Hi everyone! Maybe a daft question....does anyone find if they get poorly with something else, like flu, that it makes their endo flare up or their symptoms worse when it does? After a couple of months of much reduced pain (my lap and merina insertion was in June) I've had the worst flare up yet this month that lasted for two weeks and totally wiped me out. The pain was bad but more it was the fatigue that did me in. My other half has also just been told he has flu and so I'm wondering if I've been fighting that off too. Does it make sense that an illness can make inflammation of endo/adeno worse?
I'm probably grasping at straws, i'm always so desperate to find a reason why things are the way they are when really the reason is probably just: endo!
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BikeRiderGirl
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There are no silly questions and I find the same. Just had this cold virus and it’s made my Endo worse.
Our bodies fight the disease and also the inflammatory response kicks in and so we get exhausted. I don’t think science k ow if Endo is an autoimmune disease or not yet. I just think it is because of so many women experiencing as you have described.
Nutrient dense foods and supplements can help our recovery. Water intake.
It’s all so exhausting when you’re exhausted but that’s the things isn’t it? Breaking the cycle, trying things and moving through the shitty times with each other x
Trying to do things today to help myself - wading through treacle here!
Thanks so much, that's really helpful. I know what you mean about breaking the cycle. When I'm feeling well it's much easier to do the "right" things but when I'm poorly it all goes out the window! I definitely don't take feeling good for granted anymore that's for sure.
Such a good point. Like a prepared "smash in case of emergency" kit to get through the worst days! The one thing I really should do is start putting pre made meals in the freezer, my partner is awesome but cooking is definitely not his strong point so when I'm ill we end up with takeaways which is not the dream.
Yes definitely I find this, even years before I was diagnosed I found I was very prone to general sickness etc just felt I had a weaker immune system to those around me no matter how healthy I ate, how many vitamins I took etc. I recently had a bad pain flare and the next day came down with flu and do think they are linked. Our bodies are working overtime to deal with multiple things, I find the fatigue while trying to work is crippling. There was a discovery recently of a gene they think is responsible for endo which links it more to being an auto-immune and inflammatory disease similar to inflammatory bowel disease for example and would explain why even after surgery it can come back and people still have pain etc. If you google Dr Lara Briden she has an article about it. It makes me cross that endo has been under researched for so, so long that they are only discovering these things now as potentially there could be effective treatments for us. It has been dismissed a ‘menstrual disorder’ when in fact it is a whole body disease. For example a relative of mine has Chron’s disease and takes immune suppressant medication and it has helped them massively, they are in far healthier shape than me! Here’s hoping the science catches up for endometriosis. X
Absolutely - your immune system is working full time on endo/adeno already, and it sounds like your lap and other treatments helped a lot with the symptoms, which is great! Your immune system is able to manage a bit easier than it did (hence why you've been feeling better more generally). But it is still going to be working on those issues despite the surgery because they don't go away with a lap - they're significantly lessened, but they aren't cured, so to speak. If you add a tough illness in like the flu, now your immune system needs to fight that off, too. It seems like it now does okay with the endo/adeno on its own, but it can't always cope with additional illnesses. So the endo/adeno symptoms are going to flare a bit when you have another illness because the immune system is working overtime and can't easily deal with everything all at once. And the immune system working overtime like that leads to exhaustion as a natural way to help the body fight off illness. You should hopefully start to feel better shortly after the flu passes!
That is actually a great question. And my answer is Absolutely. My family and I were sick a few weeks ago with.....some sort of horrible cold virus. It wasn't flu or Covid but whatever it was I felt terrible.. My Endo was AWFUL. But I also have other issues- bartholin cysts and PCOS. All I know is it's getting harder and harder to get over illness these days and my uterine pain is amplified when I AM sick with a cold or anything else. I just want my life back.
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