Endometriosis and NaturopathyEndometriosis and Naturopathic Treatment by Catherine Nash - Naturopath ND, Dip Herb, MURHP, MAMH, MANP, MACH RT The reproductive system is very complex and it has been said that up to 90% of a woman’s energy is taken up in maintaining this system from menstruation, childbirth, pregnancy and the menopause. How then do we fit the rest of our lives in the other 10%? With work, raising children, shopping, keeping ourselves looking good, studying etc, no wonder we feel exhausted all the time and our poor bodies become depleted. It is now known that statistically a woman is three times more immune-vulnerable than men. Gynaecological problems arise partly due to inherited factors and predispositions but are also largely to do with diet, toxicity, lifestyle and emotions. Our bodies just get run down and the system packs up. We get problems like Endometriosis, Fibroids, PMT/PMS, Infertility or Subfertility, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome, Menopausal problems etc. Gynaecologists are extremely busy people! But, why? Has it always been like this? Did our mothers and grandmothers suffer in the same way or with different complaints? Did prehistoric woman suffer from PMT? Did women just die young so gynaecological complaints never arose? Delaying childbirth and the use of the contraceptive pill has been said to contribute to the rise in gynaecological problems. Possibly the fact that our bodies are not constantly in a state of being pregnant or breastfeeding may have something to do with it. (But, us women do like to do other things with our life, other than being pregnant, don’t we?). However, have you also considered the environmental factors such as traces of HRT and Pill hormones are being found in our water supplies, which may have an effect on our own hormonal system. Or that synthetic oestrogens (xenoestrogens) are found in drinking water, given to livestock in feed, are found in plastic wrappings in ready-meals and are thus absorbed into the food when we cook it. These xenoestrogens love living in fatty tissue and aim for breast tissue and the fat cells within women’s bodies causing many women to become “oestrogen sensitive”. Oestrogen sensitivity can lead to breast cancer, fibroids and endometriosis and completely knock our hormonal system out of balance. Now of course, menopausal women are being given HRT, which instead of being called Hormone Replacement Therapy should be called H ardly (the) R ight T reatment. HRT merely suppresses and delays the inevitable and in turn causes havoc with our hormonal system. The use of Mare’s urine (horses that are kept in “battery farm” like coups) is surely not what we want to have in our bodies and then urinate back out again for other women to indirectly consume. Remember our reproductive system should be cherished and celebrated. We should not be in pain, we should not have discomfort, we should not be suffering and WE CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
With diet change, cleansing programmes (including colonics) and herbs, gynaecological complaints can be turned around. I have devised a set of programmes and routines to help combat the following problems:
However, it is not the disease we are treating, it is the person, so each programme is devised according to individual symptoms, predispositions, family history/inherited factors, lifestyle etc. I use Iridology (analysis of the Iris) to determine health strengths and weaknesses and possible cause and effect. Endometriosis The term “endometriosis” means that some of our body cells are growing in the wrong place, like weeds in a garden. Instead of growing inside the womb where they should be, to form the womb lining, these cells have spread outside the womb to the ovaries and other areas of the body. If we knew exactly why these cells did this, it would be easier to find a cure. Endometriosis is the second most common gynaecological disease, affecting one out of every 10 women. This is a specialist area of mine as I have suffered with this disease since the age of 11. Once a month I really thought I was going to die with the pain and would shovel down Codein and put the hottest water bottle on my tummy to try to dull the pain. I remember watching an episode of a well-known TV hospital programme in which it featured people who inappropriately called out ambulances. One of the examples they gave was a woman with period pain. This was mocked and frowned upon. However, although I agree that period pain per se does not warrant the use of the emergency services, there have been times when if someone or something did not take the pain away, I would have called for an ambulance and would have felt justified in doing so. Do not let any medical professional tell you that the pain is “normal”, it’s just “women’s problems”, “take stronger medication”, “have a baby that will get rid of it”, “its just your hormones”, “its got nothing to do with stress, diet or lifestyle” because they are wrong! The endometriosis programme considers diet, lifestyle, cleansing and hormone
balancing herbs, as well as herbs for pain relief and external preparations to clear
toxicity in the abdominal area.
|