Collagen Supplements made endo worse?

[Seetheworld]

Hi all, I just wondered if any of you have had any experience of collagen supplements making your endo worse? I went from having mild endometriosis to severe Endometriosis and all my organs stuck together and loss of one kidney function in under a year. The only thing I did differently to other years was introducing powdered collagen supplements to my diet. I'm wondering if this is just a coincidence or if any of you have experienced anything similar?

[Lindle]

I think I would probably question the accuracy of the initial diagnosis of mild endo. Although progression of disease varies significantly between individuals it would usually take years for such severe endo to develop, especially ureteral endo so severe as to cause kidney failure. That wouldn't show at a lap and if the initial diagnosis was by a general gynaecologist they can completely miss deep endo.

[Seetheworld in reply to Lindle]

Yes I think this is much more likely to be the case. My urologist said that my kidney looked to have been blocked for quite some time. I found that the collagen helped my joint pain when I was taking it, so wanted to perhaps try it again. But I'm afraid incase it was that that sped up the endo spreading.

[gatherings]

I'm sorry you are going through this Seetheworld and wishing for you relief & answers! x

Yes, I believe collagen supplements made my endo symptoms worse; however, I cannot speak for how it affected disease progression overall. I agree also with the previous poster that it is worth considering questioning the initial diagnoses of "mild endo". It's a complicated disease and false clears/under-diagnosis can happen.

In my experience, I started taking a collagen (powder supplement) for my hair and was taking it every day and the 2 months I was on it I had a terrible flare, bleeding 3 weeks out of the month and all my symptoms were intensified.

I later learned about collagen having a positive correlation with estrogen, and with endometriosis being estrogen dependent, lead me to believe it may have been a contributing factor -- however I cannot definitely say there weren't other health issues that may have contributed.

Also, because once I discontinued the supplement (ran out and just didn't order more) my next menstrual cycle was not quite as intense..after that I had surgery so it's hard to compare post-lap to prior but anyway. The potential benefits it would have given my hair were only anecdotal according to my dermatologist who I consulted about it, so I personally avoid collagen supplements at this time..

[Seetheworld]

Thank you Gatherings, yes it is hard to get any solid information on it but I did wonder about how it might impact estrogen. I think I will avoid it for now just in case. I think it's likely my endometriosis was more severe than they thought, but I definitely only started experiencing kidney pain after taking the collagen supplements, even if the problem had already begun before, I think the collagen probably progressed it. X

[Callmedaisy]

This is true.I have been taking collagen drinks from japan(shiseido) and everytime i drink it I would have a flareup after an hour or so.. I dont know why , 2 years ago it was ok.but now all of a sudden my body does not react well with collagen drinks.1000mg its pretty low , ive tried collagen tablets they seem to work i dont get any flare ups but the collagen drink version seems to work better when it comes to anti-aging..im curious, if collagen is a no no for endometriosis, what is the alternative?

[Butterfly2234]

I’ve always had pretty mild symptoms until I started taking collagen supplements. Then ended up with weeks of a lot of pain. Subsided and has gone back to normal. I’m definitely not touching the stuff again!

[Ayesfreen]

I strongly believe that collagen made my endo worst, I only ever had painful period for couple of days every month which was always controlled by NSAID however, after taking collagen for about 5 months endo flare was worst to a point where pain became unbearable, almost like labour pain during period and outside period. My endo was rapidly spread through to bladder and bowl as well. I had had to have surgery about a year ago. Please ladies don't ever take collagen supplement if you have Endometriosis.

I took marine collagen.

[ChocoholicJunky]

Hi I hope you are well. I just wondered if you got an answer about the collagen as I am in the exact same situation. Since I have started taking the collagen I have been getting really bad endometriosis flare ups. And it has also spread quite significantly.