“Current studies clearly indicate that the immune system plays a role in endometriosis and that women with it have immune system abnormalities.” – from Coping With Endometriosis, Robert H. Phillips, Ph.D. and Glenda Motta, R.N. (published 2000)

ENDOMETRIOSISTERS, forgive me.

I should have written this piece when Covid-19 first began its terrible trek from the East. Someone had to speak to you, specifically, about your situation.

    Covid-19 attacks persons with compromised immune systems.

    “You’re at high risk!” they told my adult onset diabetic sister at work, a full two weeks before the Trinidad & Tobago Government put my nation on “self-distancing lock-down.”

    I bet you no one was uttering those words to endometriosis sufferers.

    It’s hard enough getting our disease to be recognised as existing (the numbers of women who remain undiagnosed are staggering). It’s difficult enough to get proper, actually helpful treatment (in TnT, hysterectomy remains preferred, even on otherwise healthy women in the prime of their child-bearing life). 

    So it seems impossible to have the following acknowledged:

“Other studies strongly suggest that endometriosis should be classified as an autoimmune disease, a condition in which the antibodies of the body’s immune system, for some reason, turn around and fight healthy tissue within the body.” – ibid.

    Yep, right up there with chronic heart disease and hypertension.

    Ain’t that a kick in the crotch

    Listen, one of the reasons I failed to do any posting was that facing Covid fears and other large life dramas, I was undergoing a high stress period (pun acknowledged). Stress is my number one endo flare up trigger. *sigh*

    But, throughout I was thinking about all of you who might be experiencing your own hyped up discomforts, pressures and agonies, without the balm of at least understanding what might be causing it. As the song lyrics go,

“I wanna hold your ha-a-a-a-and!”

ENDO & IMMUNITY: Getting Over You

A normal immune system protects you. It generates defending cells called ANTIBODIES, to fight off invading germs and other foreign bodies intent on harm.

Evidence shows that endometrial cells misplaced in the peritoneal cavity are classified by your local immune cells as “foreign.” These are wiped out in women with healthy immune systems. So endometriosis can only grow in an immune system where antibodies are less able to eliminate misplaced tissue.

Supporting this is the fact that endo suffering women often cope simultaneously with other auto-immune conditions, including: multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, ulcerative colitis, chronic fatigue and yeast infections (candida).

IMMUNITY  ALL IN YOU: Go on, Girl!

A healthy immune system is beautiful balance.

The blood supply, lymph system and small sets of organs known as the tonsils, thymus gland and the spleen, operate in synchrony. One primary job is to produce white cells in the blood (leukocytes), with the superlative function to defend against disease.

An immune system working at optimum level shields us from infections and infestations. Furthermore, an uncompromised system ensures quick and efficient recovery from illness.

SPOTTING A WEAKENED IMMUNE SYSTEM

Do these symptoms of a weak immune system look familiar?

Inflammation, aches and pain, repeated infections, chronic diarrhea, fatigue, listlessness, allergic reactions, slow wound healing

You’re like: “Aren’t most of those because of my endo?”

My theory is that with endo we have FIRST LINE and SECOND LINE symptoms. I’ll devote an entire post to that soon.

Some symptoms which we accept as being caused by endo, may in fact be caused by the self same weak immune system that gave rise to our endo in the first place.

By boosting our weakened immune system, we could eliminate some of the above listed symptoms altogether, and provide outstanding protection against diseases like Covid-19.

Savvy up via my next post.

In beauty may you walk 

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