Endometriosis and Period Pain
Endometriosis and Period Pain
Endometriosis is the thickening and growth of endometrial tissue (tissue that lines the uterus) outside of the uterus. It often results in pain and infertility, and is the third most common reason for a woman to get a hysterectomy in the United States.
Endometriosis is prevalent in about 10% of women at some point of time in their life. This is not an uncommon condition, and you would think that more research and understanding has been done on this specific problem. Unfortunately, medical treatment still seems to only consist of birth control or having a hysterectomy. Many medical doctors have little understanding of the hormones and other physiological imbalances that play a part in endometriosis, and so are unable to offer targeted solutions.
During the second half of the cycle, endometrial cells actually become a secretory gland rather than just a lining. This means they produce and send out other chemicals. One of the most important chemicals they will produce are cytokines that make things sticky.
Sticky cytokines are supposed to help any egg traveling by to stick to the uterine wall. In endometriosis, this becomes unfortunate. The escaped endometrial cells, which have gone to other places than the uterus, are now much better at sticking to other tissues they're not supposed to.
HOW ENDOMETRIOSIS PLAYS A ROLE IN PERIOD PAIN
Endometrial cells outside of the uterus typically cause pain, especially the week before and week of your period. Many women will never even know they have endometriosis as they might never be tested, or the test might miss it. Instead they just continue to have painful periods and never know why.
Some of the factors that we know play a part in endometriosis:
High estrogen to progesterone ratio and slow estrogen detoxification pathways
Environmental Exposures: Plastics, VOCs, PCBs, Dioxins, etc
Inflammation
Gut microbiome
Genetics (to a small extent)
One of the most important factors in endometriosis (or just painful periods) is a high estrogen level or high estrogen metabolite (breakdown product) level. We test for these levels via a 24 hour urine collection, which is much more accurate than testing via the blood. Estrogen levels can change a lot throughout the day in the blood stream, and is one of the reasons many doctors are hesitant to test estrogen at all.
The Dutch hormone test is an easy, accurate way to test for hormones that have actually been utilized by the cells and then secreted from the body. It also gives us a pretty good idea on whether the liver, gut, and kidneys are keeping up with and getting rid of excess hormones and byproducts in the system.
Want to learn more?
Dr. Samantha Boldt
DC, CFMP
Hi, my name is Dr. Samantha Boldt and I'd like to invite you to attend a very special webinar event titled: "Ditch the Painful Cycles and Fatigue: 3 Steps to Boost Energy and Balance Your Hormones"
Dr. Isaac Jones
7-Figure Virtual Practice Coach
Time left until next webinar
Thursday,
February 17th, 2020
at 8pm EST
Dr. Isaac Jones
7-Figure Virtual Practice Coach
Here's What You'll Learn...
What should a normal cycle actually feel like?
The limitations of traditional medical care and why it doesn't always help
How to properly test for hormone imbalances and track your cycle to give you the best insight
How to change the different metabolic pathways in the body that directly affect hormones
So if you're serious about wanting to
Get Your Hormones Under Control without Unanswered Questions and No Results...
Meet Your Host
Dr. Samantha Boldt
Dr. Samantha Boldt is a functional medicine practitioner located in Colorado. She has had over 500 hours in post-grad functional medicine and hormone training and has become very passionate about educating women about their bodies, their health, and that painful periods are not normal! Dr. Sam herself is a painful period conqueror and also had to overcome chronic lyme disease. Because of her past experiences , she strongly believes that your ability to show up in this lifetime for the ones you love (including yourself) is completely dependent on the health of your body and mind. Women's health has been put in the background or outright ignored for far too long. Women and their hormones are not some great mystery yet to be discovered. We have the knowledge, we just need to do a better job of spreading that information around! She is now taking her 10 year brick-and-mortar practice on-line to help serve, reach, and educate more women about what good hormone health means.
Testimonials from Dr. Samantha Boldt's Training
Cheryl
I have loved working with Dr. Sam! She was the first doctor that I felt truly listened to by, and the first appointment was much more in-depth than anything else I’ve experienced. It was fascinating learning about the body as a whole, rather than just focusing on one symptom or one lab result. I went in because I was having digestive issues, really painful cycles that would sometimes show up and sometimes not, and some mood stuff. I’ve been working with Dr. Sam for 8 months now, and all of those complaints are gone!
Allison
I started seeing Dr. Sam because of high anxiety that felt like it was getting in the way of life, and then a few other more hormone related symptoms. I really didn’t want to go on medication, and she said give me 4 months. If there have been no changes by then, , you can look into medication while we keep improving your health. We worked on a few small dietary changes, added in some supplements after getting the lab results back, and also worked on life habit changes. I thought there was no way we were going to get the changes I was looking for. But by 2 months in, I was already noticing some pretty big differences, and after 6 months, I feel better than I ever have!
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