Supplements

In my book, I use 100 pages to chat up the importance of nutrient-dense foods! Food first, always. But … having a diagnosis of endometriosis means you may also need a bit more nutritional support.

This is where supplements come in handy, helping to reverse existing deficiencies and expedite the nutrient infusion process. While the nutrients within supplements are important, the brands selling them are equally important! The supplement industry is not regulated the way we think it is, with very little oversight of what exactly is in the pills we swallow. This is why choosing the right brand is extremely important, and for many of us will mean stopping shopping for supplements at the local drug or grocery store (or even on Amazon, where there are often many counterfeits!).

Quality brands to consider: Designs for Health, Integrative Therapeutics, Biotics Research, Thorne, Apex Energetics, Pure Encapsulations, Klaire Labs, Metagenics, Seeking Health.

Where should we buy supplements instead?

To help women navigate this field, I partenered with Fullscript, a company I fully trust for high-quality supplementation. All of the supplement brands listed above (and more) are available in their catalog, and items will be shipped directly to you.

Even more, when you sign up using this link, you will get everything at 15% off.

[As a reminder, I am not a doctor and I do not diagnose, treat, or prescribe! Please check in with your doctor before implementing any new supplement regimen.]

The Endo-9, which i talk about at length in my book

As a reminder and “study guide,” here are what I consider the Endo-9, along with dosages as shown in research to help.

Magnesium: Work up to 500mg a day (if can) of magnesium glycinate, which is easier to absorb.

Zinc: To reverse a deficiency, consider 30mg zinc picolinate for 3 months.

Iron: If you’ve tested and seen you’re deficient, supplement until you’re iron stores are back up. Ferritin should be above 50. Iron is often a challenge to supplement due to constipation. I recommend Ferrochel Iron Chelate by Designs for Health for an easy to absorb option that is very gentle.

Vitamin A: Synthetic vitamin A supplementation can come with any host of issues. So, unless you’re under the care of a provider, I recommend you get it from food sources. The best food source of supplementation is cod liver oil. I highly recommend Rosita’s brand, which is third-party tested for purity. 6 soft gels/day.

Vitamin D: Needs depend on your current level. The lower your vitamin D, the more you will want to take to bring your levels back up to sufficiency, and then go down to a small maintenance dose. Test annually. If your levels are low consider taking 2000-4000iu/day for 2-3 months, and then re-testing.

Vitamin C: I recommend vitamin C that includes a whole-foods source rather than just ascorbic acid. Whole-foods varieties have more complex varieties of C in them, as well as phytonutrients. I like Stellar C by Designs for Health which has acerola cherry and quercitin. Consider 1200/mg a day, broken into 2-3 doses.

Vitamin E: You want a blend of tocopherols for the best antioxidant support. Research shows 200-80 u per day to be beneficial for those with endo. I like E Complex-1:1 by Metagenics.

EPA & DHA: Fish oils are notorious for being rancid. A quality brand that is third-party tested is Nordic Naturals. I like ProOmega 2000 which offers the most concentrated source of EPA and DHA. 2 capsules/day.

Phytonutrients: There are no dosage guidelines available for phytonutrient intake, which makes it a challenge to recommend for all the folk with endo reading this. It may be some of us need (short-term) higher dosages of some of these powerful antioxidants, while others will do good with a moderate intake. I leave it up to you and your provider to discuss. To consider: Resveratrol, Curcumin, Pycnogenol (100mg/day was shown to improve endo pain), Green tea polyphenols called catechins (epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG), Silymarin,