Tried diet and supplements but still in pain?
Pelvic pain whether from endometriosis and/or adenomyosis can be difficult to get on top of. And of course, it can be so frustrating when you try something to help manage the pain and it doesn’t seem to help. There can be so many reasons why it can be difficult to manage the pain – whether from the extent and position of the endometriosis, the type of surgery you had and the involvement of other systems in the body such as the bowel or bladder.
Nutritional therapy can help to manage pain – I found this myself, I’ve seen it with clients and there is also some research to support this.
Sometimes when you chat to people, they say they already tried diet and supplements, but it didn’t work for them. It’s true that different things do work for different people. But sometimes when you dig deeper, you can find a reason why the diet and supplements haven’t been working as well as they could have been.
Here are the main reasons I find why this approach doesn’t seem to help.
- You are not also focusing on managing stress
This is the mistake that I made early on. I did the diet and supplements with military precision, but I didn’t focus on managing my stress levels. And of course, living with endometriosis or adenomyosis is stressful. Diet and supplements can get you so far, but whilst you are stressed this in increasing inflammation in the body (and so pain), increasing hormonal imbalances, upsetting gut health and reducing the strength of the immune system – all things that have a role in endometriosis and adenomyosis and so can be making your symptoms worse or stopping things from improving. Managing stress is essential to making progress with these conditions.
2. Your supplements haven’t been tailored to your needs
I did this one too! I’d read something that would say magnesium was good for endometriosis and so start taking it. Then someone would suggest an endometriosis supplement they’d heard about that was good and so I’d start taking that too. And soon I was on a cocktail of different supplements which could potentially help with endometriosis but hadn’t been tailored to the needs of my body and the nutrients I really needed. Supplements work best when they are tailored to the systems in your body that are out of balance and the nutrients you are lacking. Two people with endometriosis or adenomyosis may need different supplement protocols as they have different symptoms and different nutrient needs.
3. Your supplements are not at the right dose
Linked to the previous point, you may not be taking enough of the nutrient to get an effect. Some supplements, such as multi-vitamins you can get in supermarkets, often have the right nutrients in, but not at the level that you need to make a difference to your symptoms.
4. Your diet could be more anti-inflammatory
Often people will say they are already eating a healthy diet. You probably are, but nutrient needs are high in conditions like endometriosis and adenomyosis and so you may need to be doing more than the average persons healthy diet to get the nutrients you need in.
5. You might have some inflammatory foods in your diet without realising it
Inflammatory foods get everywhere these days. You might be eating something that is promoted as ‘healthy’ but it might contain additives or preservatives that could be upsetting your gut, making your bloating worse and increasing inflammation.
6. It takes time
Sometimes I see things saying if you take this supplement or follow this protocol you will get improvement in 2 weeks. It’s true that some people do respond to things quickly, but generally I think this is unrealistic. Conditions like endometriosis and adenomyosis develop over a number of years. And so, it takes time to start to re-balance things and see changes to your symptoms. You may have to be making changes for months before you start to notice even small improvements. But, be patient, the changes will come.
If you’d like someone to take a look at your current diet, supplement and lifestyle plan and give you some suggestions for how to take it up a level, book in for a free hormone health review to find out how one of my nutritional therapy programmes can help.
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The information contained above is provided for information purposes only. The contents of this blog are not intended to amount to advice and you should not rely on any of the contents of this blog. Professional advice should be obtained before taking or refraining from taking any action as a result of the contents of this blog. Emma Belton Nutrition disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on any of the contents of this blog.