option is discussed in more detail below. The best treatment depends on your symptoms and whether you might want to get pregnant in the future.

Medications — While medications will not get rid of endometriosis, they can help relieve pain. If the medication(s) you try first does not improve your pain within one to three months, your provider may suggest trying another type of medication, or surgery can be discussed as a reasonable next step.

Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs — NSAIDs are a type of pain medicine that can help to relieve the pain caused by endometriosis. They work by stopping the release of prostaglandins, one of the main chemicals responsible for pain in general as well as painful menstrual periods. Starting these medications one to two days before your period works best to prevent prostaglandin production and therefore reduce menstrual pain. It may take some time, and several doses, for the NSAIDs to block the prostaglandin production and reduce pain. NSAIDs do not shrink or prevent the growth of endometriosis tissue.

Most NSAIDs are available without a prescription, including:

●Ibuprofen (sample brand names: Advil, Motrin) – Follow the package instructions carefully. In general, two tablets are taken for the first dose and one tablet every four to six hours as needed thereafter. These should be taken with food and may be most effective if started one to two days before the onset of pain. Physicians may prescribe higher doses.

●Naproxen (sample brand names: Aleve, Naprosyn) – Follow the package instructions as the dose and frequency differ depending on the formulation. In general, two tablets are taken for the first dose, and one tablet is taken every 8 to 12 hours as needed thereafter, depending on the formulation. All tablets should be taken with food and a full glass of water. Like ibuprofen, naproxen may be more effective if begun a day or two prior to the onset of typical menstrual pain. Physicians may prescribe higher doses.

●Prescription NSAIDs – If over-the-counter NSAIDs are not effective, prescription strengths and formulations may be helpful.

The disadvantage of NSAIDs is that they do not always relieve endometriosis-related pain. NSAIDs probably work better when combined with another treatment, like hormonal birth control. Serious side effects from NSAIDs, although uncommon, include stomach upset, kidney problems, and worsened high blood pressure.

Hormone therapy

Hormonal birth control methods — Hormonal birth control methods, including oral pills, patches, and vaginal rings, are often helpful in treating pain because they reduce or prevent menstrual bleeding, especially when used continuously (only taking active pills or always using the ring in order to skip the monthly period). Daily oral progestin pills as well as injectable and implantable long-acting progestins may be very effective in managing endometriosis-related pain. A progestin-containing intrauterine device (IUD) can also be very effective in treating pain.

The most common side effects of estrogen-containing hormonal birth control are:

●Nausea

●Breast tenderness

●Irregular vaginal bleeding or "spotting" between periods

These side effects usually improve after using the treatment for several months. Serious side effects (eg, blood clots, stroke, heart attack) are rare in people who do not smoke.

Progestins — Progestins are a synthetic form of a natural hormone called progesterone. This treatment might be recommended if you do not get pain relief from or cannot take hormonal birth control that contains estrogen (for example, if you smoke). Progestins require a prescription and are usually given as a pill or injection. They are not used if you are trying to get pregnant. A progestin-containing IUD delivers very low levels of progestin directly to the uterus and results in markedly lighter and less painful periods. (See "Patient education: Long-acting methods of birth control (Beyond the Basics)", section on 'Intrauterine device'.)

Side effects of progestins can be bothersome for some people. The most common side effects include bloating, weight gain, irregular vaginal bleeding, acne, and, rarely, worsened depression.

I didn't share the entire thing, because this is supposed to be about natural remedies!  It is true that it's more common in women who haven't had a pregnancy, but even being on OCPs seems to be protective (which might explain why I never got endometriosis despite multiple risk factors - early menarche at age 10 and no pregnancies until I was over 35 - I was on OCPs, which basically mimic pregnancy, kinda, sorta, from age 21-35).  It's less common in women with late menarche (first period not until age 14, for example) and in women with multiple pregnancies.

To bring this back to the idea of natural remedies, there is strong evidence that increased omega-3 intake decreases your risk.  Hurray for grass fed everything and fish oil! I would guess this is one of the anti-inflammatory effects of omega three fatty acids.

The hormonal treatment I tried gave me a double pulmonary embolism.

The only thing that really helped my endometriosis was menopause.

I'm almost at the minimum age for menopause.  Is there some natural way I can encourage it?  I would love to get this over with.  

r ranson wrote:I'm almost at the minimum age for menopause.  Is there some natural way I can encourage it?  I would love to get this over with.  

The only thing I know of that works, is to keep having birthdays. At 57, I'm 16months out from my last one, and just hoping and praying for smooth sailing, from here out - but, is not unheard of, to have a surprise visit, as much as 2yrs after the last one, so I'm not betting the farm on it.

Menopause is great. I highly recommend it. It can be unpleasant as the process unfolds, but after you're through it, it's lovely. I was fortunate to go through it early, the process started in my early 40's.

I have my eye on this for one of my kids. Interesting that it's less prevalent in people who start menstruating later. Guess my kid was just unlikely, they didn't get their period until 16.

Kudzu.
Anti-inflammatory.
Anti-coagulant.
Vascular Dilator
The book of Kudzu by William Shurtleff and his wife Aoyogi, is on Google Books for free.

There are many peer reviewed journal articles about some of the benefits of kudzu as detox, and not so much studied as a green with chlorophyll.

There are 1/4 million websites with recipes for kudzu on the internet.

I have 2 blogs with kudzu info called Kudzu Questions or Kudzu Kwestions. I make things with kudzu. Brownies with kudzu instead of marijuana.  Kudzu juice from the green leaves. Some of the leaves look like the continent of Africa. There are 14 varieties of kudzu.

I don't know whether this would work for you, but it's helped me exponentially:
- Lots of healthy fats in the diet: my naturopath encouraged me to increase fat intake such as avocado and coconut oil and it has worked wonders
- Sticking mostly to an autoimmune paleo protocol diet, as it's highly anti-inflammatory
- Less caffeine intake
- Deep tissue massage with sesame oil, all around the lower abdomen, pelvis, and lower back/sacrum
- Take magnesium supplements a week before menstruation to ease cramping
- Infusion or tincture of red raspberry or blackberry leaf with shepherd's purse and yarrow to ease menorrhagia
- CBD oil drops sublingual

It's a lot to balance out, but the relief has been amazing. I'm in my mid 40s, no kids, perimenopausal, and my endo got SO MUCH WORSE after I hit 40. This protocol reduced the endo pain to the point where I think I've only taken one painkiller in months, rather than fistfuls just to take the edge off.