Health News and Information

What you eat can change the course of endometriosis enough to make a difference in your life.

The effect of diet on the body is no longer just an issue of sustenance for survival. It is also a matter of health, and even longer life, we know, fairly conclusively, that high cholesterol levels affect heart function, high-fat diets may be connected to bowel and breast cancer, and that salt irrevocably influences blood pressure. Each year, there is more evidence of how certain foods and vitamins have the ability to fuel our immune systems, while other nutrients, or nonnutrients such as caffeine, can cause us problems.

Women with endometriosis, especially those who are enduring chronic pain, may not be eating correctly. This could be more from a lack of appetite or lack of energy than from a lack of knowledge as to what is best to eat. This may also be true of women with mild endometriosis. Nutrition affects recovery rates from disease, and the low-fat, low-salt, low-sugar diet and vitamin plan can make a difference.

Before we get to the actual diet plan, you should know why you will be taking minerals, vitamins, and selected nutritional supplements. These dietary changes will most benefit any woman with endometriosis.

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Inflammation of women’s reproductive organs is referred to as pelvic inflammatory disease (PID). When the Fallopian tubes are affected, the condition is called salpingitis. Pus produced in the tubes or other organs in response to the inflammation may interfere with their normal function and result in symptoms of abdominal pain, fever and tenderness. Any one of a number of micro-organisms may be responsible for PID and it is thought that these are sexually transmitted. PID tends to occur in women who have had many sexual partners or women whose partners have had many sexual partners.

Prompt treatment of PID with antibiotics can bring rapid relief from discomfort. Recurrent episodes of PID can, however, result in irreversible damage to the Fallopian tubes (causing problems with fertility) and persistent symptoms. Techniques to clear blocked Fallopian tubes and restore them to good health are sometimes successful in restoring fertility and reducing pain. These techniques include hysteroscopic tubal cannulation, falloposcopy and microsurgery. If severe PID is resistant to treatment and the woman concerned has no desire to become pregnant in the future, removal of the uterus, ovaries and Fallopian tubes may be considered.

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