Picture a puffy white dandelion that has gone to seed blowing in the wind, with all of the tiny parachuted seeds spawning new dandelions across your front lawn. Now picture yourself trying to get rid of all of those deep-rooted weeds that crop up again and again and again, even after being pulled, mowed and sprayed. Think also of how your whole body hurts after a day spent on your knees wrestling with these yellow devils. By now you have a pretty clear picture of what endometriosis is all about: easily spread, hard as heck to get rid of and downright painful.
Of course, endometriosis is a whole lot harder to live with than a lawn full of dandelions—almost impossible for many women whose menstrual cycles become monthly nightmares of extreme cramping and bleeding. But help may be on the horizon, say the experts, and it may be as close as your local supermarket.
“We’ve found that adopting a healthy lifestyle goes a long way in preventing and relieving the symptoms of endometriosis,” says Susan M. Lark, M.D., author of Fibroid Tumors and Endometriosis: A Self-Help Program, director of the PMS and Menopause Self-Help Center in Los Altos, California, and a physician specializing in women’s health. As part of her practice, Dr. Lark helps women with endometriosis live pain-free through a wide variety of dietary regimens and herbal and nutritional supplements.
Before you start stocking your pantry, it will help to understand what causes endometriosis and how it affects your body.
Strange Tissue in Strange Places
Endometriosis is simply tissue growing where it doesn’t belong. During normal menstruation, cells from the uterine lining, the endometrium, break off and are flushed out through the vagina. In someone with endometriosis, these cells back up into the fallopian tubes. From there, they flow into the pelvic cavity and, like dandelion seeds, implant themselves in places you’d rather they not be, such as the cervix and the bowels. Being uterine tissue, these implants respond to hormone stimulation, swelling and bleeding each month just as they would if they were still inside the uterus. Except this blood doesn’t have the vagina for an escape route. It gets trapped in the pelvic cavity, where it can cause pain, inflammation, cysts, scar tissue and even structural damage and infertility.
No one knows why these implants occur in some women but not others. Some researchers believe excessive circulating estrogen may be to blame. Others say that an impaired immune system is likely at fault.
Bad Times Call for Good Nutrition
That’s why nutrition is so important, say the experts. Whether estrogen or immunity is to blame, all of your body’s systems need to be operating at maximum efficiency to properly regulate your hormones, maintain your immunity and keep endometrial implants at bay.
This is not to say that medical treatments such as estrogen-blocking hormones and surgical removal of endometrial growths aren’t effective, says Dr. Lark. They are. But too often endometrial implants recur even after surgical removal.
“Nutritional plans are particularly successful for women who have recently undergone traditional treatment,” says Dr. Lark. “I don’t suggest that women not use medications, because hormone treatments can really help lessen endometriosis. But to prevent the pain from recurring, nutritional programs work very well.”
The following are nutrients that many experts recommend for controlling endometriosis.
Note: Because the required doses are high and vary from woman to woman, be sure to consult your doctor before starting a nutritional regimen. Because getting the Daily Values of all of the essential nutrients is important if you have endometriosis, doctors who use nutritional regimens recommend starting with a general multivitamin/mineral supplement and adding additional supplements as needed.
| Food Factors The best line of dietary defense for women with endometriosis is a healthful diet full of fruits, grains and vegetables and void of fatty foods, which can aggravate the disease. Here's what many experts recommend. Lighten up on dairy products. One of the most common recommendations made by endometriosis experts is to eliminate or limit consumption of dairy products. Dairy products contain saturated fat, which puts stress on the liver and increases circulating estrogen, says Susan M. Lark, M.D., author of Fibroid Tumors and Endometriosis: A Self-Help Program, director of the PMS and Menopause Self-Help Center in Los Altos, California, and a physician specializing in women's health. Saturated fat also produces a muscle-contracting component in the body called prostaglandin F2-alpha, which can make the cramps and inflammation of endometriosis much worse, says Dr. Lark. Stick to veggies. Because meats also contain saturated fat, experts recommend getting your nutrients from whole-grain and vegetable sources whenever possible. Go organic. When shopping for veggies, buy organic whenever you can; when you can't, scrub or peel your fruits and vegetables before eating them. Several studies show a direct correlation between exposure to dioxin, a chemical found in pesticides, and the incidence of endometriosis in laboratory animals. Cut caffeine. Caffeine depletes the body's B vitamin stores and hampers healthy liver function, which can increase estrogen levels and worsen endometriosis symptoms. Women should limit coffee, black tea, Banish alcohol. Since optimum liver function is essential for mopping up excess estrogen and controlling endometriosis, imbibing alcohol is a definite no-no, says Dr. Lark. Eliminating alcohol from the body stresses the liver, she explains. Dr. Lark recommends that women with endometriosis avoid alcohol entirely, if possible. |
B Vitamins Lower Estrogen Levels
If you’re looking for a natural way to keep your estrogen levels low and thus reduce recurrent episodes of endometriosis, try boosting your intake of B-complex vitamins, say the experts.
“The liver is responsible for breaking down and disposing of excess estrogen,” explains Dr. Lark. “The B vitamins are important in regulating estrogen because they promote a healthy liver. Studies dating back to the 1940s show that if you remove B vitamins from animals’ food, they can no longer metabolize estrogen.” Studies have also shown that B vitamin supplementation helps alleviate other symptoms of excess estrogen, such as premenstrual syndrome and fibrocystic breasts, she says.
Some women apparently find that supplements alone do the trick for them. Dian Mills, for example, a nutrition consultant in London and author of Female Health: The Nutrition Connection, became a strong advocate of B vitamin supplements through personal experience.
“I was in absolute crawl-around-the-house agony. And none of the traditional treatments was taking the pain away,” recalls Mills. Her doctor even recommended a hysterectomy, advice she flatly refused. “So I went to doctors of nutritional medicine in London, and I’ve been pain-free ever since.”
Mills’s supplement regimen included B vitamins, particularly thiamin, riboflavin and vitamin B6. Not only did her pain disappear, but she was so inspired by her success with the nutrition program that she went on to study clinical nutrition at the Institute of Optimum Nutrition in London and is now pursuing her master’s degree in health education at the University of Brighton in England.
Dr. Lark recommends that women with endometriosis take considerably more than the Daily Values of the B vitamins. She suggests approximately 50 milligrams each of thiamin, riboflavin, niacin and pantothenic acid, 30 milligrams of vitamin B6, 50 micrograms of vitamin B12, 400 micrograms of folic acid and 200 micrograms of biotin.
You can also fortify your diet with B vitamins by eating whole-grain cereals, pastas and rice, fish, legumes and green, leafy vegetables.
| Prescriptions for Healing Increasingly, endometriosis specialists are discovering the power of nutritional healing. But since the necessary doses can be high and vary from woman to woman, they recommend consulting a physician before starting a vitamin and mineral regimen. Because getting the Daily Values of all of the essential nutrients is important if you have endometriosis, doctors who use nutritional regimens recommend starting with a general multivitamin/mineral supplement and adding other supplements as needed. Nutrient Daily Amount
Beta-carotene 25,000-50,000 international units Biotin 200 micrograms Folic acid 400 micrograms Niacin 50 milligrams Pantothenic acid 50 milligrams Riboflavin 50 milligrams Selenium 25 micrograms thiamin 50 milligrams Vitamin B6 30 milligrams Vitamin B12 50 micrograms Vitamin C 1,000-4,000 milligrams Vitamin E 400-2,000 international units
MEDICAL ALERT: If you have symptoms of endometriosis, you should see a doctor for proper diagnosis and treatment. Doses of vitamin C exceeding 1,200 milligrams a day may cause diarrhea. Before taking the amount of vitamin E recommended here, you should discuss it with your doctor. Doses of vitamin E exceeding 600 international units a day can cause side effects in some people. If you are taking anticoagulant drugs, you should not take vitamin E supplements. |
Antioxidant Onslaught
Another way to thwart the effects of endometriosis is by upping your intake of these antioxidant nutrients: vitamins C and E, beta-carotene (which converts to vitamin A in the body) and the mineral selenium. Antioxidants are best known for their ability to fight free radicals, the naturally occurring unstable molecules that cause tissue damage in the body by stealing electrons from healthy molecules to balance themselves. Doctors know that antioxidants can also build immunity, lessen cramping and reduce excessive menstrual bleeding. All of these are useful functions in treating endometriosis.
“While you can’t just pop these supplements and expect instant relief from acute pain, I’ve found that doses of antioxidants, along with dietary changes, can treat the chronic problem of endometriosis,” says Dr. Lark.
Dr. Lark recommends a daily regimen of 1,000 to 4,000 milligrams of vi tamin C, 25,000 to 50,000 international units of beta-carotene, 400 to 2,000 international units of vitamin E and 25 micrograms of selenium. These are dosages at which she has arrived during her many years of treating women’s health problems.
Because the recommended doses of vitamin C and vitamin E are many times the Daily Values of these nutrients, you should check with your doctor before trying this therapy. Vitamin C can cause diarrhea when taken in doses exceeding 1,200 milligrams a day.
And just because symptoms improve, that doesn’t mean you can stop taking supplements, cautions Dr. Lark.
Antioxidants can have a dramatic effect on the regulation of bleeding as well as on the reduction of pain and cramps that may accompany endometriosis, says Dr. Lark. “Vitamin C is good for controlling excessive bleeding,” she explains. “Vitamin A has also been shown to lessen profuse menstrual bleeding. And vitamin E has antispasmodic effects, which help in pain management.”
To get more antioxidants in your diet, start by hitting the farmers market. Broccoli, spinach and cantaloupe are excellent sources of vitamin C and beta-carotene; cabbage, celery and cucumbers are great sources of selenium. For more vitamin E, try sautéing these veggies in sunflower oil or safflower oil. Or reach for a handful of almonds, another good source of vitamin E.
