Kim (00:01.634)
Hi, LJ, welcome. Thank you so much for joining me today. I am excited to talk to you about all things endo, endometriosis. You are the go-to expert, and I'm gonna hand it over to you for you to introduce yourself. So I want a little bit of your background story and what brought you into managing and helping so many people, supporting so many people through endometriosis adventures.
Dr. Lj (00:28.96)
I know. What brought me to this journey? Thank you once again. I want to start by thanking you for having me on. I know we've crossed paths on many different pieces of social media. I'm super excited to be on the podcast. I'm very grateful to share my story. Why endometriosis and who am I? So I am L.J. Johnson, Dr. Johnson, the holistic endo expert. And why endo? Because it took me 16 years to be properly diagnosed. That was 16 years of questioning my body, people questioning my intentions.
then me starting to think like, okay, they're calling me crazy, maybe I am crazy. It became very, how do I put it? It stopped me in my tracks. It took my world away and I hate to be negative because everyone that knows me, I don't like to be negative and talk about the symptoms and the drama, but endometriosis took 16 years of my world. I was not able to function, my body was falling apart. I had a body I could not rely on. And so after properly getting diagnosed, I really had to step back and kind of figure out like, what do I do now?
because of the lack of cure. And then once I was able to turn my own health around, put it into remission, it shifted my entire private practice. What I was doing before was amazing, and it was more working on the aesthetics of the body. How do we look good? Yeah, we wanted to feel good, but it was more about the aesthetics. And then it was like, okay, I gotta reel it in because the aesthetics is one thing, and I had the perfectly aesthetic body, or what I thought it was perfect. But on the end side, endo was kicking my butt. I had to just really shift my mindset.
Go back to my foundation, go back to functional medicine, heal myself naturally, and then that is what I do right now is specialize in endometriosis and hormones and just, my thing is what I always say is to get you in the driver's seat of your health. Being healthy is one thing, having endo is another thing, but how can we get into the driver's seat, put tools in our toolbox, so that we can have an amazing life despite our diagnosis?
Kim (02:21.29)
Mm-hmm. I wanna come back to a couple of points you made just in your intro there, but first, if we can, like what is endometriosis? Can you just define endometriosis for us?
Dr. Lj (02:32.76)
I know, right? So the first thing is endosupacala. I know, it's a long word. Supacala, what, huh, huh? So endometriosis, endo for short. So let's talk about endo, and I want you to take everything you've ever learned about endo. I'm gonna be funny for a second, unless you learned it from my account or follow my podcast. If it's from somewhere else, sit in on the shelf for just a second and let's build the definition. So endometriosis is uterine-like tissue found outside of the uterus. I'm gonna say that one again, because I think for some of you, you're like, hold it, what, what?
Yes, endometriosis is uterine-like tissue found outside of the uterus. It causes chronic systemic inflammation throughout the entire body. It creates its own lesions that inflame not only the lesions but all the tissue, body parts, everything around it. It creates its own hormones. It causes that inflammation throughout the entire body. It is not a period problem. It is not a reproductive disorder. You're not just a female that has a uterus that's weak and just can't handle her period.
all of that combined, and then to make it a little more interesting, autoimmune-like factors. So let's hit all those high notes again. Chronic systemic inflammation throughout the entire body, uterine-like tissue found outside of the uterus, these lesions cause inflammation throughout your entire body, they inflame everything, they create their own hormones, and then to make it a little more interesting, that cherry on the top, autoimmune-like factors. That is endometriosis.
Kim (03:54.958)
Okay, so now coming back to a little bit of your intro, which is sort of a follow along here, and we'll try to address all of those points, is it took you 16 years to get diagnosed. And I hear so many people tell me, or I read, you know, as I'm following other people who are speaking about their journeys and adventures with endometriosis that it takes so long. Why does it take so long to get a diagnosis?
Dr. Lj (04:21.808)
Well, I've got two answers to that. I will start with my, let me start with my more personal experience answer. As a black woman in the black community, getting a diagnosis is more of a challenge. There's just more challenges and disparities in the brown and black community. Now taking that wider, endometriosis is almost like a diagnosis of exclusion. I hate to say it. They've got to diagnose you with just about everything else until you come across someone that's like, hold it.
let me connect the dots. Yes, you're having period issues. Yes, there's something going on with your hormones. Yes, this, yes, that, and then they'd be able to put it all together. Endometriosis is a toughie because it looks different in everyone. We could line up 10 people that have endometriosis. Maybe we all have the same diagnosis around the same age, race, color, skin, yada, and still have 10 different experiences. So it's the fact that...
It's not a cookie cutter disease. There's no cookie cutter, you know, get better, do these five things, do these 10 things. Everyone's diagnosis looks different. And then we have those who have silent endometriosis. So those are people that have zero symptoms whatsoever. No murder scene periods, no painful sex, zero pain whatsoever. However, when it comes to their fertility journey, they're having challenges. You know, they go in for a laparoscopic procedure and then they find out they have stage three or stage four endometriosis.
their organs are fused together, et cetera, right? So you've got some of us that have tons of symptoms and we're chasing the diagnosis, and then you've got a group that have zero symptoms and don't know until really it's too late.
Kim (05:53.87)
That's so interesting. I'd never heard of silent endometriosis before. So then, so you've brought up a lot there in that these are all like big answers and so many paths we can go down, but along the path of somebody say who doesn't have silent, who like yourself had some symptoms, what ultimately, I guess it's as you say, they're ruling out other things. So they're doing all sorts of other tests. Okay, it's not this. All right, let's try this one. Okay, it's not this. And then after they,
come, there's no test per se for endometriosis. It's just ruling out all the other things. And now we say, okay, so then if it's none of those, it must be this, is that correct?
Dr. Lj (06:33.244)
Pretty much. So the golden standard, as far as I'm concerned in my practice, now there's lots of research coming out that MRIs, and I think all those things can be helpful, but really the golden standard to be properly diagnosed with endometriosis is a laparoscopic procedure where they're actually physically going in and seeing what's inside of the womb cavity, what's going on inside of your body. That is the golden standard. Now, the issue is that some people...
You know, they've had a lot of trauma with the medical environment, you know, the medical, I about said medical department, and the medical environment and their medical history and their world. And then they don't wanna have another surgery. They don't wanna go in and do the exploratory, you know, they know something is wrong and they're just like, fix me. Then we have, okay, I just literally messed up. We probably have to clip this. My brain just like literally just like went and came and I'm like, what the fuck am I saying? I apologize. Whoever's editing this.
Kim (07:18.222)
Okay, no problem.
Kim (07:23.982)
Okay, so then just, so yeah. So let me just make a note of where it is. I'm just gonna make a note. So then when, so just start from, I've just asked the question, is that accurate that we rule out all the other things so then it must be endometriosis. Does that make sense?
Dr. Lj (07:27.104)
I apologize.
Dr. Lj (07:32.781)
I'm like, what was I saying?
Dr. Lj (07:44.792)
Right, so, yes, I apologize. Yes, so the best way to be, I'm sorry I keep messing up, I don't know what the fuck my problem is right now. Let me just take a deep breath.
Kim (07:57.702)
Don't worry about it. So just to refresh your memory, so the question that I asked is, when you were talking about your own 16 year, and you said it's a diagnosis like of exclusion, so there's a test for something and they say, okay, this one's in it. Okay, no, it wasn't this. Oh, it wasn't this. And so they're ruling out a bunch of things. And then what's left is, well, then it must be endometriosis. So is there no test for...
Dr. Lj (08:01.403)
Yes.
Dr. Lj (08:11.793)
Mm-hmm.
Kim (08:26.859)
endometriosis.
Dr. Lj (08:28.668)
Correct, so there is no test where you can go into your OB-GYN, go into your PCP and be like, please test me for endometriosis. Unfortunately, the research and the testing and the cures and all that, we're still working very hard on that. The issue is with endometriosis is to be properly diagnosed, you have to have a laparoscopic procedure. So you're either going to have your OB-GYN or an endometriosis specialist come in, check it, you know, they're going to go in physically into your body with laparoscopic procedure and see what's going on. For many people...
that's not something they want to do. They've had a lot of trauma, drama, the medical gas lighting, they don't want another procedure. Now, when you're dealing with endometriosis, if there was a test, it would make it a lot easier, but like I said, the symptoms are different for everyone. So typically you're gonna have a lot of GI issues. So most of us have the diagnosis of IBS. May it be IBS-C, constipation, IBS-D, diarrhea. IBS is they, it's total BS, but they don't know what's wrong with us type of thing.
So the golden standard to be diagnosed as laparoscopic, however, like I said, it looks different in every.
Kim (09:34.674)
And you mentioned a couple of things there that like in terms of symptomatology, but before we go down there, what, what do we know what causes endometriosis? What causes that, uh, uterine like tissue to, and how, how does it get elsewhere in the body?
Dr. Lj (09:54.48)
And that's where the research, we're still waiting on that. I get that question all the time and I wish I could sit here and say, these are the three things, if X plus Y plus Z, we don't really know why some people have endometriosis, why some don't, why some are silent, why some of us are like myself where we were slapped in the face with the symptoms. What we do know is that some people have endometriosis or we've seen endometriosis, lesions, and cells out of utero.
I always explain it this way rather than focusing more on how did we get it, where did it come from. We have to really, and I hate to use this analogy, but it's the best way to think about it. When you think about endometriosis and any type of chronic condition, especially when it comes to hormone issues, your genetics may load the gun, but your daily activities is what pulls the trigger. For many people that deal with endometriosis, it was after a traumatic event.
Maybe it was some type of sexual abuse. Maybe it was some type of trauma in their family. Maybe it was a physical accident. Like something kind of spiraled their body. And then suddenly they're like, I'm having issues with my period. I'm having painful sex. Something is going on inside of my body. So I love the question, but it's heartbreaking because I wish I could sit here and say, this is the cause of endometriosis, but we just don't have that information.
Kim (11:12.478)
And you mentioned that there's a lot of different presentations and people will have, it could be silent, they have zero symptoms and zero knowledge of it, or there's other people like yourself who have all sorts of symptoms. So what are some of the more common and then what are some of the ones that are maybe not as commonly associated with endometriosis?
Dr. Lj (11:33.36)
So some of the most common ones are going to be what I call the murder scene periods. You know, you're bleeding, you are using, you know, five, 10, you know, you're running back and forth to the bathroom. You're doing all that you can. Sometimes you're bleeding so much you're not able to go to work. Right. So we've got extremely heavy bleeding, cramping, pain. There's also some of those symptoms that I think we have normalized or we're like, oh, that's common. You know, this is just what happens. So when we're talking about endometriosis, we're talking about painful sex.
You can have painful bowel movements. You're also that person where there's just something not right. You can't quite pinpoint what's going on. You don't know if it's hormonal acne, if it's hormonal headaches. You have nerve pain. You're the person that, in all honesty, no matter what day it is, may it be your period or outside of your period, you just don't feel well. Sometimes you can't even verbalize it, right? But when we're talking about endometriosis, it can be nerve pain, back pain, pelvic pain.
extreme constipation, you feel like your organs are just really tight, a lot of pelvic floor dysfunction. But then there's also those things where it's not as common. I've had some patients where they're like, you know, I have a lot of acne, I have a lot of headaches, you know, hair loss, different things that we wouldn't normally associate with endometriosis, which kind of brings us to our first point of why is it so hard to diagnose? Because it looks so different in everyone. One thing I will say that I've seen a lot with endometriosis is,
My patients that are like, I have two or three periods a month. You know, I'm like, oh, tell me about your periods. And like, oh, you know, I have a couple periods a month, maybe sometimes two, sometimes three. That's where I'm like, okay, are those two or three periods, which it could be, but it could just be those lesions that are bleeding. The other thing is that you will have bleeding outside of your cycle. So you're always spotting, or those cycles that are a lot longer. So those are a lot of the endometriosis symptoms. But like I said,
there can be so many different ones. For me personally, I'll throw in a couple because they're a little more unique. I had endometriosis lesions in my sinus. So whenever I had my period or whenever I was bleeding, I was also having a nosebleed and rectal bleeding. For me, I thought that was normal. I was just like, oh, if I'm on my period, I'm gonna bleed out of every orifice in my body. Like that's just what I thought. I mean, legit. And then when I started talking to other people and I'm like, hold it, they're on their period and they don't have a nosebleed.
Dr. Lj (13:49.744)
they're in their period and they're not coughing up blood, weird, because that's what's happening to me. And so you start having those symptoms in your cycle, but then you realize you're like, I'm always bleeding, right? I'm always having issues. The coughing up of the blood, the nose bleeds, just all this inflammation in your body, I mean, those are symptoms and signs of endometriosis.
Kim (14:11.254)
Yeah, and you sort of answered a question that I had there. When you think of uterine-like tissue outside, elsewhere in the body, and hormonally influenced, so it would be kind of riding the hormonal cycle of our menstrual cycle. And so if it's then bleeding and it's not in the uterus, where is it bleeding? We can bleed elsewhere in our body. Is it almost like internal bleeding?
Dr. Lj (14:39.352)
Essentially it is. So for those who have diaphragmatic, for example, they have the endometriosis lesions in their diaphragm in their lungs, they can actually have swelling in their lungs, swelling in their diaphragm when those lesions get inflamed. We've had endometriosis lesions removed from, like I said, I've got them from my sinuses. I've had patients have them removed from their shoulder. Shoulder gets very inflamed.
certain times of the month, they don't really know what's going on. They ended up having endometriosis excision surgery. They have a specialist go in, and what do we have? Endometriosis lesions that are throughout their entire body. They get inflamed, they create their own hormones, they're doing their own thing. So you have that inflammation going on, not to mention the ebbs and flows of your cycle, because endometriosis does exasperate any type of period or hormone issues that you may have.
Kim (15:28.002)
So then I've always called it the sister of, and I don't know if this is the, if it's a proper thing to say, but adenomyosis or adenomyosis, however you want to pronounce it. I had not heard that term until I was having an ultrasound and the ultrasound technician, which typically they don't tell you when you're on the spot, but we had been having this conversation about pelvic health and we got kind of deep into the weeds. And so she knew that I knew anatomy and she was showing me the screen and she said,
Um, cause I was having murder scene periods, super, super painful constipation. I was having a whole slew of, of symptoms, which as you're talking, it could be the autoimmune Hashimoto's that I had antibodies for. It could have been perimenopause. It could have been the adenomyosis. Like it's coming back to you saying it's a diagnosis of exclusion, but it can present as so many different things. And
probably all of them have a little bit to do with each other and there's a bit of overlap. But anyway, so adenomyosis or adenomyosis, however you wanna pronounce it, what is that and how does that differ and how is it the same?
Dr. Lj (16:37.504)
Okay, so endometriosis, uterine-like tissue found outside the uterus. Adenomyosis is actual endometrial lining growing into the muscle of the uterus. So adenomyosis, the easiest way to say it is, adenomyosis is inside of the uterus. Once again, inside of the uterus. Endometriosis is uterine-like tissue found outside of the uterus, which means your entire body is fair game. Sometimes, like you said, overlapping symptoms, cramping and bleeding, lots of bloating.
Lots of, you know, painful sex, you know, extended periods, all of those issues. But once again, adeno is inside, endo is outside.
Kim (17:16.622)
Got it. Okay. And I've read, correct me if this is not accurate, that there is a cure for adenomyosis and that is a hysterectomy. That is not a cure for endo because the tissue could be elsewhere in the body. But by removing the uterus where that tissue is contained within the uterus, it would...
alleviate and eliminate and essentially cure the condition. Is that accurate?
Dr. Lj (17:47.588)
That is accurate. I mean, it's tough to use the word cure, but it really is. I mean, when you're dealing with adenomyosis, removing the uterus really and truly will remove the issue. Now, what I will say is a lot of people that have adenomyosis inside of the uterus may also have endometriosis. And I have some patients where they're like, okay, I had the hysterectomy. It helped with quality of life, but it's so weird. I'm still coughing up the blood. I have the nosebleeds. I'm having these other issues.
we begin to dig deeper and see that it is endometriosis as well. Now, this is the perfect time to talk about some of the misconceptions because for every disease we want to cure, right? May it be functional medicine, holistic medicine, we're just like, here's your problem, here is the solution. Adenomyosis, yes, hysterectomy can be a go-to cure, if you want to say that, or an answer. Now, endometriosis, having a hysterectomy, may it be a partial, a full medically induced, you know, there are so many different ways to go into menopause.
that is not going to do anything as far as curing endometriosis. There is technically no cure. Turning off your period, may it be menopause, hysterectomy, birth control, turning off your period is not going to turn off endometriosis, turn off the endometriosis lesions or any of that chronic systemic cascade in your body. And so that's where a lot of us, and I always say this, I'm not coming from the high horse talking down.
I'm coming from the low horse, the been there done that horse. I tried the birth control. I tried Lupron. I even signed up for a hysterectomy until I got a little more educated. And I was like, hold it, a hysterectomy not gonna cure? Why would I even? I'm like yank everything out. And so we have to really, you know, we have to educate ourselves and advocate for ourselves. But the issue is, is there's been so much misinformation, miscommunication. We're doing our best to advocate not knowing that, you know.
yes, we're in chronic pain and we're like, just yank everything out. I mean, over 70% of my patients have had a full hysterectomy. So technically everything's been yanked out. However, still cramping, still bleeding, still having issues because the endometriosis lesions are throughout the entire body. So that's where when you really want to get some wins, I'm gonna kinda hop forward, right? When you're really looking to, you know, people are like, okay, LJ, you're giving me all the negatives, what's the positives?
Kim (19:44.674)
Wow.
Kim (20:03.854)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Lj (20:03.888)
The biggest thing I would say with endometriosis is the chronic systemic inflammation. Anything you can do to dampen the fire. Think of this analogy. Endometriosis is a small fire that is always burning. Small little pilot on the stove, whatever, right? Small fire, always burning. Your daily activities are either going to decrease that fire, AKA keep you out of a flare, no painful sex, no murder scene periods, no brain fog, no bloating, you're living your best life. Or it's going to turn it into a huge bonfire.
That's when you're cramping, bleeding, stuck on the couch for the weekend, stuck in mattress island as I call it because you're in pain. That is what a flare looks like. So you have to find a way to minimize your inflammation. Now that looks different for everyone, but that would be one of the first things that I would say as far as managing the symptoms.
Kim (20:39.214)
Thanks for watching!
Kim (20:52.462)
Okay, I want to go down, I want to go down what the symptom, well, we talked a little bit about the symptoms, but I want to go down how to address them. But before we go there, I just have a question about the excision surgeries. What does a lesion look like? So how do they find it? What sort of imaging or how do they know where the lesion is? What does it look like? And then how do they remove it? What's the process?
Dr. Lj (21:17.252)
That's a really good question, which also makes me think of another misconception I could have mentioned, but we're gonna mention it right now. So the golden standard to have endometriosis removed from your body is excision surgery, just like Kim said. But here's the thing, and like I said, I'm gonna kinda backpedal because I think we need to lay this foundation. When you're dealing with endometriosis, we want the lesions out, we want the pain to stop, we're like, just do whatever you can. However, one of those misconceptions is ablation surgery, which is...
really good when we start thinking about adenomyosis. Adenomyosis inside of the uterus. So doing ablation may be helpful for adenomyosis inside of the uterus. It is not helpful for endometriosis. Here's another analogy, best way to describe it. Endometriosis lesions, they're out and about, they're doing their thing. It's kind of like landscaping in your lawn, right? If every Friday you just go out there and mow the lawn and mow over the weeds, they're gonna be back every single Friday.
The day that you get down on your hands and knees and you're like, look here, I want these weeds out of my yard. I don't want to have to deal with them every Friday. You get down there and you pull the root out. That is excision surgery. Ablation, kind of think about mowing the lawn, right? You just kind of mow the lawn, it'll be back. You do your thing. And demetriosis, excision surgery done by an excision specialist. And that's a whole nother story because anyone can say they do excision, but you need someone that honestly eat, sleeps and breathes.
endometriosis and really knows it. But when they do an excision surgery, they are going in there and actually removing the lesion, right, getting to the root of the issue. Now, what I will say, because I think in the beginning, we always were like, you know, golden standard to be diagnosed, laparoscopic procedure, golden standard to have it removed, excision surgery. But this is the caveat, excision surgery, even when it's done by the most amazing, I repeat, the most amazing excision surgeon,
they're only gonna be able to remove the endometriosis lesions that are present in that moment. So it's not a cure just because you had excision surgery and 1999 does not mean in 2023 that you are endo-free. And so that's really where I come in with holistic measures like, what can we do to still have quality of life? Not living in fear, not fear-mongering, this is patient empowering. So when you're having excision surgery, you need someone to go in.
Kim (23:15.38)
Mmm.
Dr. Lj (23:36.94)
And when you have excision surgery, what I will also say is, you're gonna have your excision specialist, but any good specialist is going to have a team. Because there could be endometriosis lesions, around the bowel, on the bladder, up in the diaphragm, different areas. You need someone that's going to be looking up, under, around, whatever you wanna call it, and really looking for all the lesions. Because what happens is many times, we're in pain, and I will call myself out, right? You're in pain, you just want help.
You'll take whatever appointment you can, whatever surgery you can, you're like, just do whatever you can. But that's where I see a lot of repeated surgeries because we're not going to excision specialists. And then we maybe did an excision specialist that maybe had a little chip on their shoulder, right? And tried to do everything on their own rather than having a full team. So just in case there is a bowel resection, there's something going on with your bladder. They have to do this, that and the other with your ovaries.
I think it's really important that you find a specialist that has a team so that you can be set up for success. Not saying that you'll never have another endometriosis lesion, but if you're gonna go in for surgery, definitely I would recommend having excision surgery. The other part of that is, right, like when we were talking about why does it take so long to get diagnosed, I hate to jump on this bandwagon, but I have to. The insurance sometimes is just a racket, right? Your insurance doesn't wanna pay for excision. They want you to do a couple of laparoscopic procedures.
They don't want you to do the lap until you play the whole birth control game. And I remember having to do that. I had to suffer on X amount of different birth controls until they're like, oh my goodness, these don't work for you. I'm like, I've been trying to tell you that. Then it was laparoscopic procedure. But then it was like, this is what I need, this is what I need. Luckily for me, I was able to make a ton of lifestyle changes and put it into remission where I did not need the excision surgery. But once again, golden standard, I keep saying this because I know it's new information for some.
Golden standard to be diagnosed, laparoscopic procedure. Golden standard to have it properly removed is by an endometriosis excision specialist.
Kim (25:33.482)
And how do you find one of those specialists? I guess what would their, what would their base training like is it, would it be a urogynecologist or an OBGYN or a urologist? Could any of those do it and then have additional specialty in endometriosis?
Dr. Lj (25:37.703)
I...
Dr. Lj (25:50.616)
I would say any of those can do it. And before I answer it, I wish we had an exclusive program, like schooling. It should be just like people, and I hate to use the word C-word, but the same way that they're specialized, oncology and cancer and different things like that, endometriosis needs that. It's just not there now. So you're looking for someone that is familiar with minimally invasive surgery, someone that, like I say it easily, eats, sleeps, and breathes endo, that they really.
no endometriosis, they know the ins and outs of it. I would love to do shout outs, but I don't want to, I don't want to throw like any names out, but you definitely need to do your research. What I will say is Nancy's Nook has been an amazing resource, not only for myself, but for my patients to try to find someone. What I will say, like I said, because I don't want to give like specific names, is make sure you interview the person and come in with your questions. Do they believe in this? Do they believe in that?
are they one to do the surgery that immediately put you on birth control? Are they okay with you not being on birth control? I have a whole post on my Instagram about things you should ask, things you should do, and maybe as I say this out loud, I need to create a little ebook, a little freebie, so that you have these questions. This is actually good for me to remember this. As you have these questions, you can go in and really be prepared.
Because I think sometimes we're just so excited because someone has all the alphabet suit behind their name or they say they do excision surgery and we run in there and then we don't ask the right questions, we're not properly equipped, or maybe you're wanting to do a more holistic lifestyle and they're like, oh, well, I always do the excision surgery and then throw the IUD in there, and then you wake up and you've got an IUD and you're like, oh, I didn't know, and that's happened a lot recently. So it's just being able to look in Nancy's nook.
interview your doctors, advocate for yourself to really set yourself up for success.
Kim (27:43.566)
Good information. And yeah, once you write your ebook, I'll post it in the show notes below. But in the meantime, your links to your social media will be there. Okay, so now let's move on to where you really specialize and where you've healed your own body, you've helped so many others do the same, and that's all the positive side. I often think the same thing with my work. I always feel like I'm bringing in this like heavy, it's very heavy, it's very, but wait, there's hope, there's hope at the end. So what are the holistic ways
Dr. Lj (27:47.641)
Yes, I will do that.
Dr. Lj (28:05.428)
No.
Dr. Lj (28:09.667)
Right.
Kim (28:13.57)
What are the tools, like how can people, even like remission is such a, is what people want. So how, what are the steps to get there?
Dr. Lj (28:25.488)
So let's zoom out. And I like to use myself as an example, so none of my patients feel like I'm calling them out. So here's what I did. I was doing pharmaceuticals, a pill for every ill. Then I'm like, I'm going all natural. So what did I do then? A supplement for every symptom. And there's nothing wrong if you're doing that right now. But I need to let you know to truly heal your body, and I know some people don't like the word heal, but I'm going to say to truly heal your body.
put it into remission, you have to zoom out, which is what I do, versus just hyper focusing on the endo belly, the bloating, the painful sex. I'm constipated, I understand that, but you have to zoom out and really start looking at root causes. Now I didn't say that we are gonna know exactly why you have endometriosis, but when we zoom out, we're able to look at root causes of what's going on. Is there a hormonal component? And I'm just gonna list what I work with my patients.
some of the components that I see. There's usually a hormonal component. Not everyone's estrogen dominant. Not everyone has a crazy set of hormones. Sometimes your hormones are perfectly balanced, but you have a pathway. So for example, when we do different, you know, dried urine testing, pathways are all over and sometimes people's hormones are perfect, but they're pushing down a pathway where their body is growing, I repeat, growing prolipidive tissue. So.
just because your hormones are perfect and you're like, LJ, my hormones are amazing, we start to dig a little bit deeper and realize that you're pushing down a different pathway that is causing you to grow endometriosis lesions, right? So rather than trying to figure out, you know, the when, where, where it came from, we just know this pathway needs to be supported. Looking at your immune system, chronic systemic inflammation throughout your entire body.
pretty much is just kicking your immune system to the curb. You have to work a little bit harder. So what is that immune component, right? Is that showing up as an autoimmune disease? Is it just showing up as you always being ill? Do you not have an immune system? Does the wind blow when you always get sick? That's where we dig in a little bit deeper. So we've got hormones, immune system. I start looking into infections, detoxification. That's huge. I know that's a very, I think there are words like estrogen dominance and detoxification and detox we throw around so much. I hate to use them, but.
Dr. Lj (30:39.8)
They're appropriate terms, but when we talk about detoxification, it's bigger than, you know, are you pooping two, three times a day? That is definitely important. But then we need to look at your gut bacteria. Is your body retagging toxins? Just because your bowels and your kidneys and everything's working, you're urinating and pooping all the time, doesn't mean that your detox pathways are open. You know, these are some of the things that really bring quality of life. Opening up those detox pathways, making sure your digestion's on point, right? Not just the cookie cutter.
go dairy free, gluten free, all of that. I think some of those things are really amazing. But if we start looking at your gut health, kind of like Dr. Carey always says, you gotta poop for science. That's what we talked about yesterday. You gotta poop for science. Just because you're doing all the things, you could have an imbalance where your body is retagging toxins, retagging estrogen, which is exasperating your symptoms. What do we need to do about oxidative stress? Not just oxidative stress for your environment and toxins, but...
Kim (31:19.905)
Hahaha
Dr. Lj (31:36.696)
your stress in yourself. What are you doing as far as work stress, family stress, financial stress? Those are all the things that I like to cover because that's what put me in the driver's seat. That also is what works for my patients to really like, once again, not hyper focusing on, I have these five symptoms, fix them right now. Because if I can zoom out, get your gut health in line, balance your hormones, take care of the stress.
you know, take care of your immune system and bring in a full holistic and integrative approach, that's where you get the wins. So that's kind of like high level, but you're probably like, what are some of those things? So let me give some low level things. Number one, like I said, endometriosis, chronic systemic inflammation, right there. What can you do to decrease the inflammation? For some people, that may be going gluten-free and dairy-free. For others, it may, for myself,
Like I said, using myself as an example, it was identifying trigger foods. It wasn't just, I eat clean, I eat organic. I don't care if the food is falling straight from heaven's gates. If it does not work for your body, if it is a trigger food for you, just because it is healthy does not mean it works for you. Figuring out what those trigger foods are, your body is an amazing, amazing system, right? Amazing machine, but you have to put the right fuel in.
to get the right results. So decreasing inflammation, making sure you're properly hydrating your body, identifying those trigger foods. And the next thing I like to hop to, detoxification pathways. What can we do to open up your pathways so that your body can release the toxins? Now, sometimes as we release toxins, I don't know who this is for, but I'm gonna throw that out there. We also have to release people. Sometimes you're in a toxic environment, a toxic work relationship, or, you know, I about said sexual relationship.
I guess yes, there you go. Then intimate relationship, like we have got to look at, oh my goodness. Thank God I can laugh at myself. Yes, we have got to look at all the relationships, right? To make sure that we are not overtaxing our body. Detoxing our body is one thing, but you have to detox your mind, your spirit.
Kim (33:27.241)
The intimate relationship.
Kim (33:31.918)
I'm going to go to bed.
Dr. Lj (33:48.812)
A lot of the work I also do is the trauma work. And nobody really wants to do this unsexy. I always say it. I do the unsexy. Releasing traumas in your body, your tissues, all of that matters because at the end of the day, there's no cure. If it was that easy, I would have airdropped it to everyone. It's some of the unsexy work, some of the things that we have to do to really unpack so that I always say, so that you can get in the driver's seat that when you wake up. So this is one thing I will kind of throw in the end as we kind of close it up.
When we talk about endometriosis, there's the term endo warrior. And I'm guilty, I used to use it. I'm an endo warrior, I'm at war at my body. This body's not gonna tell me what to do. I'm just gonna go to war. Let's be honest. If you have endometriosis, you don't want to be at war with your body every freaking moment when you wake up. What do I do to get energy? What do I do to get my bowels moving? You know, what am I fighting today? So...
As I began to really progress and get better, I'm like, now hold it. Do I want to be an endo warrior, or do I want to be an endo conqueror? And so an endo conqueror is someone that does have the diagnosis, maybe has a bunch of different diagnoses. However, we have the tools in our toolbox so that we can live a life, right? So that we cannot be in this unpredictable body where we're like, we can't rely on our body. So it really is.
You know, yes, you may have a chronic illness. Yes, you may have endometriosis and all of these other things going on. But if you take the time to put the tools in the toolbox, that's what's going to give you your life back. That's what's going to let you dictate how you show up despite the symptoms.
Kim (35:28.65)
What was the first thing that you did and how long until you felt that something was changing? And the reason I asked this question is recently I had a woman who messaged me and said, I bought your 28 day challenge and I bought it again this month because I didn't do it last month and I'm still struggling to get started. I just have this something's holding me back. So I just sort of, you know, started to ask a few more questions. But what came back was...
It's just another thing that I have to do to fix myself or to improve myself. And when you have been dealing with, so in my world, chronic pelvic floor symptoms, which endometriosis can be, can be lumped into that. What, whatever you're dealing with, it's there is often, as you say, if, if we could just have a pill for an ill, great.
And I feel better, but that's not always the story. And we need to do the work and that work can be hard and that work can take time. And not everybody has the patience or the diligence or the desire. And when it's on an already long list of things to do, it doesn't always happen. Right. So where would somebody
start, even if it was just one tiny thing, where do you think the most effective place to start is and how long was it until you started to feel a difference in your body that gave you that motivation and desire to keep going and trying other things.
Dr. Lj (36:50.416)
That's a good question. My nutrition, diet, I hate to say the word diet, but nutrition, I had to leave the whole, I eat clean, I eat organic, that's going to heal and take care of my endo because it was not good enough. It was not identifying my trigger foods. It was not improving my digestion. Yes, it was work. No, I didn't like logging my food. And that was back when I was super focused. So I was like scanning everything, putting it to the app. I'm not saying you have to do that, but.
changing my nutrition and changing that mindset. The other thing that I did wrong is once I'm like, okay, I'm not just gonna eat clean, then I went to a bunch of protein shakes and different things like that and I wasn't bringing in whole foods. And for me, the big slap in the face as well was to balance my hormones, I need whole foods and I need quality fats. And so when you're dealing with endometriosis, a lot of people are inflamed, they're gaining weight. They're like, LJ, what do I do to get rid of this belly fat? Tell me now.
And we have this mindset of I don't eat fat because I don't want to be fat. I always joke about it. I used to eat sugar-free and fat-free saltines. I don't even know if a regular saltine cracker has fat. I'm just like, I have to call myself out. That doesn't make any sense. Why are you eating? And don't message me talking about there's a gram of fat in a saltine.
Okay, I'm just saying like that was my mindset. I'm going to you know starve my body. I'm going to you know decrease this I'm gonna minimize this it was always remove and I got to the point where I was like I need to eat whole foods. I need to bring in healthy fats I need to track my trigger foods and this is the thing once I realized what my trigger foods were That's where the real work came in to saying no to the trigger foods Knowing that if I ate something on Monday that triggered my body
I could be in plane for two or three more weeks. And so that's where you just honestly have to get sick and tired of being sick and tired. And this is what I will also say, if you're doing the trigger food stuff and you're like, okay, I still need some direction, that's when you bring in someone like myself, you get some help, you bring in a nutritionist, a dietician, someone that specializes in endometriosis because we don't, the cookie cutter protocols don't work for us, right? Eating clean, counting macros, counting calories, none of those things.
Dr. Lj (39:04.084)
are going to help you heal. You have to find what works for you. And so for me, it took a good 90 days. The biggest thing I will say is, I didn't enjoy doing the nutrition part, but when I had the period that didn't knock me on my butt, that didn't have me wheezing every second, and I could still go to work on my period, I'm sorry, but for me, that was a win. Because in all honesty, I wish I could find my old journals.
I would literally mark PMS week on my calendar because I knew I had to do all this special stuff to just try to be a human that week. And then period week, honey, I was out. Don't call me for work, don't call me to do this. I can't teach my fitness classes. That was the week that my neighbors knew my kids were gonna need to, I mean, there were days I was on the floor of the bathroom, I could not get up. So there were two weeks out of the month. I planned my entire world around those two weeks.
So yeah, it sucked to log my food and do this, that, and the other and say no to the stuff that would blame my body. But to be able to actually go to work, now maybe it wasn't 100% LJ energy, but to be able to show up in my business and still be on my period, that was a win for me, right? Before I was down for the count. And as a business owner, that's horrible. I'm having to cancel all my own patients because my body wouldn't allow me to show up. So once I started getting those wins,
And for anyone listening to this, you know what it's like. Once you get a little taste of the wins, you're like, hold it, I may be onto something. It makes it a little easier to be like, no thank you to the dairy, no thank you to this. I know one of my biggest triggers a while ago, back then, I mean, I don't have any issues now because I've done more gut healing, were nightshades. Tomatoes, potatoes, bell peppers, all the fun stuff we used to put on salads, those didn't work for me. And just removing those and then.
not having the murder scene period, not being crampy all the time. The other thing for me with the diagnosis of asthma is anything that inflamed my body, anytime my period came, honey, I was just puffing on those inhalers 24 seven. Like everything got inflamed, my poor lungs. To have a period where I wasn't living on albuterol and Ventolin, for any of you that have asthma, you already know that's a game changer, right? Or those who are using primatine mist, like that just burns your lungs. Like it's horrible. There's nothing worse.
Dr. Lj (41:13.328)
than feeling like you can't breathe. So being able to have a cycle and not puff on my inhaler, not being having to do breathing treatments all, it was like, okay, maybe there's something to this, right? It also was a huge mindset shift for me because I came from a fitness background where it was all about do more exercise, eat less food, do more exercise, eat less food, and then to be able to sit down, it literally messed with my head. I'm actually going to sit down and eat this food. It was...
The nicest way I can say it was like a mindfuck for me. It was huge. Like I didn't know that I could sit down and enjoy food and heal my body. But on the other hand, when you have so many allergies and sensitivities, you're afraid of food. There's a fear. I mean, I remember I could go on for hours. I remember going to birthday parties of, you know, people celebrating my birthday. I would intentionally eat before so I had my safe foods and then just act like I was full. Like who wants to go to parties and barbecues?
and outliving their life where you can't even enjoy it. But that was my world because if I ate the wrong food, did the wrong thing, I'd spiral into a flare. A flare for some people is just a couple days. For me, I was like I'm screwed for the rest of the month. It was three or four weeks of extreme wheezing, joint pain, brain fog, not being able to parent my own children as a single mother. So all that being said, the small wins came, and for me it was like, okay.
Kim (42:14.007)
Mm-hmm.
Dr. Lj (42:39.332)
This is actually working. But as I got stronger, as I got wiser, even if you look at my Instagram account, it's shifted because the more I learned, I'm like, oh, there's more to it, right? Because nutrition is great, but that's not going to be it. Your diet, your nutrition, that's just one little piece. Then there's fitness, then there's your detoxification, your digestion, trauma work, stress relief, all of those things. And so I say all of that, once again, not to be negative, but...
You gotta have a little bit of everything. Just same way you need a little bit of everything as far as your medical team. You may have a podiatrist, a nutritionist, your OB-GYN, your PCP, your cardiologist. The same way you have all of those people at your table, as I always say, as you advocate for yourself, you need all of those holistic pieces when it comes to managing endo.
Kim (43:28.69)
As you're talking, I'm thinking with my, again, was it perimenopause? Was it adenomyosis? Was it whatever? But I kept doing all of these things and part of it, there was a little bit of supplement, you know, chasing, I did some Chinese herbs, I was doing all these things. I removed inflammatory foods. And one of the last things that I removed was alcohol. And the reason why it was last was not because I was not a big drinker. I've never been a big drinker.
I've been with my husband for over 25 years and he's never seen me drunk before. Like it's just not me. So I just kept saying, well, I only have like a glass or two a week of red wine, that's it. I can't be that. And I enjoyed that. It was usually, you know, the club with girls or night with my husband or something. And so anyway, when COVID hit.
Dr. Lj (44:14.384)
Mm-hmm.
Kim (44:23.674)
I would sometimes get that histamine reaction and I was diagnosed with asthma in university and so I had my Ventolin. It was very well managed. I hardly ever used it but I did use it every once in a while and so when COVID came along and it was related to breathing and all this I thought okay I'm gonna stop drinking red wine and I didn't drink anything else so that was it. I just stopped drinking and
All of the, so I'd been making like little baby steps improvement in the symptoms that I'd had, and as soon as I stopped drinking, it was like night and day. The asthma didn't happen again. My murder scene period is totally normalized. I didn't have any painful cramps anymore. Like, it was life-changing. And so that was a really big light bulb moment for me. And now I have, I've had a few glasses of wine here and there, but it's just not worth it.
for me anymore. Like, so that kind of gave me that big, huge win. And then it took away that, oh, you know, I don't really like wine anymore because I'm gonna feel like total garbage afterwards. So you have to, you have to, when you take out something that's hard, it's actually amazing what it uncovers. So do the work and be patient. You deserve it and you will feel amazing.
Dr. Lj (45:38.328)
You will, you have to take that first step. And I think for some of you, you're like, I'm doing all the things. Your when is right around the corner. You just have to stay consistent. You literally just have to buckle down and be like, I'm tired of dealing with XYZ one, two, three. I'm tired of that. I want something different. I'm telling you, stay consistent, but always be willing to bring in additional help. Bring in a fresh set of eyes on the situation if that's what you need.
Kim (46:03.434)
Yeah, yeah. So where can people find you to get help if they wanted to come and seek your wisdom?
Dr. Lj (46:10.028)
Absolutely. I spend a lot of time on Instagram at holistic.endo.expert and then my website is ljspowerhouse.org and would love to support you. Lots of free content out there. I also have a podcast which is the Holistic Endo Expert podcast. We talk everything endometriosis, hormones, everything in my healing journey. I just kind of put all my dirty laundry out there so that you can live a better life.
Kim (46:33.166)
Amazing. I will have all of that in the show notes. Dr. LJ, thank you so much for spending this time with me and for sharing your wisdom. And I'm so happy that you are where you are now. I know that you have had quite a long journey, but you're now in a place where you're better and you're helping so many other people. So thank you so much.
Dr. Lj (46:50.864)
Thanks for having me.
