Holistic approaches to living well with endometriosis

J Desai, Sophie Strong, Elizabeth Ball
F1000Research · 2024 · vol. 13 , pp. 359 · doi:10.12688/f1000research.142586.2 · PMID:39649833 · PMC11621616 · W4404189277
review preprint OA: gold CC0 ⤵ 5 in-corpus citations
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⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-08 ⓘ

This review presents evidence for holistic management strategies like nutrition, body/mind therapies, acupuncture, TCM, and adjunct devices to improve endometriosis-related pelvic pain.

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⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-10 ⓘ

This paper discusses holistic approaches for living well with endometriosis, drawing on narrative synthesis of non-pharmacologic and supportive strategies rather than presenting original experimental data. It emphasizes the multidimensional experience of symptoms and quality of life, framing holistic care as addressing more than purely biomedical targets. A key limitation is that the provided text does not include details of study design, participant recruitment, or outcome measurement, indicating the account is not an empirical clinical trial or cohort study. This paper is centrally about endometriosis — it focuses on holistic approaches for living well with the condition.

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Abstract

UNLABELLED: Endometriosis is a common chronic non curable neuro-inflammatory condition, which can cause endometriosis-related pelvic pain (ERPP). Sufferers may struggle with side effects and/or risks from conventional medical and surgical treatments, or not get pain relief. Increasing numbers of endometriosis patients wish to explore holistic management with fewer side effects, however it is important that medical professionals maintain an evidence-based practice for recommended treatments. We present up-to-date evidence of holistic strategies used for managing ERPP including nutrition, body and mind therapies, acupuncture, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and the use of adjunct devices such as phallus length reducers and transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS). RECENT FINDINGS: Nutrition: Gluten-free, low-nickel and high intake of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids diets improve ERPP. Low FODMAP (fermentable oligo-, di-, monosaccharides and polyols), plant-based diet and antioxidant vitamin supplementation is helpful including those with concurrent irritable bowel syndrome. Body and Mind: Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) is beneficial in postoperative pain reduction, whilst mindfulness has been shown to reduce pain scores and dyschezia. Progressive muscle relaxation therapy and regular yoga sessions improve ERPP and Quality of life. Acupuncture: Acupuncture and moxibustion show improved pain scores compared to conventional therapies alone. Adjunct devices: TENS improves deep dyspareunia and reduces the number of days pain is experienced. SUMMARY: Holistic management strategies for ERPP should be incorporated into routine counselling when discussing conservative, medical and or surgical treatments for endometriosis. The growing evidence presented for the use of holistic management strategies gives hope to those patients who cannot have, or don't respond to conventional approaches and as an adjunct alongside standard treatments. These findings should be incorporated into the routine counselling when seeing patients in the gynaecology outpatient setting presenting with chronic pelvic pain.

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Outcome instruments

EHP-30 VAS-pain

Condition tags

endometriosischronic_pelvic_paindyspareuniairritable_bowel_syndrome

MeSH descriptors

Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Endometriosis Female Female Female Female Female Female

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (78)

Cited by (5)

SciLite annotations

chemicals 20
omega-3 fatty acid monosaccharide nickel gabapentin monosaccharide nickel omega-3 fatty acid palmitoyl ethanolamide vitamin d nickel nickel lactose prostaglandin cannabinoid delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol progesterone gestrinone danazol danazol progesterone
organisms 9
mosquito plant noordeloos 2009062 mosquito plant wheat garlic mus sp. humans vtt e-98821 noordeloos 2009062

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