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Feeling the V-Day pressure? . You’re not the only who experiences painful s-x (Instagram is cracking down on the S word hence the censorship from now on). You might feel like you’re alone, but I promise you, you’re not. ❤️ ~ Truthfully, healing pain I experience during s-x has been the last thing on my mind in the past few years of this endo journey. But I can’t heal fully from my endo symptoms when there’s a pain that I’m trying to ignore and a whole side of my being that I’m neglecting. ~ This post isn’t about pleasing your partner. It’s about you rediscovering your own personal pleasure and if it’s something that you want, intimacy with your lover too. . So recently for Endometriosis News, I wrote about the three key ways I’m beginning to heal painful s-x, with accessible tips, resources and ideas for you to begin your own healing too. . Head to the link in my bio to read. ❤️ . P.S. Happy Valentine’s Day - whatever it looks like for you. Pic from @onna_lifestyle x . #valentinesday2019 #endometriosis #painfulsex #vaginismus
My free guide Managing Endometriosis Naturally is FINALLY here (I started this last year before life turned crazy!). See it as a little Galentine’s Day gift to you guys. 😘 ~ This guide takes you through the key lifestyle changes I made to help reduce my endometriosis symptoms, and offers ideas and tips to help you get started. This isn’t a one-size fits all fix. We know endometriosis has no cure, but this guide is hopefully a way for you to begin feeling better and living well even with endo. This guide is a tool for you, with ideas you can try and ideas you can totally leave - it’s about designing a method that works for you and tailoring the information in this booklet to suit your life and your choices. ~ You don’t have to come off the pill, skip your lap or stop seeing your doctor. This definitely isn’t medical advice and I’m not a doctor, nor are any of the ideas in the booklet supposed to replace your current treatment (that’s something for you to decide with your doc). It’s not about one or the other. It’s about you finding a mix of methods that work for you. For me, I pretty much stick to holistic management and just see my specialist for check ups, but I no longer need medical treatment - however if that changes and I one day need a lap, that’s fine too. This isn’t about judgement, it’s about you finding your own healing path and I truly hope the knowledge, experience and research I share in this booklet helps you on that path. 🙏 ~ To download, head to the link in my bio. ~ #endometriosisdiet #endodiet #endometriosis #endometriosissupport Pic by @rootedliving_
What are you up to this International Women’s Day? 👭 Join me and @plantacademyuk for our Endo The Night Dinner Party in support of @endometriosis.uk 🎗 Celebrate National Endometriosis Awareness Week and International Women’s Day with family, friends and fellow endometriosis warriors whilst enjoying a decadent and nourishing endofriendly banquet. Dine on a menu full of flavour, creativity and goodness, dreamed up by the power team behind Planthub; vegan chef @lauren_lovatt @saladpride and @therainbow_chef 👇 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Endo The Night Menu ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Plant Banquet Seasonal smoked roots, pumpkin and seaweed kale, chilli squash, herb and hemp pestos. Cheese Board Homemade gluten free breads, pickles and an array of nut based cheeses. Something Sweet Mini cultured lemon and raspberry cheesecake, sticky toffee pudding and chocolate tart ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ The menu will be free from dairy, gluten, soy and meat to accommodate an anti-inflammatory diet and trigger foods that some with endometriosis prefer to avoid to manage their symptoms.* The meal will be followed by a platter of small sweet treats made with low qualities of completely natural unrefined sugar, so those with a sweet tooth can eat as much or as little as feels good! Sip on exciting mocktails, made with refreshing non-alcohol spirits, low sugar fruits and fragrant botanicals or an array of bubbly kombucha and soothing teas. Come alone and mingle with others with endometriosis, or bring along family and friends. Everyone is welcome as we raise awareness and funds for charity Endometriosis UK. The more, the merrier! Finally, leave with a goody bag full of gifts to help you live well with endometriosis, from my favourite products to discount codes from incredible brands like @ohnutco ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ For tickets, head to the link in my bio! See you there 😘 #endothenight #endometriosisuk #endometriosisawareness #endometriosis
Just putting this one out there...⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I may write and podcast about managing endometriosis and reducing symptoms, but it doesn’t mean all these methods will work for you. And that doesn’t mean you’ve failed ether. Let’s remember this is a chronic disease with no cure, that doctors are baffled by. Let’s also remember that they are now discovering there are different types of endometriosis, with different causes (genetics, environmental factors, etc) that react differently to different treatments. So if you’ve tried something and it hasn’t worked for you, maybe it’s not that you didn’t try ‘hard enough’, maybe it’s that you have a type of endometriosis that doesn’t respond to that method. I get it, it can be really frustrating, soul destroying even, but please don’t take it out on yourself and feel like you’re failing. You’re not. You’re a freaking warrior. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Healing and managing this disease isn’t straight forward. It’s complex and is unique for every person. It can be hard, it can require constant tweaking. Every month I consider how I’m healing myself and notice how my symptoms behave. It’s taken years to get to a point where they are under control. It was a learning process and it involved me having to change from hating my body, to loving my body, and from being angry that I had to heal in the first place, to learning to accept, be curious, interested and even enjoy the healing process. It’s about finding out what is right for you and allowing that to evolve and unfold, whilst being kind, loving and compassionate to yourself and your body. ❤️ You’re doing the best you can, with a disease that no one understands. You’re amazing. ❤️⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Please tag a warrior who needs a reminder of how well they’re doing - whether they’re an endowarrior or chronic illness warrior - whoever they are, all of us need reminders sometimes. ✨⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Pic from @rootedliving_⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #endometriosis #endowarrior #chronicillnesswarrior #selfhealing #naturalhealing #healing #selflove #selfcare
Before I started really tracking my menstrual cycle, I had my reservations. ~ I found I couldn’t connect with a lot of the teachers who were talking of how empowered they were by their periods, of what a blessing their periods were and how much they looked forward to that time of the month. I loved the idea of it and admired them, but it’s obviously hard to relate when your period is associated with pain, fear and constant illness. Even with my low pain levels, I’m still worried as it approaches, I still wonder what my experience will be this time, if the pain is going to come back. ~ So when I started tracking, even though I struggled with these thoughts and conflicts, I did actually find patterns in my cycle. I discovered when I felt better in my cycle and when I didn’t, I worked out how to utilise this information to create a lifestyle that helped me live better with endometriosis and in a more natural, easy way. ~ So I decided to write about my experiences. Not just from a tracking point of view, but actually how our menstrual cycle affects our experiences of endometriosis throughout each phase. ~ So if you’re completely stumped and unsure what your inner cycle seasons are, or where you even are in your cycle and how this all relates to endo, I have a blog post on every phase up on my website. Just head to the link in my bio and have a read. ☝️ ~ Are you taking part in February’s #owningthisendolife cycle tracking challenge? Let me know by sharing your own experiences and be sure to use the hashtag! ~ Pic by @duvet_days #sharemycycle #cyclesyncing #endometriosis
🙋‍♀️ I just want to say hi to all you guys who have joined recently and welcome to the gang. 💛 ~ I started this EndoLife back in 2015, when, just a few years after being diagnosed with endometriosis, it came back in full force. I wasn’t told much at all about the disease when I was first diagnosed, except that it probably wouldn’t come back. But of course, it did. Whilst I was waiting a crazy long time for my second operation, and out of sheer desperation, I started researching the condition and ways I could make it more manageable. I eventually discovered that all the mystery issues I had with my body were either direct symptoms of or related to the disease. Finally I had an answer to my fatigue, my foggy brain, my gut issues, my allergies, my inflammatory skin problems, depression, anxiety and so on... I also started to learn that despite what my doctors had told me, there were in fact ways I could potentially feel better with endometriosis. I learnt about an anti-inflammatory diet and within a month, I’d gone from being a level 10 on the pain scale to a level 3. But it wasn’t easy to find this information - about my symptoms or how to manage them. ~ I was SO angry about this. I couldn’t believe that there were others out there, who were suffering alone with no idea that there might be ways to help manage their symptoms. Whilst diet and other holistic ways of managing endometriosis don’t work for everyone (side note - they’re discovering that there are different types of endometriosis, not just stages, and that these types respond differently to different treatment) I at least wanted people to have the opportunity to try. And so from that anger came This EndoLife where I began exploring all the ways that might help us live well with endo, from hormones, blood sugar, alternative therapies, nutrition and so much more. 💛 You can explore This EndoLife by visiting the link in my bio. 👆 ~ What about you? What’s your brought you here? Say hello and introduce yourself in the comments! 👇 ~ P.S. This pic was taken for @totmorganic’s awesome Period Powerful campaign last year! I was just too shy to post 🙈 ~ #endometriosis #endometriosisawareness #endowarrior
Did you know 75% of women will have painful sex in their lifetime? Thanks @ohnutco for the stat! 😘⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ~⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ It’s pretty shocking right? And I’m one of those women. 🙋‍♀️ Are you?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ~⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ For many years, despite how determined I’ve been to address my other endometriosis symptoms, I’ve practically ignored this one in comparison. For a number of reasons, but one of the main being that I’d subconsciously got it into my head that my pleasure wasn’t a big deal, and that this was just the way it was. It was almost too painful to face the reality of it than it was to just get on with living the pain itself.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ~⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ But thankfully, as we’ve become more open as a society (yes, we still have a long way to go) and as women have begun to feel more sexually empowered, I’ve allowed my curiosity to raise its head and dared to wonder whether I could change my current experience.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ~⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ And I am so glad I did. I still have a very long way to go, but I have made the first real steps to healing the pain I experience during sex. I mentioned a while ago some of the accounts I’ve followed to help me with this, and one of these was @the_yoni_empire who I then found out was the co-founder of @onna_lifestyle Onna introduced me to a whole new world of yoni mapping using their CURVE, which is a gemstone toy designed for yoni mapping, yoni massage and muscle tension release. Elena, one of the co-founders, developed this after her experience with vaginismus for 8 years. I’ve invited her onto the podcast, but in the meantime, I’ve written a post all about my healing journey so far, how I’ve found yoni mapping and my experience with the Onna CURVE. It’s honestly one of the most vulnerable pieces I’ve ever written, and it wasn’t easy to put it all out there into the world, but by sharing the truth of my experiences, I hope it helps you feel less alone and allows you to start your own journey of healing. To have a read, follow the link in my bio. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ P.S. Not a sponsored post 💛 Pic by @thevmagic ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #dyspareunia #endometriosis #vaginismus
Urm anyone else think that Maeve Wiley is a total badass?! 🙋‍♀️⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ~⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I just want to take a moment to commend the new @netflixuk series Sex Education. 👏👏👏⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ~⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I’ve watched it twice now and have only become more convinced about how brilliant it is. Yes there’s a hell of a lot of sex, but it also deals with some really real issues about sex that just aren’t talked about enough or portrayed in a realistic way by films and TV.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ~⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Sex Education covers vaginismus, body shaming - especially around women’s vaginas and labia (which is why there’s been a huge uptake in labia surgery), female self-pleasure, slut shaming, revenge porn, consent, gender, sexuality, abortion and seriously SO much more. When one of the female characters couldn’t have sex because it felt like her vagina had ‘locked up’, I prayed they would actually talk about vaginismus rather than leave it as a mysterious pain that they skirt around for the episode. To see Otis reading up on it and doing his best to ‘treat’ it (though not sure a bike ride is the way to do it...) made me so so so excited! I was keen for them to go deeper into it if I’m honest, because it’s not just about penetration, but the fact that they are raising the issue is incredible. 🙌⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ~⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I’ve been doing a lot of work on campaigning to get menstrual wellbeing in school, and I honestly think Otis was doing a better job than the teachers in this series! We NEED to talk about conditions such as endometriosis and vagismus in schools, we need to break down the stigma and taboo of talking about sex and periods, we need to empower young people to speak up about their bodies and ask questions, just like they do in this incredible series. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ~⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Who else has watched Sex Education? What did you think? Tell me in the comments, I want to geek out over it some more! 🤓⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ~⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #sexeducation #whatiwishilearned #endometriosis
Today sees the start of February’s #owningthisendolife challenge! ✌️⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ~⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ And as I mentioned back when this launched at the start of Jan, this whole year is about making sustainable progress that’s suited to you. So we’re not jumping into anything fancy this month, but what we will do is open up a whole new world of knowledge about your body.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ~⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ We’re staying with the theme of tracking - but this time, not your symptoms, but your menstrual cycle. Our hormones are so key to our body’s essential functions, but we tend to lump them into just doing one thing - making us cranky before our period.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ~⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ There is a way of understanding our menstrual cycle and once we do understand it, we’re able to work with the power of our hormones to live a little more easily with endometriosis. This small shift can actually lead to a huge improvement in our quality of life. For example, many of us will have more energy, focus and clarity around ovulation so we might feel our endofog shift a bit or just become lighter during this time, whereas we could experience more endo fatigue as our period approaches. It’s noticing these patterns that enables us to create more of a lifestyle that suits or needs better. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ~⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Another bonus about tracking your menstrual cycle is that you’re able to see how your endometriosis symptoms vary throughout your cycle, and as time goes on and you learn new ways of managing the disease, you may want to implement methods to reduce those symptoms (if possible) at the times when they’re worst.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ~⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ To get you started, I want to recommend a few apps that I’ve used over the years to track my menstrual cycle. These will ask you for the date of your last period, but if you’re not sure, just give a rough guess and you’ll be able to adjust as you go along. I really love MyFLO, Flutter Health and I’m giving Moody a shot too! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ~⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Where are you in your cycle today? Let me know and let’s get tracking! I’m on Day 3! ~⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 🌕🌖🌗🌘🌑🌒🌓🌔 Pic by @vitruvi ~⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ #sharemycyle #cyclesyncing #endometriosis
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