скачать книгу бесплатно
Endometriosis: A Key to Healing Through Nutrition
Michael Vernon
Dian Shepperson Mills
Offering safe and practical nutritional and healthcare advice – this book is vital for all women wishing to overcome the pain of endometriosis.Endometriosis is the condition in which the lining of the womb grows on other organs outside of the uterus, frequently causing intolerable pain. In some cases it may lead to problems conceiving or infertility. However, there is relief for this condition as Dian Shepperson Mills illustrates in this book.Endometriosis is a detailed, insightful look at a disease which affects approximately one in ten women worldwide. Drawing upon years of research, Dian Mills and Michael Vernon show how the right diet can provide the key to optimum health in overcoming endometriosis.This book contains:An explanation of how endometriosis affects the body and advice on how to cope with it.An account of the key role played by nutritious and healthy food.Information on foods that are harmful and foods with healing qualities.Delicious recipes and practical menu suggestions.
Copyright (#ulink_bb0ac4d3-9068-506a-ae75-2bdc84ac2ecd)
Thorsons
An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
First published in Great Britain in 1999 by Element Books Limited This edition published by Thorsons 2002
Copyright © Dian Shepperson Mills and Michael Vernon 1999
Text illustrations: Janice Sharp
Photography: R.S.A. Photography Ltd
Note: the information contained in this book is true and complete to the best of the authors’ knowledge and is given for the purpose of helping people who suspect or know that they suffer from endometriosis. This book is not to be used as a substitute for professional medical treatment. The ultimate decision concerning care should be between you and your doctor. The information in this book is general and is offered with no guarantees on the part of the authors or Element Books. The authors and Publisher disclaim all liability in connection with the use of this book.
Dian Shepperson Mills and Michael Vernon assert the moral right to be identified as the authors of this work
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or here in after invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks
HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication
Source ISBN: 9780007133109
Ebook Edition © JANUARY 2017 ISBN: 9780007386420
Version: 2017-01-24
Praise (#ulink_0d259394-71a4-5738-b1b9-563cef65bc59)
Praise for
Endometriosis:
A Key to Healing and Fertility Through Nutrition
‘Many women with endometriosis have found that nutrition can play a major role in overcoming some of the most debilitating effects of the disease. Dian Mills has studied the role of nutrition in treating endometriosis and, together with Michael Vernon, has made this information available in an understandable and compassionate way in this very helpful book.’
Mary Lou Ballweg, President
INTERNATIONAL ENDOMETRIOSIS ASSOCIATION
‘The book is simple, easy to comprehend and will be embraced by a large majority, particularly those afflicted with endometriosis. It will be essential reading for scientists and the general public interested directly or indirectly in endometriosis.’
Dr O A Odukoya
DEPARTMENT OF OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY
JESSOP HOSPITAL FOR WOMEN SHEFFIELD
‘Endometriosis has an effect on all aspects of the life of a woman who suffers from this debilitating and perplexing condition. Modern medicine has made great strides in bringing help and relief to many women. Unfortunately, to date, there is still no known cure.
‘During my years as Chair to the NES it became obvious that women are more than willing to help themselves. Regrettably, the tools to do this have been few and far between. With the publication of this book women will now have the opportunity to try to help themselves without resorting to powerful drugs and/or surgery, or to use the information as complementary alongside orthodox medicine. I welcome a book that will give women a choice.’
Diane Carlton, SRN, D/N Cert
SENIOR PRACTICE NURSE
CHAIR TO THE NATIONAL
ENDOMETRIOSIS SOCIETY 1983–97,
FOUNDER AND CHAIR OF THE SHE TRUST
Contents
Cover (#u9a86a8f7-bcbd-57bd-9ddf-773bc0c80fd0)
Title Page (#u726ba61b-430c-56a6-8492-4a1c9a137c9b)
Copyright (#ulink_cb33e5a1-d811-5b84-b560-4610eed40759)
Praise (#ulink_aac0decf-e32a-5842-84e3-c090eecb3f8d)
Foreword (#ulink_fc7f0281-e15f-5005-9db8-b59cfc4febdf)
1 What’s happening to me? (#ulink_0aecaac8-fc86-5948-9ae9-d8f6d40cb05c)
2 How endometriosis affects your body (#ulink_bb09502f-826d-5194-a8c3-addc86386fbf)
3 Ovaries, ovarian cysts and syndrome X (#ulink_f149d89f-287c-5bf7-9daf-d78f6de4350e)
4 Coping with the pain of endometriosis (#ulink_a97f7d76-0495-55ce-9a67-dc062e473472)
5 Why is my fertility threatened? (#ulink_70537cb3-8e94-5d31-9c64-e7377c76c7f6)
6 Many treatments, few cures? (#ulink_8cf21d91-6203-5d48-91aa-41fdb85727a1)
7 The holistic approach to endometriosis (#ulink_64197a35-e121-5dd7-9282-e51cc3fa2c80)
8 The nervous system and low moods (#ulink_3f61a64b-590f-554d-bcb4-c191640d00c1)
9 Strengthening the immune system (#ulink_8d582f15-66cb-5408-a73c-3596746e45da)
10 Digestion and the reproductive system (#ulink_209d0201-ceba-5381-af96-f11809ac85c0)
11 Nutrition for endometriosis and fertility (#ulink_e13c19be-b130-58cf-9a0a-505b6c01f394)
12 Food – the best choice for health (#ulink_073ff8b9-cf39-513f-ae8d-28c4dd2ac65b)
13 Furthering research: let’s find the cure (#ulink_c37f47d6-fdd5-51f2-8b1f-8a964fc280f9)
14 Colour the body healthy: key steps to recovery (#ulink_c8df6a66-7937-50ee-b80e-fa66c1aa4ca1)
15 The keys to wellness are in your hands (#ulink_47cae449-13a1-5c1d-bfc2-cbeeda0bcc27)
Appendix A (#ulink_f54fcad8-3f08-5648-a019-7377dee852e5)
Appendix B (#ulink_7604585f-381c-5165-a31d-97f467dd6d71)
Appendix C (#ulink_a66dca4e-8af5-504c-9c70-bc4374cde85f)
Appendix D (#ulink_8ebb13c0-16eb-51c9-91b1-e56f6301fd8b)
References (#ulink_9883492e-c61f-50c6-a2a0-883ba214015f)
Glossary (#ulink_6ae9b8d8-5f22-5f85-8ae0-f8c9c0592fcb)
Recommended reading (#ulink_c765c61a-78d8-5da6-b00c-4e484acd3029)
Useful addresses (#ulink_2e64128b-6767-570c-9ac2-9a05686d5c95)
Acknowledgements (#ulink_6cc74a8e-73b9-51ca-a011-bae395dfbcc4)
About the Authors (#ucfa0c0b8-1d17-543a-a8f6-ec8c45ba4107)
About the Publisher (#u3a4e0daf-e62c-4174-a00f-302a3dea947f)
I would like to emphasize maternity as the frontier of human welfare and that the defence of mothers is the defence of nations. There is no place in the public health field that offers greater opportunity for service to mankind and the welfare of the human race than the application of newer and ever increasing knowledge of nutrition at the human frontier.
Ina May Hobbler, 1952
This human body, at peace with itself, is more precious than the rarest gem. Cherish your body, it is yours for this one time only. The human form is won with difficulty; it is easy to lose. All worldly things are brief, like lightning in the sky. This life you must know was the tiny splash of a raindrop. A thing of beauty that passes away even as it comes into being. Therefore set your goal, and make every day and night a time to obtain it.
Lama Tsong Khapa
14th century Tibetan scholar and yogi
Nuchi gusui – may your food and lifestyle heal.
The Okinawa Way Book
If you try, you might. If you don’t, you won’t.
W Pickles
Foreword (#ulink_08852366-f9a9-56af-b8ad-f9c37f48fc78)
Women with endometriosis commonly complain that doctors do not take their symptoms seriously. There is a feeling that if doctors did listen and if only doctors knew more about endometriosis, women would not have to suffer years of pain without a definitive diagnosis. The frustration is justified as recent research has shown that it usually takes about ten years from the onset of symptoms for the diagnosis to be made.
I think that this apparent indifference to symptoms, such as painful periods and painful sex, merely reflects the lack of interest shown by society in general to health problems that are specific to women. I also think that sufferers themselves should be trying to raise awareness about endometriosis among both the medical profession and the general public. Endometriosis should be as well known as asthma or diabetes given how many women it affects and how much misery it creates.
The principal problem, however, is that not enough is known about the condition. Despite over 20 years of intensive research, we still do not understand what causes endometriosis; why there is such discrepancy between the intensity of symptoms and the severity of disease, or how best to treat patients. When doctors struggle in the dark because they do not comprehend a condition, it is inevitable that patients will receive care that they perceive to be unsatisfactory.
The other common complaint I hear is that sufferers feel restricted by the inability of many doctors to explain, using language that can be understood, the nature of the disease and the treatment options available. It is clear from recent research in Oxford that the failure to meet the information needs of sufferers leads to disillusion and a sense of disempowerment.
I believe that it is vital to provide women with high quality information, especially about treatment, to enable them to make the kind of important decisions that may potentially have a profound effect upon their lives. The reality, however, is that the treatment options are limited and the medications currently available rarely provide a cure. Therefore it is understandable that sufferers should seek complementary therapies that allow them to take control over their own bodies.
This book is unique because, for the first time, a highly respected scientist has teamed up with a nutritionist who uses complementary medicine, to give women a better understanding of the scientific basis for the use of nutritional therapies that many women around the world have found helpful. It should give encouragement to those in despair because conventional treatments have failed or produced unacceptable side effects. Eating healthily produces only good side effects.
The authors provide considerable evidence illustrating the role of basic nutrients in metabolic pathways involved in the normal menstrual cycle and pain-associated inflammation. Generally speaking, the medical profession has been slow to appreciate the importance of nutrients in the prevention and treatment of disease. For example, it has only recently been accepted that folic acid should be given to all women planning to conceive, so as to prevent neural tube defects. Much of what is said in this book, however, is common sense: eat well and your body will benefit. What is new is that Dian Mills and Michael Vernon provide the rationale for doing so in a condition that traditionally has been treated only with hormonal drugs and surgery. A holistic approach to endometriosis is vitally important because of the limitations of conventional medicine, and the authors are to be congratulated for providing the reader with a number of novel strategies for coping with this debilitating condition.
Stephen Kennedy
SENIOR FELLOW IN REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINE
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
1 What’s happening to me? (#ulink_efe97c5b-0d4a-5902-9d92-c683e19c81ed)
The body has a miraculous capacity to heal itself.
Live and Learn and Pass it On, quote from the Central Baptist Hospital 1997 calendar
You have a key to good health. Your body wants to be well, that is its natural state.
Endometriosis is a jigsaw puzzle of symptoms. You need to fit all the pieces together to provide clues as to what is happening within your body. This book will try to give you some of the pieces of the jigsaw, but you have to put them together yourself. This book will guide you to a truth. As you will read in the following chapters, some pioneering women have taken this path before and they share their success with you. Let them lead the way. They have found that, by giving the body the building blocks it needs, health can be regained.
That is the key, which you must always remember. Your body wants to be well. If you cut or burn your hand, you heal. If endometrial cells are growing in the wrong place, rest assured the body is trying to heal that area by whatever means it has available. Many women try drug and surgical treatments, and for some women they suppress some symptoms, but do not heal. Some people do get well, but many need other remedies or treatments.
Endometriosis is the second most common gynaecological complaint recognized by reproductive endocrinologists, affecting two out of every ten women. Endometriosis is everywhere and does not discriminate between women, race, colour, social status, body size, or colour of hair (although some women with red hair may have a greater incidence of endometriosis as they are more inclined to have allergies). It is possible that many women may have symptoms of endometriosis at some point in their lives, as every woman has the potential to develop endometriosis, but they do not always get a correct diagnosis. You are never alone with this disease – it is shared by many other women.
The term ‘endometriosis’ means that some of our body cells are growing in the wrong place, like weeds in a garden. Instead of staying inside the womb where they belong, to form the womb lining, these cells have spread outside the womb to infiltrate the ovaries and other areas of the body. If we knew exactly why these cells move around, it would be easier to find a cure. The endometrium normally grows only inside the womb. It is a nutrient-rich tissue designed to act as a food source and ‘nest’ for a fertilized egg. It also sets the stage for building the placenta which protects the baby as it develops in the womb.
For some unknown reason these endometrial cells migrate in endometriosis and seek other areas to grow. These areas are known as ‘endometriotic implants’ in medical terms, as they appear to seed themselves onto other organs in the peritoneal cavity (the abdominal area). Only cells from the spleen and endometrium in the human body are known to behave like this and migrate to other areas, and we need to understand why this happens in order to find a cure.
Women with endometriosis often ask ‘Why me?’ when they look around at their seemingly healthy friends. Endometriosis can be very distressing, and self-confidence may evaporate, but good health is not an impossible dream.
If you understand what is happening to you, it is easier to fight endometriosis and win. This book will look at how endometriosis manifests itself, how the body behaves, and how to approach drug and surgical treatments. It is important to look at how women as individuals can work with their bodies to help themselves heal, and to strengthen the immune and reproductive systems naturally using the nutrients which we ingest daily. The aim is to get the feel better factor!
