This EndoLife

Okay so the past few weeks I’ve been talking about blood sugar and how to identify if blood sugar dysregulation is an issue for you.

This week, I want to give you the number one strategy for beginning to stabilise your blood sugar. Now, I have talked about this before in the context of other episodes, I’ve done some lives on the topic and put them out as episodes, and I’ve linked to articles I’ve written, but I don’t think I have ev...

Last week we discussed signs and symptoms of dysregulated blood sugar levels. Now, if you were concerned, I recommended speaking to your GP, however, often if you’re not pre-diabetic or diabetic, they’re not very concerned about your levels, and won’t really spend the time to get them under control.

So, today, I wanted to share how to take your own glucose readings, so you can see what your blood sugar levels are doing over the day,...

If you follow my work or have coached with me, you’ll know that blood sugar balance is an absolute staple to my approach for managing endo.

Whilst this isn’t an episode into how blood sugar affects endo, to give you a short explanation - blood sugar imbalances can have a significant negative impact on hormones, gut inflammation and the microbiome, and raise both oxidative stress levels and prostaglandin levels, both are key to endo...

This one is a super quick episode today, as I didn’t want to do another replay, but also I don’t have the time at present to continue with our series on pain and nutrients, as those episodes take about a day to research and write up. So, today I want to talk about something that I’ve been discussing with two clients lately, and it occurred to me, that you might benefit as well.

Regulating the nervous system and our stress response ...

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome is a group of 13 conditions which all affect connective tissue (collagen) in the body. Most are rare, but one type called hypermobility EDS is common. Because the intestines are made from soft tissue, EDS affects digestion and often causes IBS symptoms. It is a major risk factor for developing SIBO, because it slows down motility. If you have EDS and SIBO, you will be chronic - but you can still live well! An...

Dr. Linda Bluestein is a board-certified anesthesiologist, integrative pain medicine physician and former ballet dancer who specialises in coaching and educating dancers and other athletes and individuals at increased risk of hypermobility disorders.

Dr Linda’s own experience with h-EDS eventually led her down a career path change that has seen her help countless others to live well with hypermobility and avoid chronic pain developm...

Do you get full body pain? Does it affect your muscles, nerves or joints? Do you find that you need to rest after walking or find you tired more easily than others?

It might not just be endometriosis.

Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome is a group of 13 conditions which all affect connective tissue (collagen) in the body. Most are rare, but one type called hypermobility EDS is common - and out of those with this type of EDS, 6-23% have endometri...

You all know I’ve been fascinated with the world of chronic pain science for a long time now. In fact, I did an episode on lowering pain signals through calming the brain and nervous system back in 2019 but I’ve been on a continuously evolving research journey since. And this research has led me to Curable, an app for chronic pain, that works by helping to reprogram the brain and nervous system so we can unlearn pain pathways and r...

Today we’re continuing with our series on low micronutrient levels and the impact on period and endo-related period pain.

Vitamin A is an antioxidant, which may have significant benefits for endometriosis pain.

Read more.

Show notes

Oxidative stress, endo and period pain

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/1477-7827-7-54

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5625949/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7602455/

https:/...

Today we’re continuing with our theme of micronutrients and their impact on endo pain and period pain. Today, we’re talking about B12.

Research on the use of B12 for pain suggests that B12 can reduce chronic pain (and menstrual pain) through various methods.

Firstly, B12 can inhibit the production of the inflammatory prostaglandins which are responsible for pain and inflammation, and are found to be especially high in people ...

Today we’re continuing our series on nutrients and their effects on period pain and endo pain, and this episode is about B6.

Now, we’ve already talked a lot about the powers of B6 for hormonal health, but what about its effects on pain?

B6 can support us with pain reduction in a number of ways.

Read more.

Show notes

B6 pain relieving/anti-inflammatory properties

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4519769/

https://pm...

Today we’re continuing on with our discussion around micronutrients and their impact on endo and period pain

In this episode, we’re beginning with the first of the B vitamins, B1, otherwise known as thiamine.

Read more.

Show notes

B1 properties

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.21.639433v1.full

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5625949/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4825494/pdf/GJHS-6-144.pdf

Period pai...

Today we’re continuing with our series on endo and period pain and their associations with low nutrient levels. Today, we’re talking about vitamin C.

Vitamin C is an anti-inflammatory antioxidant, which means it can help lower inflammation and also prevent oxidative stress - a process that triggers inflammatory reactions in the body and is involved in endo pain and progression. It also has antiangiogenic effects, which means it prev...

Today we’re continuing with our series on endo and period pain and their associations with low nutrient levels. And I was going to make today’s episode all about vitamins, but there are so many vitamins to cover, that I thought it would be less overwhelming to break them up, so today, we’re starting with vitamin E.

However, before we get into today’s episode, if you haven’t listened to the previous episodes in this series then you’l...

Today we’re continuing with our discussion on low nutrient levels and their association with period pain. Menstruation is often (though not always) one of the most painful parts of the menstrual cycle, for people with endometriosis - and a connection we see between both dysmenorrhea (which is the medical term for period pain) and endometriosis, is low omega 3 fatty acids.

Omega 3 fatty acids are the precursors to anti-inflammatory p...

This week I want to highlight three key minerals that when you’re low in, can cause you more period pain. These have all been associated with endo in the research too, and of course, as a classic symptom of endo is horrific period pain, replenishing these minerals could help you improve your experience of your period with endometriosis,

Read more.

Show notes

Magnesium

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2675496/

https://www.ijwhr.net/p...

Okay so last week we looked at foods to eat more of to support progesterone production. Today, we’re going to discuss the supplement forms of these nutrients and the doses to take.

Before we get into it, I have given a lot of warnings for each supplement. This is because I want you to have all the information, including possible side effects, so you can make an informed decision and so you understand what’s happening if you do exper...

The past two episodes we’ve been talking about low progesterone levels and some of the signs to watch for.

Today, I want to talk about how to raise your levels with specific nutrients.

Read more.

Show notes

Zinc

https://ovarianresearch.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13048-024-01442-z

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36920672/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3275394/

https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Zinc-HealthProfessiona...

In our last episode, we discussed spotting before your period and what’s normal and what could be a sign of low progesterone or even endo. Today I want to discuss spotting around ovulation and again, this is going to be a nice and easy to digest bite sized episode.

So, ovulation occurs roughly midway in your cycle, though that’s just the average. Statistically, the average ovulation day is around Day 14 but it can be a few days befo...