Cindy’s Story: Endometriosis and Everyday Life
When Cindy, a 36 year old realtor, visited me for the first time, her eyes were wide open
but empty, and the muscles in her face were tense. Her facial skin was very wrinkled.
She did not look as young as most people her age. She spoke very fast and wanted to
tell me all about her difficult life in a short period of time. She gave me the impression
that she had a hard life with severe depression and anxiety.
I looked at the chart she filled out. She had written down about 6 medications she was
taking at that time. She had suffered from headaches for more than 10 years and was
taking medicine for the pain every day. She had been diagnosed with stage IV
endometriosis and also had a history of allergies, fibromyalgia, anxiety, and depression.
She was taking different kinds of medications from different doctors and had been on
and off birth control pills for almost 18 years before she tried to have a baby. In the past
ten years, she has had three laparoscopic procedures and surgeries to clear the
endometriosis. The last surgery was two years ago and one of her ovaries was
removed.
Endometriosis is a benign disease defined by the presence of endometrial glands and
stroma outside the uterus, associated with both pelvic pain and infertility. There are
features similar to cancer: in many cases of endometriosis, the endometrium spreads
and grows in various places in the body, but it is not cancer. Patients with endometriosis
have damaged reproductive organs because the endometrial lining in the pelvic area
sheds and causes bleeding during menstruation. The bleeding induces pelvic
inflammation, adhesion and scar tissue formation.
She had been trying to conceive for two years. She went through three IUI cycles and
two IVF cycles but all failed. Her doctor suggested that she use donor eggs because her
AMH was only 0.16 ng/ml. She was worried about her reproductive ability, and she told
me that if she couldn’t become pregnant in the future, her husband would divorce her.
“Can you help me” she asked with a doubtful look in her eyes. I told her what she
needed to do was to change her lifestyle because she was extremely unhealthy, which
meant her body was completely out of balance.
After a long conversation, Cindy decided to try Chinese medicine. I outlined a treatment
plan for her:
First, I suggested that she change her diet and consume more anti-inflammatory foods
such as deep green leafy vegetables, nuts, fatty fish like salmon and fresh fruits to clean
her body. She discontinued soda and coffee and increased her water intake. She ate all
natural products and avoided sugar, fried foods, and dairies including cheese and milk.
Second, I suggested that she ask her doctor to start slowly cutting down her medication.
After two months of Chinese medicine, she was able to live without medication. Her
menstrual cycle went back to 28 days. Her menstrual cramping was less severe—while
she once rated the pain as a 10, it was now down to a 2. Her headache was 90 percent
better, and she generally felt much better.
Finally, I recommended that she change her lifestyle. She allowed herself more spare
time between tasks to decrease stress and anxiety. In addition, she practiced meditation
and breathing exercises to deal with stress.
From the view of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Cindy was an example of accumulated
heat and blood stasis in her lower abdomen: Cindy’s menstrual periods were
significantly less frequent than the average 28 day cycle because of Qi stagnation and
blood stasis. During her period, the blood was dark red with clotting, and she
experienced severe cramping because of the blockage of heat with blood stasis. Cindy
also suffered from anxiety and depression. One and a half of her ovaries had been
removed, which caused low ovarian reserve. It could be considered as a deficiency of
“kidney” essence (yin deficiency) in TCM theory. She had difficulty falling asleep and
often woke up in middle of the night because of internal fire disturbance. From the
appearance of her tongue: dark red with deep cracks in the middle, you could find
evidence that supported the TCM assessment.
With the help of Chinese medicine and a change in her lifestyle, four months later, she
became pregnant! She had a level II sonogram on the 11th week of her pregnancy that
showed the fetus was normal, and her blood work was perfect. Seven months later, she
delivered a healthy baby boy.