What we're talking about in this episode! Learn why endometriosis is so commonly undiagnosed by traditional medicine The most common symptoms around endometriosis and what you can do about them How to address your pelvic pain through functional medicine and functional nutrition Why hormonal birth control can put you at greater risk of infertility in the long term The importance of finding a trained surgeon when considering laparoscopic surgery What you can do right now at home to lessen your painful symptoms throughout the month   Episode Summary:  Endometriosis contributes to over 80% of chronic pain found in women, yet many doctors are not confident in their ability to diagnosis endometriosis, and the symptoms can be all over the map. Dr. Jessica Drummond is the CEO of the Integrative Women’s Health Institute, author, board-certified health coach and expert with over 20 years of experience working with women to cure their chronic pelvic pain.  After finding functional medicine by necessity after giving birth herself, Dr. Jessica’s eyes were opened to the power of nutrition and lifestyle as a way to relieve some of the biggest symptoms around endometriosis and pelvic pain. Today Dr. Jessica is here to provide you with a new set of tools to bring together pelvic floor rehab, functional medicine, lifestyle, nutrition, and health coaching to get root cause healing for women with chronic pelvic pain conditions.  Dr. Jessica is determined to educate you and other practitioners on ways that you can address endometriosis and other chronic pelvic pain conditions with root cause solutions, functional medicine, and nutrition. There are many components that play a role in your chronic pain such as lifestyle, hormonal birth control, inflammation, and autoimmunity, and it is only by understanding their role in your condition that you can begin to heal yourself. By taking a system by system approach to your body by supporting symptom relief and improving fertility, you can decrease your painful symptoms and start to implement the integrative care you need. Dr. Jessica is here to provide you with actionable ways that you can start to control your pain at home today and give you the tools you need to make a pain-free life a reality. Are you ready to take control of your symptoms and start treating your chronic pelvic pain in a way that works for your body? Share your experience with endometriosis with us in the comments section of the episode page!   Quotes: “What I realized is that everything I learned from my own health crash could be applied to my clients and patients who had the most complex presentations of various pelvic pain conditions.” (12:31) “I was able to marry that kind of wide lens conservative approach of using pelvic floor rehab with functional nutrition, lifestyle medicine, and health coaching to really get root cause healing for women with endometriosis and other chronic pelvic pain conditions.” (13:10) “If at any time it feels like you are being derailed by period pain, anxiety, gut issues, especially more than one of these things, not just one, the birth control pill is usually the first recommendations. But the problem with that is that just masks the symptoms and that could potentially put someone at greater risk of struggling with infertility later because they never had the disease addressed appropriately from the beginning.” (21:06) “Start with digestion, due it collaboratively with pelvic floor physical therapy so there is a lot of relaxation around the pelvic floor muscles, mindfulness strategies, cognitive behavioral therapy around pain management and living your life, immune system function… really looking at each physiological system one at a time starting with digestion and moving through the others.” (30:22) “75% of women being derailed, to me, is a huge loss. For them, for the world, for their families, for the brilliance they could bring, so that’s why I wrote this book.” (42:14)   Resources Mentioned: Out