It has taken me years to figure out the best endometriosis lifestyle tips that actually have an impact on my level of pain each month. I tell myself that I’m the type of person who is aware and can pinpoint why I feel the way I do, but in all honesty, I have to remind myself daily to take notes on what I ate, what products I used, what type of stress (or lack of sleep) I was under, and what I did to help (or hurt) pain.
So this list of endometriosis lifestyle tips is something that I’ve been paying attention to for the past year and a half, ever since I gave up alcohol and sugar, and got back to ensuring that every restaurant I ate at did not use dairy in their veg offerings. It’s been a process, lots of discovery, and lots of hits and misses.
Below are the best endometriosis lifestyle tips that have worked for me. I hope they work for you.
The Top 12 Endometriosis Lifestyle Tips
- While on your period, eat as light as possible. Not only in the types of foods you eat, but also in the quantity of foods you eat. The types of foods part was easy for me: as I explained, I rediscovered kitchari and it’s been my saving grace for over 6 months now. It’s the quantity that is still really hard for me. I blame this on ADHD, or maybe simply a lack of willpower, but if food is in front of me, I eat it. Also, I get seconds (and sometimes thirds) almost every single night of the veggie soups and grain bowls that I make. I eat a lot of food. During the heaviest days of my cycle, and on my fertile days, I really have to adjust and limit what I eat. This is difficult for me, and it works. It is, in my opinion, the most important endometriosis lifestyle tip.
- Apply heat. And a lot of it. The heating pads that you heat up in the microwave do nothing for me – they don’t get hot enough, and they quickly feel “wet” and I absolutely hate feeling wet. The electric ones work – not only do they get hot, but they stay hot. Also, I have to crank them up to the highest setting. It almost feels like I’m burning myself, and actually sometimes I literally am. It’s the only thing (aside from meds) that gets the pain away. Get the biggest pad you can find, turn it on as hot as you can manage, and press it hard into whatever areas of your body hurt the most for you. There’s also companies that make heated pants that my husband just ordered for me. I’ll report back once I try them out. Along with eating less, applying heat is my most needed endometriosis lifestyle tip.
- Exercise. I know, I know…I’m so over being told this. But you don’t have to do much. You really just need to walk – briskly – every single day, for 30 minutes, especially if you have endo pain throughout the month (like me), and not just during your cycle. This actually could easily be endometriosis lifestyle tip #1; it’s that important. For me, on the days that I do not walk and days I’m stuck behind my computer for hours on end, my ovary and thigh pain starts up – not as bas as when I’m on my actual cycle or during my fertile days, but bad enough that I notice. I also practice yoga every morning – just for 10-30 minutes, at home, depending on how much time I have, and I’m sure that helps, too. Find what works for you, and stick with it, even on your worst cycle days. That part is hardest for me, as when the pain hits I want nothing else than to be in bed. But blood circulation really, really helps.
- CBD helps relax; it does not help with pain. I take a 50 mg CBD gummy on my worst days. It does not completely knock out pain, but it relaxes my muscles enough that the heat from my heating pad can then help dramatically reduce the pain. On the days that are bad but not critical, I’ll take a 25 mg CBD gummy. Please note, you are not supposed to take these with Naproxen. Apparently it’s not as bad to take them with Midol, however, please please please consult your doctor. I am not a doctor. Also, I can only take a 50 mg while I’m off of work; I do not suggest leaving the house or doing anything remotely intense if you’re taking a 50. Also, CBD gummies help me FINALLY get sleep, which is not something I get much of these days. For me, they don’t work on a daily basis, (and CBN for sleep does not work for me consistently, either) so I save them for when it’s really bad or I’m simply really exhausted and need a nap, but my body won’t allow it. CBD works.
- Speaking of relaxing: relax your muscles. Relax your jaw. Relax your pelvic floor muscles. Thanks to my studies with Leslie Howard, I have known for years now how closely the jaw and pelvic muscles are interrelated. If you clench your jaw, you’re also probably clenching your pelvic floor muscles. Find a local pelvic floor physical therapist to help you, and then work on the practices they teach you at home. Meditate. Body scan. Practice restorative yoga. These seemingly small things really help over time. Work to stop clenching! I’m constantly stressed and constantly tight and it will take me a lifetime of this reminder to get me to finally relax. I think this is probably the most underrated and overlooked endometriosis lifestyle tip.
- Speaking of stress: you gotta reduce it. My pelvic floor physical therapist and my enneagram coach both said I need to be getting regular massages in order to chill. I did not listen, but maybe you will. Find ways to de-stress. For me, it’s yoga, especially restorative yoga, and turmeric lattes, and being with my dogs, and laughing with my husband, and cooking a delicious meal, and looking at the mountains. Find what works for you and add it to your schedule, which means you also need to find what stresses you out and try to remove it, reduce it, or deal with it better. This leads me to:
- Reduce your schedule on your cycle weeks. My introverted tendencies really, really keep me away from people and from the most amount of meetings I can possibly get away with. Introvert or not, you have to be less social the week of your menstrual cycle. If you have plans, cancel. People understand. And if they don’t, they are not your friends. When my periods were terribly painful, I had to cancel vacations at the last minute, which if you know me, is the single thing I look forward to the most in life. But I know I can’t handle lots of things going on and trying to be social when all my body needs is to rest. This is another one of the top endometriosis lifestyle tips that often gets overlooked, especially here in America. We love to stay busy. Stop it. Rest!
- Wear bigger clothes, underwear, and pajamas. Trying to cram our bloated bellies into our normal sized pants, underwear, and pajamas, is just silly. I keep 2 sets of pajamas, 2 sets of sweats, and 2 sets of real clothes for my heaviest days. I only wear the real clothes if I absolutely have to leave the house, otherwise I’m in the sweats or pajamas. You don’t need extra pressure on your belly!
- Try acupuncture. My favorite acupuncturist in Santa Fe just moved to NY, so I’m a little lost at the moment. But if you have a fantastic acupuncturist in town, please give them a try. Read their reviews and ask friends. Not all acupuncturists are the same. I went to one in Fort Worth that was nothing like mine in Santa Fe. If I had only gone to the acupuncturist in Fort Worth, I would have given up on acupuncture years ago. This can be one of the more expensive endometriosis lifestyle tips, but if you have a good one near you and can budget it in, I highly recommend it.
- Talk to your friends and family. This one was harder for me; I don’t know if it’s b/c I was raised in a hush-hush, be perfect, only talk about certain things, Catholic house; or if it’s my Gen-X tendencies; or if it’s just me. But I rarely told friends, family, and coworkers what I was going through each month. I just sucked it up and pretended like my period pain was the same as the gal who could pop a Tylenol and go along with her day. Endo pain is the worst type of pain. It truly is. I’ve said this before, but I have friends who have endo and also gave birth naturally, and they say endo pain is worse than natural childbirth. And endo pain isn’t just once in a lifetime!! Endo pain happens each month, sometimes each week throughout the month, for multiple days on end. You need to talk about your pain. Even if people can’t relate, they need to know how debilitating this is.
- Look into what supplements and herbs you may need. I actually reduced what I was taking after my last doc visit, but I’ll list the most common supplements here, and also state that you really need to talk to your doc about this, and also take the right quantity. For example, zinc comes in really high quantities and you don’t need that much. Pay attention to this for each supplement, and when you can, just eat foods that provide these instead of supplementing. For me, I take: D3, B-complex, iron, Omega-3 algae oil, turmeric with black pepper, and Ayurvedic herbs that my Ayurvedic health coach suggested for me. When I was going to my acupuncturist, I took Chinese herbs from her instead of the Ayurvedic herbs. Talk to providers and find what’s right for you. Also, I was taking zinc and magnesium but then stopped after my doc said I didn’t need them, and I have read a lot of medical articles about the positive effects of NAC. I took that for a bit, and then stopped. I might start it up again, but wanted to see how the herbs helped before adding anything else.
- Take the pain meds. This is my least favorite endometriosis lifestyle tip. It’s the one that I have been working so hard to not do. For me, on my lighter pain days, I take Midol. On my worst days, I take prescription-strength Naproxen that my doctor prescribes to me. The problem that I”m sure everyone who is reading this knows is that there’s no telling what days will produce the most pain. I’ve had my fertile days be as bad as my period days in the past. So I’ve made mistakes with meds and I hate it when that happens. If I have something I absolutely have to do and cannot get out of, I will take the Naproxen. It irritates me, but nothing is worse than endo pain, and sometimes you just gotta suck it up and do what works.
So that’s it – the top 12 endometriosis lifestyle tips that actually worked for me.
Two Endometriosis Lifestyle Tips That I Have Yet to Try
- CBD Suppositories – I ordered these CBD Suppositories from Foria but have yet to try them. They have mixed reviews. I’ll keep you posted.
- Castor Oil Packs – I ordered the organic castor oil and the wraps to apply them, but have yet to try them out. They just sound really messy and, again, I truly hate that wet feeling. I will plan to try them out soon, though, and report back. Please note, if you try them, do not use them during your cycle. It sounds like you can use them in the weeks before, but never while you’re bleeding.
Endometriosis Surgical Procedures
Here’s one other thing that I want to mention: endo laparoscopic excision surgery and hysterectomies. If that’s not the biggest endometriosis lifestyle tip, I don’t know what else is. It’s OK if these are right for you and the road you decide to go down. I have massive respect for anyone who takes this amount of pain into their own hands and calls bullshit on all of my endometriosis lifestyle tips above. You have to do what’s right for you.
All but one of my doctors recommended I get a hysterectomy. The 4th doctor recommended I do 6 months of pelvic floor physical therapy, daily suppositories, 8 weeks of steroid shots, and then have a laparoscopic excision surgery. My PT recommended not doing the surgery, and going back to the tips above. Every medical professional has different opinions, and quite frankly, there’s no silver bullet. If you have laparoscopic excision surgery, that does not prevent endometrial tissue from growing back, and you’ll often be back in debilitating pain in a year (or sometimes less). If you have a hysterectomy, there’s so many problems that could occur, to your bladder and to your body in general.
I choose to continue on with the tips above, in addition to the diet modifications I mentioned last week. You have to decide what’s right for you, and you have to be OK if you change your mind and try a more invasive procedure down the road. I have to be OK with this for me, too. There’s no manual for this. We’re all different, and we’re all unique with what’s important to us.
If you’d like to read more about my journey, here’s the first post I wrote about diet changes for endo, and last week I published my full vegan endometriosis diet guide. I hope these are helpful for you. Please let me know if so, or if other tips worked for you!
Also, there are many endo support channels on Reddit that I have found extremely helpful over the years. I would be remiss to not mention Reddit, as those women have shared so much about their pain, what worked, and what did not, and led me to try so much of the above. Here’s to women supporting women.
With love,
Jen