IWD Is Time To Celebrate Everything About Being A woman...

On International Women’s Day, I’m sharing a woman’s story, so men you can block your ears for a moment while we talk about women's stuff… La La La La.

My period started at a young age was irregular and annoying from the start.

By the age of 13, every month I’d be doubled over in pain with a hot water bottle on my stomach, and my mother telling me to stop being so silly

By 16 I was eating painkillers like they were lollies, until eventually they weren’t enough, and I started taking codeine.

My pain was misdiagnosed for many years, and I had tests for everything from kidney stones to irritable bowel syndrome with no answers to my pain.

Eventually, they diagnosed me with endometriosis, and at the age of 19, I was told to have a baby and that would sort it all out.

Of course, that was a stupid suggestion, and instead I had multiple surgeries and hormone treatments that made my hands swell and gave me dreadful mood swings.

I did eventually have a baby at 30 years of age, thankfully, falling pregnant, easily, which I know many Endo sufferers struggle with.

The pain went away while I was pregnant, but came back within a month of having my baby, and more painkillers and surgeries followed.

I was at this stage, taking about six codeine tablets a day for 10 days of every month. It was not good on my body but I have to live with it.

I had painkillers everywhere. In my handbag, my medicine cabinet, my office desk drawer, my kitchen, my gym bag, and even in the glovebox of my car.

I remember one incident when I was rolling around on the floor of our apartment, gripped with pain, having hot sweats and crying my eyes out with my daughter and partner standing over me, worried about the state I was in. They took me to the emergency hospital where I was given intravenous painkillers.

The endometriosis did not seem to be getting any better as I got older.

I moved to Australia in 2018, and thankfully, was introduced to a nutritional product, including a machine that scanned the level of my antioxidants.

I had been improving my diet over the years, but my antioxidant levels were still very low. I discovered that things like selenium, which is vital for our health, is not readily found in the soil in New Zealand and Australia so much of the greens and fruit we eat lacks it, and that there are other vital elements missing an our every day diets.

I also read Dr Sandra Cabot's very helpful, liver cleansing diet book and articles by Dr Libby Weaver, who wrote extensively about rushing women syndrome, and endometriosis.

What I learned was that the liver is one of the most important organs for women. The liver helps detox your body from everything including excess oestrogen which feeds endometriosis.

By taking so many painkillers I had been basically clogging up my liver so that it wouldn’t work properly, and it had not been functioning in the right way.

The very thing I’ve been taking for my pain, was the thing that was stopping my liver from reducing the amount of pain my body was creating.

I cut right back on alcohol, cut out, dairy lowered the amount of bread and yeast products and added in nutritional supplements and yoga.

Within three months, my endometriosis pain had reduced so much that I could stop taking all painkillers. I still had cramps during my periods, but the pain was nowhere near as bad.

Within six months I was having periods with no pain and doing a happy dance around my living room every month.

I decided to write a book about my journey to cure my endometriosis with a solution that my doctors had never mentioned to me, starting with what I was putting into my mouth.

I didn’t want to be known as the endometriosis lady, so I used a pen name, Lisa J Faith, and I wrote a series of books and put them on Amazon.

The books are still there, and if you know someone struggling with endometriosis, I hope it helps.

The biggest message I want to get across today, on International Women’s Day and also Endometriosis Awareness Month, is that being a woman isn’t easy. 

There are so many things we have to manage, including her own health, which has a ridiculous strain on our lives.

At 50 I had to deal with beginnings of menopause and further surgeries, but now thankfully, I’m living my best life without pain.

So on International Women’s Day, when a man says “what happens to men’s day?” just stop and think about what women have to go through with 1 in every 10, having similar stories to mine.

I’m very grateful that I am a woman, that I was born in such amazing countries that provided the assistance I needed, and that I have the freedom to seek out my own solutions.

I also want to encourage any endometriosis sufferers out there to continue seeking out a solution and never take that what you’re told by the medical industry is the only way.

Have an awesome International Women’s Day and stay healthy.

Lauren Clemett is a Keynote speaker, International award-winning Neurobranding specialist and best selling author with over 25 years brand management experience. Lauren shares how to overcome overwhelm and lead with direction, purpose and meaning, making magnetic leadership a walk in the park!

www.yourbrandtruenorth.com