This morning I woke from a dream where I was teaching class on endometriosis. I was writing on a flip chart in red ink, adding details into the outline, crowding them in to fit.
Endo metri osis End of me trio sis
However you pronounce it, it doesn't sound good when you're given this diagnosis. OK, it's not cancer. You won't die from it but then at times you may wish you would, for the pain. It's a medical mystery how the lifegiving tissue lining the uterus decides to grow in other places. Theories, theories, theories--menstrual blood moving up and out the fallopian tubes, immune deficiencies allowing that retrograde flow to actually live in the wrong place, or some embryological defect that allowed uterine cells to stray to other parts of the body, laying in wait for puberty or xenoestrogens to activate them and cause their pain. There's some family tendency-whether hereditary or due to proximity????
This tissue responds to female hormonal cycles just as the uterine lining does-- expanding, proliferating with estrogen stimulation, juicing up for implantation of a fertilized egg with progesterone stim after ovulation , and then degenerating when the progesterone & estrogen drop, just before menstruation begins. But when the tissue lives in one's pelvic cavity, on the intestines, overies, bladder, muscles, even inside the muscles of the uterus, or, rarely, in far reaches of the body such as the nose, this useful cycling becomes painful. Swelling where it isn't meant to swell, usually with no way to exit, this hurts. It often also inhibits fertility.
Medical treatments are pain relievers,birth control pills, inducing artificial menopause, or scraping the endometrial tissue out surgically. None of these addresses any causes. They may give a window to try conceive a baby. Or a respite from pain.
Ayurveda looks at it as an inflammatory process. Fire in the gut. This can come from combinations of toxins, too many fiery foods, poor processing by the liver, a hereditary tendency towards it. This Pitta, as it's called, and toxins can be reduced by diet, herbs, and ayurvedic cleansings , while giving attention to emotional components. If the endo is long established or already extensive, surgical removal to knock it back might be indicated during treatment, followed by more ayurveda to prevent the usual regrowth.
Toxins-- how many are in the food we eat? Xenoestrogens are chemicals that hook into our bodies where estrogens usually connect, but have their own poisonous effects. Such chemicals are in plastics. (Do you microwave food in plastic containers or keep your drinking water in plastic?) They are in pesticides. (Do you buy or grow organic foods and use natural pest control in your yard and home?) Hormones are found in dairy products. (Do you avoid Bovine growth hormones by consuming only organic dairy products?)
And this gives us reason to be angry. Along with other reasons like being sexually abused. How many of us keep this anger inside, allowing it to pollute our minds and souls?
End of me trio sis
The trio of toxicity of body , mind and soul is a painful burden indeed. But it needn''t be the end of me--or you.
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