Helen Joubert https://www.helenjoubert.com/
"Through the power of nutrition, I had not only improved my symptoms exponentially, but I took back control, and found my vocation at the same time. "
I want to tell you about something very close to my heart. It's actually the reason I studied 3 long, hard, but wonderful years to become a Nutritional Therapist.
Most Nutritional Therapists become NTs because of personal experience, either themselves or with a loved one. For me, the reason was that I had had Endometriosis. I actually had it since pretty much my early 20’s. Heavy bleeding, horrible cramps, debilitating pain, exhaustion. Eventually, at around the age of 30, my periods changed a bit - still heavy, but more frequent, so I thought I should get it checked out. My GP had a rummage around and felt lumps and asked if I had private healthcare, which I did, and he booked me an appointment with a gynae for the next day. I had scans, and the next week, I was booked in for an op. "It's probably endometriosis", he said, " but just to be certain, I want to go in and have a look and do a biopsy". He could fix it there and then if they found anything, so I said OK. It was horrible. I was so constipated afterwards that I developed a fissure (a tear in your bottom), and had to sit on a cushion for 2 weeks. I thought that was pretty much as bad as it could get.
So, a bit about Endometriosis...
It is an inflammatory condition where endometrial tissue grows outside of the uterus. It is believed to affect around 200 million women worldwide. It's debilitating, painful, depressing, exhausting, and can cause infertility or subfertility. Depressingly, when I was studying to be a Nutritional Therapist, I remember researching the condition for a presentation I had to do. Back then, my research found that it would take anything from 5-7 years to get a diagnosis. It seems that today, it takes anything from 7 years and up to 10 years! Unacceptable. And still the only treatment is to laser it out, totally mess up your hormones, or remove your reproductive organs. I can't believe that we haven't progressed AT ALL in 20 odd years.
Back to my experience of Endo.
6 months after my op, I was on medication that made me more exhausted than the endo. My personality changed. I was aggressive. I hated hated hated it. The other advice was to get pregnant as soon as possible. Great. Brilliant. Helpful when I'm on meds to stop my periods. I was on these meds for 9 months. Then I was put straight onto the contraceptive pill. It was 6 months in that I thought there has to be another way. I couldn’t yo-yo on this for the rest of my menstruating years. I started digging and found the endometriosis society, run by someone called Dian Shepperson Mills. Dian is a Nutritional Therapist. I got in touch, made an appointment, and the rest is history. I changed my diet completely. No more meds.
The endo never came back.
I still had pretty heavy periods, but none of the debilitating pain and fatigue. And not as heavy. Previously, the pain experienced was so awful that I couldn’t get out of bed to even get painkillers. At my lowest I fainted at work because of the pain, and my dad had to come and collect me. It was the power of nutrition that led me to take the path I'm on now. So, the ONLY good thing to come out of having endometriosis was that I found my vocation!
By balancing my hormones, and boosting my immunity, through reducing and eliminating some foods (caffeine, alcohol, sugar, saturated fats) and increasing foods like fruit & veg, fibre, complex carbs, and using supplements, my life completely changed. Through the power of nutrition, I had not only improved my symptoms exponentially, but I took back control, and found my vocation at the same time.
So if you have painful periods, don’t wait 10 years. Help is out there!
All Zest4life Nutritionists offer a 30 minute complimentary call. Book yours to find out how nutritional therapy may be able to help you.
Comments