Welcome back to the Doctor Rich Channel! We have “permanent resident” Veronica Hernandez here with us again today! So TikTok is the biggest social media platform on the planet these days — and there’s a lot of information (and misinformation!) out there. So we’re going to watch TikTok videos about endometriosis — and stick around at the end to find out the number one thing you need to know about endometriosis.
Don’t have time to read this post? Watch the video here instead!
Hi, I’m Doctor Rich — board-certified gynecologist and passionate women’s healthcare advocate. Today we’re watching TikTok videos about endometriosis.
[Video of a woman showing her bloated stomach. Video captions read, “3 things people with endometriosis should know: peppermint tea helps soothe bloating, endometriosis is [a] chronic inflammatory condition. Anti-inflammatory foods can help with your inflammation.” Video shows the woman exercising, with the caption, “Certain exercises like high intensity exercise may aggravate your endometriosis. Slower, controlled movements like weight lifting and yoga can benefit chronic conditions like endometriosis.”]
Doctor Rich:
A lot of helpful advice there! Tea has anti-inflammatory properties — like we saw and talked about in the last video. Moving is living! So the more cardiovascular fitness you get, that’s going to improve your overall health. We did a video on the endometriosis diet that you can check out here. But briefly, a low red meat diet is helpful for reducing the risk of endometriosis.
Veronica:
And it actually helps with other things! So red meat (and everything in health) isn’t good in excess.
Doctor Rich:
So moderation — a balanced diet, largely plant-based, and then grass-fed (not grain-fed) red meat.
[Video of a woman lip-syncing a song with the caption, “Symptoms I had that I thought were normal but ended up being from undiagnosed endometriosis: extremely painful periods, digestive problems (chronic constipation/bloating), painful intercourse/ovulation, painful/burning urination (constant feeling of UTIs), right shoulder and chest pain during period, painful bowel movements, shooting pain in thighs and back legs, chronic fatigue/lower back/pelvic pain… it’s not normal.“]
Doctor Rich:
That was a lot!
Veronica:
I think in that case — if you don’t mention it or if you come with the bloating — if you go in one day and you say, “You know what? I have constipation, bloating…” then the doctor thinks something like IBS, so they give NSAIDS and that kind of stuff. But I mean — if you show up with all these symptoms (including the abnormal periods), then you can probably come to that diagnosis (at least from a primary care kind of view). But that’s why, again, I think it’s important to follow up with your women’s health provider every year.
Doctor Rich [agreeing]:
I think you have to look at the whole picture. And I think in medicine a lot of times, there’s a tendency to focus on just the one symptom. So exactly like you said, if you have painful urination, painful bowel movements, chest pain… and all of these are related to your period — that makes it much more likely (if not definitively!) endometriosis. Now if these symptoms occur throughout the month with no bearing on the period, it could be one of these other conditions. But this is actually probably one of the better TikTok videos I’ve seen because it really does lay out all of the symptoms that you can have that are attributed to other conditions — but really are just endometriosis. So @samxendo — good job!
And as promised, the one thing that you should know about endometriosis… is that it can be anywhere with any different symptoms. And if you’re not getting the answers that you want, seek a specialist.
