Post 2

I started a new diet plan that is supposed to lower my chances of cancer recurrence and slow the progression of endometriosis between surgery along with hormone therapies. Why diet? well to put it simply endometriosis and endometrial cancer are worsened by high levels of estrogen. Many foods we eat every day either can increase our bodies production of estrogen or having chemical compounds similar to the estrogen in them (phyto-estrogen). Both can cause the same physiological effects that women struggling with endometriosis or estrogen sensitive cancer should avoid. Now, some foods that have chemical compositions similar to estrogen (phyto-estrogen) can bind to estrogen receptors but not produce the negative effects estrogen. This is where researching on estrogen low diets can get tricky but that has to do with the physiology of estrogen receptor agonists verses antagonists and that is a topic for another day when I am feeling really nerdy. So anyways! Foods that can negatively increase estrogen in your body includes: red meats, alcohol, dairy products (goats or cows), caffeine, and soy. Now there are some foods that reduce your levels of estrogen and should be increased in an endo diet or other low estrogen diets. Some food that reduce estrogen are fibre foods (whole grains, brown rice, oat meal, fruits and veggies etc), cruciferous veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, kale,  turnip, bok choy, etc), mushrooms (mushrooms lower levels of aromatase. Aromatase converts androgen to estrogen), red grape...

Similarly many of the same ingredients that elevate estrogen have "bad" prostaglandins. We all need prostaglandins and need a dietary source of them but again, without getting too into the physiology of it all, some prostaglandins can increase inflammation and uterine contractions (cramps) that many of us with endo struggle with. Bad prostaglandins are found in fatty cuts of meat, dairy, and other saturated fats. Good prostaglandins can be found in fish, pumpkin, nuts, dark leafy greens, etc

There are more things that can help with symptoms of endometriosis that I will go over here and there while listing recipe ingredients but that was the most vital information!

So on to the good part! The food! I love food... too much!

 The thought of this diet really is quite upsetting cause so many food I love are going away... Good bye my dear sweet pork carnita burritos smothered in queso, you will be dearly missed. But it's time to put on my optimism glasses! What a great way to challenge my cooking skills and creativity!

So I made my meal plan for the week and Sunday went shopping with one of my friends. Ended up paying around $150 (ouch).... But I am hoping once I get some of the basics each following weak will be a little cheaper!

What was on my shopping list this week:

Dairy free overnight oat (2 flavors)

Cucumber and smoked salmon (for snacking)

Dried fruit (for snacking)

Stuff for apple fruit leather (tried to make it last night and failed)

Ingredients for dairy free banana bread made with this seed flower stuff (haven't tried it yet wish me luck)

Sugar free peanut butter and jelly to make sandwiches with above mentioned bread.

Ingredients for chicken fajitas

Ingredients for salmon and asparagus (oven foil package dinners)

Ingredients for Cajun shrimp and mango jalapeno turkey sausage with chopped veggies (oven foil package dinners)

Ingredients for chicken avocado lunch wraps

I did a lot of prep work last night and will probably be cleaning the rest of tonight but so far I haven't craved anything yet!.... Oh wait, that is a lie... some one brought a bunch of Panera pastries and such to work to share... that was rough haha. I wonder if there is any way to make dairy free light fluffy pastries? hmmm...

For dinner tonight I gave one of the Salmon asparagus foil packages a try! It wasn't bad! So I figured I would share my recipe with you!

Salmon and Asparagus Endo Friendly Foil Dinner

What you will need:

(per package, I made a few so they could be ready when I need a quick dinner)

• One salmon fillet
• 8 sprigs of asparagus
• 1 to 2 slices of limon
• 1 sprig fresh dill
• 1 clove of garlic (minced)  
• 1.5 Tbsp of olive oil
• Salt & pepper (to taste)

Step 1: Prepare your asparagus. Wash, cut off fibery ends, & peel

Note: When buying asparagus look for stalks that are firm with fully closed bud tips. Asparagus should feel damp but not wet or dry and woody. For this recipe spears thicker then 1/3 in are ideal as the stalks are more tender then ones smaller then 1/3 in. They hold more water so they won't become dry cooking in the oven at high heats as well. Thinner spears are better for lower heat cooking like blanching or stir-frying. Also peeling your asparagus will help remove the outer layer of more fiberus bitter flesh.

Step 2: Align your asparagus in a row ontop on a sheet of aluminum foil. 

Step 3: Combine olive oil and minced garlic

Step 4: Drizzle olive oil/garlic mixture over the top of the asparagus and sprickle with salt & pepper.

Step 5: Remove skin from salmon fillet if present

Step 6: Salt and pepper bottom on fillet and place on top of asparagus bed.

Step 7: Drizzle more oil over top of fillet, sprinkle with garlic, add lemon slices and dill sprig.

Step 8: One last salt and paper to taste then wrap your meal up in its foil. Can be refrigerated or cooked from here.

Step 7: Cook at 400 degrees for 25 minutes.

Why is this meal good for endo sufferers?

Asparagus is a good source of fiber (remember how I said food high in fiber lowers estrogen?). The approximately 180 grams of asparagus in this receipt has 15% of the daily recommended amount vitamin B1 (thiamine). Thiamine is an anti-inflammatory and can help with endometriosis related pain, assists liver enzymes in the removal of bad estrogen, and has antioxidant properties. For toughs of us who are on hormone therapies like lupron it is vital to help maintain bone strength in any way possible. Asparagus also helps with that as it has vitamin K that has been shown to increase bone density and reduce fractures in patients with osteoporosis. It is also a neural diuretic meaning it increases the kidney's filtration rate and production of urine lowering fluid retention that can contribute to the dreaded endo-belly!

Salmon: remember how I said we needed those good prostaglandins to replace the bad ones... Well salmon is a great source of healthy prostaglandins. It is also high in Thiamine (see benefits listed above). Also high in vit B2, B6, and B12 .... I think i'll make another post on how all the vitamin Bs can help endo... haha. Salmon is also a good source of potassium (equivalent amount to a full banana). Potassium can reduce muscle cramping and reduces water retention (back to the endo-belly benefits). Has selenium,selenium also help preserve bone density.

Dill: There was a study done in Thailand that study the effects of herbs and menstrual cramps and dill showed some evidence that it improved menstrual cramping in some patients. There have also been studies done using dill extract that showed conclusive evidence that it lowers depression.

My Dx

Hello all,

As some of you know I recently had exploratory surgery. Finally after years of pain I have some answers. I have been debating on how or even if to share all this but I figured if my story can help even one lady, it's worth a share. And I also figured friends and family back home would like to know and stay updated.... So here goes nothing.

About a year ago I started having chronic low to medium grade back pain. I went to an orthopedic doctor who took radiographs of my back. He told me I had scoliosis and some bone spurs, but at my age he didn't want to do anything. So he put me on some steroids, told me to go to PT if I felt the need, and sent me on my way.

Fast forward about 4 months and my back pain had become excruciating. I got to the point I could hardly bend over and then one day it got so bad I dropped to the ground and got stuck on the floor unable to get up because the pain was so bad. So after a night of hyperventilating, taking every kind of pain med possible, and wondering if I was possible to die of pain, I went to urgent care. I was given more steroids and sent to another doctor. This doctor ran quite a bit of imaging on me over the next few months and I started going to PT three times a week. It was found I have damaged a few disks in my back. Because of my age, he wanted to avoid surgery and injections if possible. After around 4 months, I had an MRI to check the progress of the damage.  The disks seemed to be reabsorbing as both the physical therapist and orthopedic doctor told me they had expected would happen in someone my age. But I still was in pain. Not the acute crippling pain, but enough pain that it was having a pretty large impact on my day to day life.

This is where things started getting to me. The doctor told me whatever pain was left had to do with chronic pain pathways, damage that couldn't be fixed to my disks, etc...etc.  He said that this is what I had and this pain was most likely going to be my "normal" for the rest of my life. He suggested going on anti-anxiety medications because stress can make chronic back pain worse and basically told me suck it up and good luck. This news was completely overwhelming. Multiple times after long days at work when the pain was at a high, I'd get home to my apartment and stare at my wall. I was completely exhausted and depressed from the constant pain and not having a good explanation as to what exactly was causing the pain. I kept going to PT here and there and kept telling my therapist that it felt like something was physically pulling on my back when I tried to bend over.  Like I physically couldn't do it. Something felt like it was going to snap.  He said it was likely muscle spasms. So here I was, in pain and overwhelmed... it was affecting my ability to focus at work and I was no longer able to enjoy things as much as I used to like my horses and social life because I was running on empty all the time. But according to my doctor, this was going to be my life so on I went.

I started to notice that the pain got worse a week before my periods each month. Then my periods became irregular. So I decided to see an OBGYN. A friend at work told me about a nurse practitioner OBGYN she went to and the clinic had really good reviews online, so I went. At my appointment, she was very thorough in asking all kinds of questions. I have always had super painful periods. Some month so painful i’ll throw up or get dizzy but until now never had a Dr. really take note. She told me she was suspicious something was going on and she wanted to run a few tests, get some blood work done, and send me to get an ultrasound. At my ultrasound, a mass of abnormal tissue was seen. She told me she wanted me to talk to the OBGYN surgical specialist that worked at the clinic. So after returning from my visit back home for Christmas, I met with him to go over the ultrasound results. He told me he wanted to get me into surgery right away. So the following Thursday I went in for a robotic surgery to explore my abdominal cavity and remove whatever they found.

My good friend took me and it went smoothly. I've been recovering since then. I went in this past Tuesday for the results. I have between stage three and four endometriosis and he also found subsequent cancer believed to be secondary to a severe endometrial lesion. Pathology said there were clean margins and no obvious signs of metastasis to lymph nodes so we are optimistic they got it all in surgery but I still will have to go through hormone treatment to prevent spread of anything that could have been missed. I also had a loop of bowel partially twisted and adhered to the lumbar region of the back of my abdomen. The area of endometriosis that was at the base of  those adhesions had grown into the nerves coming out of my lower back. My surgeon thinks that this is likely what had been causing the chronic pain and weakening of the muscles around my back that predisposed me to the acute spinal injury... and also the pain that didn't go away after the acute injury seemed to be healing. My orthopedic doctor wasn't willing to look any further or refer me on. He was willing to tell me it was anxiety and if I hadn't kept looking for answers and listened to him I could be in a very scary situation. The cancer could have spread and the endometriosis would have continued to grow un-managed.

I am starting multiple hormone treatments and chemo to lower the risk of cancer spreading or coming back and to slow the progression of the endometriosis. The treatments can take quite a mental and physical toll, the doctor has warned me. There are also a lot of long term impacts that these diagnosis will have on my life but I am just so glad to finally have the right answers! And guess what? Post surgery, my back pain is gone! Please, people if you know there is something wrong deep down and your doctor is telling you there isn't, keep looking. Keep fighting. As I have seen first hand, doctors are far from perfect. Trust your gut!

I plan to keep this updated with both my progress and struggles through treatment as well as my experiences and advice for fellow endo warriors, so if you have endometriosis give me a follow... I'd love to share advice and stories. I will also share my offishal surgical report in a later post.