Endo belly is the #1 interest on my site. Thousands of women Google-search this issue every month and land at my site, seeking help for this truly horrid symptom associated with endometriosis. I hear ya’. I remember Googling two things all. the. time: “why endometriosis bloat” and “why endometriosis fatigue”. Here I’ll address the first.

What’s endo belly?

It’s the slang term we endo-gals use to describe the distended bloating that happens to many of us on the regular. It could be from dawn to dusk, intermittently throughout the day, after we eat, or noticeably increased at certain times in our cycle. Some of us will have IBS diagnosis and severe pain associated with the bloating, others will have issues digesting certain foods, while for some women this issue is so mysterious - dare I say tormenting - they often feel better foregoing food altogether.

Often with no diagnoses and a lot of doctor head-scratching, endo-belly can be one of the worst symptoms associated with endo beyond the pain. It can make us feel truly hopeless.

Here’s the thing: endo-belly is not necessarily caused by endometriosis. It may or may not be. It’s a common associated symptom though—meaning it’s an issue that is commonly seen alongside endometriosis although perhaps not caused by it.

Hold on, don’t yell at me, in my e-book I will go into detail about how endo-belly can be caused by endometriosis as well. But with the vast majority of clients I’ve worked with, the endo-belly had a root cause elsewhere: dysbiosis and impaired gut function.

WHAT IS DYSBIOSIS?

Dysbiosis is a catch all term for bacterial balance out of whack. For those of you who are microbiome neanderthals like I used to be, picture this: mother nature offers no such thing as a blank slate. If your good gut bacteria die off, that area won’t just remain empty. No, the weeds will grow in. Weeds = proverbial bad bacteria, yeasts, and viruses. For anyone who’s let their garden become overgrown, you know just how much work is ahead of you in restoring it’s integrity…

Good bacteria dies off for many reasons. Poor-diet, stress, environmental toxins, birth control, and pain killers just to name a few. For the average endo-gal you probably did a check, check, check, on all of those.

You can have dysbiosis on your feet in the form of athletes foot, in your sinuses causing allergies or infections, in your vagina causing yeast infections, or in your gut - causing digestive issues of all kinds. Even more, you can have dysbiosis in different parts of your gut: your stomach, large intestine, or maybe your illium or your duodenum areas of your small intestine. Any of these areas of dysbiosis can cause digestive issues, including bloating, as well as chronic, body-wide inflammation. You can even have significant dysbiosis with no gastro-symptoms at all! This is precisely why there is no such thing as the cause of endo-belly, and why so many women will experience differing symptoms.

Want to know how your endo-belly bloating may be making your endometriosis and her associated symptoms worse?? Here are 3 reasons. I hope you’re interested because the gut is the home of the immune system, home-base to chronic inflammatory diseases, and where I start with every. single. client. to address pain, fatigue, chronic infections, hormonal balance, detoxification, and more.

It’s a lot. Which is why, as the Queen of way-too-long-blog-posts, I’m writing an e-book :)

REASON 1: MALNUTRITION, POOR DIGESTION, AND ENDO BELLY

One thing all humans with chronic diseases have in common is a degree of undernutrition. This even includes those who are overweight or obese. It seems bizarre in our present world of supermarkets to have this be an issue, but it’s where the phrase “Stuffed and Starved” comes from. Although we may have plenty of calories, we aren’t getting nearly enough nutrients to keep us going. This, of course, can lead to chronic disease and intestinal integrity degradation in itself.

How? Small example: did you know that a healthy gut lining depends on zinc and vitamin A (and yes, a lot of other nutrients). But if you’re deficient in these two because you don’t eat enough meat for zinc or liver or egg yolks for pre-formed vitamin A, your intestinal lining will start to run out of ingredients to rebuild itself.

This cycle is obviously cyclical, because an impaired gut lining now means impaired absorption, decreased immune function (leading to gut infections), and now a permeable intestinal barrier. This is why if you’re suddenly trying to reverse your symptoms through a Heal Endo approach by adding grass-fed meat, liver, fats, eggs, and certain vegetables, you may feel lousy because you’re reacting to half of the healthy foods you’re eating! In the process of digestive degradation, your body may have lost its ability to digest fats and proteins without significant aid properly, or you may be strongly reactive to healthy foods such as eggs, tomatoes, peppers, or starches.

These issues can often be remedied, digestion capability re-trained, and absorption issues healed. In fact, they will have to be remedied in order for you to start reversing your worst symptoms and re-filling your body with the nutrients it has long been in need of. This is why beginning to manage your endo-belly should start the process of healing anew. You need to digest and absorb nutrients without an inflammatory response if you’re going to heal.

REASON 2: ESTROGEN DOMINANCE AND ENDO BELLY

Estrogen dominance got you down? your microbiome may be to blame!

Did you know the microbiome plays a pivotal role in estrogen level regulation? In the endo world we’re all quick to judge our livers ability to detoxify estrogen, but there’s another very important part at play here: the estrobolome. When your liver filters out excess estrogen, it first cuts them apart (conjugates), then eliminates them through digestive bile which lands squarely in your intestinal tract. Here it meets your estrobolome - the variety of microbes capable of metabolizing estrogens. Cool huh?

Microbes in the estrobolome produce beta-glucuronidase, an enzyme that actually knits these tossed out estrogens back into their active forms. Sounds silly to anyone with estrogen dominance, but when the gut microbiome is healthy, the estrobolome produces just the right amount of beta-glucuronidase to maintain correct estrogen balance.

However, in the case of dysbiosis, beta-glucuronidase activity changes to create either a deficiency or an excess of free estrogen. That means your “endo-belly” dysbiosis issue may be sewing way too many old estrogens back together and recirculating them in the system, meaning that you need to address your endo-belly dysbiosis in order to bring your hormone levels into check. [1] [2]

REASON 3: SERIOUS GUT INFECTIONS, INFLAMMATION, AND ENDO BELLY

Inflammation is good, it helps heal tissue by surging nutrient-rich blood to a wound. Chronic inflammation is different, and means your immune system is sticking around long after infection, injury, or exposure to a toxin. This leads to tissue malfunction, organ malfunction, and eventually a host of chronic degenerative diseases. This is why endometriosis is often referred to as a disease of inflammation - because the system has gone haywire in the same way it does with depression, cancer, diabetes, and other auto-immune.

How does an immune response get stuck on high, creating chronic, systemic inflammation? The main way is through gut infections and dysbiosis (insert endo-belly here).

The small intestine is where most nutrients are absorbed, that’s it’s job. As you can imagine, it’s a very delicate job, absorbing these tiny nutrients into the bloodstream. So delicate, in fact, that the epithelial lining of the intestinal wall is only ONE CELL THICK! Really think about that, a single celled wall between your poop-to-be and your delicate internal working. By comparison there are approximately 6 million cells per square centimeter of skin.

When there’s an infection in this delicate area, the cells can quickly become damaged and inflamed. This is when the tight junctures of the cell lining start to break apart, creating a condition of gut permeability or leaky gut. As your immune system swamps the area to protect against these invaders it’s on high alert. AHHHHHHH! But day after day - like, every time you eat - the immune system starts to get confused, over-reactive, and suddenly can’t turn off. It’s so confused it even may start to attack other parts of your body. All of this leads to chronic inflammation and other degenerative diseases.

All because your gut was sick.

IS YOUR GUT SICK? IF YOU HAVE ENDO-BELLY, PROBABLY

Are you beginning to see the connection now between your protruding belly and that pain in your pelvis? How that bloating is your body’s way of telling you there’s some significant gut issue going on, and how that gut issue may be directly linked to your estrogen dominance, your chronic pain + inflammation, and even your ability to heal through foods?

Cool, that’s why I wrote an extensive e-book on the topic. Because instead of worrying about how to hide your endo-belly at the next pool party, I want you to feel empowered to face down your endo-belly and ‘pop’ her once and for all.

Every endo belly is as different as the woman who has it, which is why there needs to be an in-depth guide to help you find your next steps in uncovering the root cause of yours. In my Ebook, I will explain how digestion really works, how yours may not, how to investigate, how different diets help different issues (and why there’s no one best diet for everyone), specific protocols targeted to help your entire digestive system, and lots of info on testing so you can be your own, best patient.

This book may shed direct answers for some of you on why your stomach protrudes a foot in front of you, while others of you will (hopefully) finally have the fire lit under your cute bums to go get tested and work with a professional. And whether your case is a simple endo-belly-POP or a challenging IBS/SIBO case, the most hope-inspiring thing is really knowing you’re on a path in the right direction.

XXO

Katie

I am a Nutritional Therapist, certified though the Nutritional Therapy Association, but I am not a dietitian, doctor, or medical professional, and this site is solely for guidance and information to give people more information to make an informed decision about their own bodies best treatment plan. Please check with your doctor or care provider before making changes in your life