Beating Endo: How to Reclaim Your Life from Endometriosis

by Iris Kerin Orbuch, Amy Stein

From two of the world’s leading experts in endometriosis comes an essential, first-of-its kind book that unwraps the mystery of the disease and gives women the tools they need to reclaim their lives from it. 

Approximately one out of every 10 women has endometriosis, an inflammatory disease that causes chronic pain, limits life’s activities, and may lead to infertility. Despite the disease’s  prevalence, the average woman may suffer for a decade or more before receiving an accurate diagnosis. Once she does, she’s often given little more than a prescription for pain killers and a referral for the wrong kind of surgery. Beating Endo arms women with what has long been missing—even within the medical community—namely, cutting-edge knowledge of how the disease works and what the endo sufferer can do to take charge of her fight against it.

Leading gynecologist and endometriosis specialist Dr. Iris Kerin Orbuch and world-renowned pelvic pain specialist and physical therapist Dr. Amy Stein have long partnered with each other and with other healthcare practitioners to address the disease’s host of co-existing conditions—which can include pelvic floor muscle dysfunction, gastrointestinal ailments, painful bladder syndrome, central nervous system sensitization—through a whole-mind/whole-body approach. Now, Beating Endo formalizes the multimodal program they developed, offering readers an anti-inflammatory lifestyle protocol that incorporates physical therapy, nutrition, mindfulness, and environment to systematically addresses each of the disease’s co-conditions on an ongoing basis up to and following excision surgery. This is the program that has achieved successful outcomes for their patients; it is the program that works to restore health, vitality, and quality of life to women with endo.

No more “misdiagnosis roulette” and no more limits on women’s  Beating Endo puts the tools of renewed health in the hands of those whose health is at risk.

Genres: Health, Nonfiction

297 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 25, 2019

Reviews

[Michelle Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted so bad to love this book… but I didn’t. Basically this book lays out the science behind endometriosis, the structural damage, and ultimately excision surgery to fix it. Then there were many ways listed on what to do before and after surgery to set your body up to heal.

While I agree with most of this - The authors made it so that if your doctor didn’t tell you to do it exactly the way they wrote, then it’s wrong. It had me doubting my doctor although he is one of the few who performs robotic excision surgery. My surgeon is even a recommended one from resources in this book, but he did not advise me to do PT before surgery or to make the dietary changes, etc. There was a heavy emphasis on PT before surgery in this book and it didn’t sit well. Maybe because I already did months of that and got worse with inflammation. Also, I grew more depressed after each chapter seeing how overwhelming and expensive it would be to take every bit of advice described.

Overall I appreciated the understanding and science behind the endometriosis, but the treatment plan felt unachievable and made me want to give up.

[Kate K · Rating 2 out of 5]

y i k e s

There is some good information here, however the entire book only has 31 references and the tone of the authors is, at multiple points, extremely patronizing. They claim to be revolutionizing the field of endo treatment, however that revolution is only occurring on an individual level. The suggestions range from eating a controversial anti-inflammatory diet, a low acid diet, avoiding all plastic, doing only the right kind of exercise, and eventually expensive excision surgery by a specialist. At the end of the book a few paragraphs are dedicated to discussing systematic issues, however not enough space. If these women were revolutionizing anything other than their wallets they would focus much more on educating their professional peers and less time insisting that every woman should just eat all organic and give up vacations in order to afford treatment. I recognize the issues with insurance and believe specialists deserve to be compensated fairly -- as a testament to this I am paying for an excision with a surgeon this year that will cost several thousand dollars after insurance. However while reading more about Dr. Orbuch online I found out she charges $1200 for a consultation and over $600 for follow up visits. We need to stop pretending this is accessible health care.

Anyway, here are some of my favorite quotes from the book:

The cost would go well beyond what Elena’s insurance plan would cover; Elena calculated quickly and decided that the new sofa she was eyeing for the apartment could easily be put off.

For example, if you buy yourself a nice gluten-free, dairy-free meal but it is packaged in plastic, you might well be taking in some of those aforementioned endocrine disruptors as well as setting off an inflammatory response in your body. That would sort of cancel out some of the good you counted on with your choice of food.

About the only way to ensure absolute and complete protection from the possibility of dioxin exposure from food is with a strictly vegan diet, but of course, as noted, don’t eat your vegan meal out of plastic containers.

And now, for my favorite quotes:

And there is research suggesting that nanomolecules of these kinds of products, smaller than can be seen even microscopically, can somehow seep into the body and enter the bloodstream.

This is a perfect example of the kind of absurd argument the authors make without any sort of citation. I read this to my partner (a university professor who researches with biologists) who said "What?? I have seen the cutting edge of microscopy, we can VISUALIZE ATOMS."

t can’t hurt to check those mattress tags we’re not supposed to remove “under penalty of law” to see if your mattress might contain flame retardants or PVC or polyurethane foam. You may want to replace it with an organic mattress one day

I cannot state emphatically enough that I would rather live with endometriosis than DIE IN A FIRE because I was the dumb b*tch who bought a mattress that wasn't flame retardant. WE PUT FLAME RETARDANTS IN THEM FOR A REASON.

But I guess fire is all-natural, so it's nothing to worry about.

[Fem · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would recommend this book for both patients and friends and family of the afflicted. It can greatly increase understanding of the complex interactions of the disease with different organ systems, the central nervous system, the mind and in general how it affects the patients life. It does not give a one treatment cures all plan, but it does give the patient a chance to see which aspects are recognisable and important for her particular symptoms and the first steps (to seek help) in doing something about it.

Dr. Orbuch and dr. Stein are the first medical practitioners I have come across who look at this disease in a holistic way. This is an enormous relief (speaking as a patient) because most studies and information to be currently found are very specialized and usually focus only on one aspect. Endometriosis however is a complicated disease. The authors have filled a book full of information about different aspects one might encounter with this disease. And very rightly they aim for increasing the quality of life of patients.

I must admit I was a bit frustrated at first with the lack of precise information about what the disease actually is. But in hindsight I can see that they have tried to describe the facts as they are known and unfortunately many processes and the exact origin of this disease are not yet known. Having seen many theories online, of which some are plausible and some are outdated or even simply ridiculous, I really appreciate that they have put in the information that they can.

The only drawback I can name at this point is that it is quite dry to read. There are very few visual elements in the book. Pictures or graphs might help understanding I think. Also I often missed structure within the chapters, I could not clearly see where things where going nor sometimes remember what the point was of the previous pages or whether a point was made. The rambling on of paragraph after paragraph makes this a bit hard on the reader.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compassionately and thoughtfully written, with the latest research and information available. As I go back for additional treatment of my own endo (diagnosed at age 19), I find this book extremely empowering as a patient to ask questions and think more holistically about my condition.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ooooooof, y’all. The privilege that’s seeping out of every page of this book. Yikes.

I’ll preface this review with the fact that I had read some pretty horrible things about the author, her treatment of her patients and her general distain of people that can’t afford her treatments. I bought this book on eBay so as to not give her anymore money. Bo still wanted to read it, because as an endo patient, good info is hard to come by.

This book had some good info about the long and frustrating paths that endo patients usually have to travel to get a diagnosis. It also shares some interesting info about the mechanisms of pain and what causes it.

However, it alleges a lot of stuff as fact and there’s only 31 cites in a book that’s over 300 pages. My biggest issue is this- the lifestyle changes they insist you make are impossible for anyone who isn’t rich. Apparently I’m supposed to eat vegan, gluten free and also avoid nightshade veggies. No caffeine, no alcohol, no sugar, and avoid chemicals. And plastic. When they mentioned patients have pushed back on these suggestions, they retorted that people need to budget better. If the treatment plan you’re proposing isn’t accessible, it’s not going to do much good, is it? Their condescending tone was pretty disgusting and I feel awful for their patients.

[Jackie p · Rating 3 out of 5]

eh not that helpful

[Sara Trzemzalski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing Read!

I have endometriosis and once I saw this book endorsed on Nancy’s Nook, I bought a copy to learn more. It really helped me understand my disease better, along with why I have pelvic floor dysfunction. It also inspired me to do more and consider more lifestyle changes so I can continue to try and feel better day after day. I highly recommend this book if you really want to understand endometriosis.