Toni's periods started when she was 12 years old in 1984 and from the onset they were very heavy and painful, to the point that she had to lay on bath towels in bed every night. She was eventually diagnosed with polycystic ovaries.
In 1997 she started to experience chronic back pain with my periods and it eventually got to the point that she could not do anything to get comfortable, Toni was not sleeping and eventually put the pain down to her period, because the pain was in her back. It was difficult to get anyone to believe that this was just down to her periods. In the November of 1997 Toni had another laparoscopy and it was negative. By this time the pain was unbearable so she decided to seek a second opinion. She was taken in for another laparoscopy in the January of 1998 and this time a large lump was found in the bowel which was diagnosed as endometriosis. Immediately she was started on GnRH analogue drugs to put her into menopause and stop her periods to see if this would help. However, none of these helped, eventually in the July of 1998 after consulations between her gynaecologist and a bowel surgeon it was decided to remove the lump from the bowel. In August she was taken into hospital for her 1st major bowel operation. A golf ball sized lump was removed from the bowel, at this time it was not clear if the lump was endometriosis or an endometrioma, but it was eventually diagnosed as endometriosis.
By the middle of 1999 Toni was starting to experience the back pain again, and was also bleeding from the bowel and was having to go to toilet at least 10-15 times a day. The symptoms were lasting up to 3 weeks out of 4 and Toni was losing time from work. Once again she was placed on various drugs to try to stop the symptoms but they did not work. It was decided to perform a 2nd bowel operation, she was taken into hospital in the January of 2000 and a bowel resection was performed to remove part of the bowel, mesh was also put in to try to stop any further endometriosis occurring.
By the end of 2000 the symptoms were starting again and they were worse than ever. Toni tried even more drugs, but still they did not work, and she was spending most of her days in the toilet because she was bleeding a lot from the bowel. Toni was tired all the time and did not even want to get out of bed in the morning. It was decided to perform a 3rd bowel operation. She went into hospital in September 2001 and had another bowel resection, this time she was really poorly after the operation and had to have a blood transfusion. Her body had had enough.
Once again this operation was not successful but there was no way that she could even contemplate another operation. Toni and her husband dearly wanted a family but had already been told that this would probably be impossible. The stress of all the pain and operations were taking their toll.
By this time Toni was feeling very ill, she was tired all the time, most days couldn't even get out of bed. She was desperate for a family. A friend of her's had heard about Dian and bought me her book, she sat and read through the case histories and cried her eyes out, at last she knew that she was not on her own. She made an appointment to see Dian straight away...........
Obviously we had to correct Toni's bowel as she had major problems for so many years. At first we used just slippery elm and acidophilus until the bleeding subsided. Then we added a basic digestive enzyme and grape-seed extract at a child's dose to deal with any candida yeast overgrowth and dysbiosis. Until digestion works properly the gut flora is unable to support the immune system and deal with excretion of oestrogen from the body. Research shows that oestrogen 'feeds' the endometriosis, allowing it to grow and proliferate. A basic child's dose of a multi-vitamin-mineral and fish oils were used. Omega 3 oils and omega 6 oils reduce inflammation and are crucial in healing the gut membrane.
We excluded wheat from the diet and that made a vast difference to Toni's energy and pain levels. Over the next few months we used a variety of supplements as required, removing some and adding others until her body began to heal itself. Selenium was used to reduce inflammation and to improve immune system function. Zinc and vitamin E improve fertility and support immune function. Vitamin C and magnesium reduce inflammation and relax muscles respectively.
Diet was a healthy mix of cooked vegetables, stewed fruits, oily and white fish, lean meat, berries, ground nuts and seeds, and pulse vegetables. Later as the bowel healed we were able to introduce more raw vegetables. Toni fell pregnant after a few months and gave birth to a healthy baby girl. She returned to me after two years and we worked together again and she gave birth at the end of 2006 to a perfect little boy. Her family is now complete and they are very happy. Toni still avoids wheat, rye, oats, barley and spelt, all the gluten grains. She is able to eat rice, corn, millet, buckwheat, quinoa as her grains. If she lapses and eats wheat she has immediate pains and bleeds from her bowel. It is easy to stay off now that she knows what triggers her problem.