Olivia Culpo has been outspoken about her endometriosis struggles, a disorder that affects around 11% of women. After trying many different natural remedies Olivia had a more invasive procedure last year to relieve her debilitating pain. Oivia talked to People Magazine about her journey and said she tried limiting her diet to combat endometriosis. Olivia said she eliminated sugar, gluten, caffeine and dairy but that it didn’t work. To highlight endometriosis for Endometriosis Awareness Month, Olivia has partnered with the Endometriosis Foundation of America to share her story and encourage those with painful periods to seek help. Below are a few excerpts from People:
On how bad her endometriosis was before surgery
“It was getting to the point where not only were my periods becoming unbearable, but then I’ve learned also that like another symptom of endometriosis as it’s progressing is you have pain even in between periods. It’s not only even when you’re on your cycle, it could be in between. I really tried my hardest to pretend that it wasn’t there, and just cope and be able to do normal things that I wanted to be able to do. And then eventually, I realized that it was not possible. I just remember being on planes curled up in the fetal position, just crying to myself.“It slowly takes over your life. You begin to plan your life around endometriosis because you can’t function. Every month, you don’t know if it’s going to be five times worse than last month, or ten times worse.”
She tried so many things before surgery
“I cut out caffeine. I cut out alcohol. I cut out gluten, dairy, sugar. And I was still in so much pain. And I think what had changed for me is when I felt like I had exhausted all resources outside of this more evasive [sic] route.How she felt after surgery
“I was definitely in pain,” she says of the days after surgery. “But to be honest with you, it was nothing compared to the pain that I had been feeling on a monthly basis. It’s nothing. It’s a walk in the park compared to the monthly pain that you have with endo.”
I have never suffered from endometriosis but I used to have terrible pain during my periods when I was younger. The doctors thought I had endo but when I had my gallbladder removed they checked my uterus and there was nothing. In my case it was just that my hormones had been out of whack since I hit puberty. Over time my pain is almost non existent and every once in a while I will have a bad month. I empathize with women who suffer from endometriosis because I know it can be hella debilitating. I am very proud of Olivia and the other women who are talking about it. They’re helping other girls and women so that they don’t feel alone in their struggles. I hope there be more awareness and research so at some point we will have either a cure or other options to lesson the pain. I also think that there should be more protection around feminine disorders for women who work and need time off every month. We should not feel shame for something we can’t control. Good luck to Olivia and good on her for partnering with the Endometriosis Foundation.
Here is a Q&A Olivia had with her doctor, endometriosis and OB/GYN specialist Dr. Smitha Vilasagar:
I imagine some doctors would be dismissive of women’s menstrual pain but if she is suffering so much something was clearly wrong! Glad she has a supportive, knowledgeable doctor now.
On a slightly different topic — I’ve stopped my periods for years by taking the hormonal pill continuously with no skipped week (I get them through Nurx now and it’s super convenient). I spoke to several doctors and was told there is no health risk. I think a lot of women might not be aware of this option. I never suffered from endometriosis, but I’d always have some discomfort and bloating and be on edge and rather miserable.
I do this too–take the pill continuously. I don’t have endo, and I know hormonal birth control isn’t for everyone. But if you tolerate it well, not having periods is AWESOME. Like, straight up life-changing. And yes, a lot of doctors don’t offer this option to women, which is a shame.
I had for years been seeing a male OBGYN. After my kids, my cycle became unbearable. Everything changed and it was so painful. I remember staying up late on the sofa stretched out in pain. I began to change my lifestyle during those days. And year after year he said, these things happen and your body changes after having kids. I got fed up and went to a female doctor. BEST decision ever. I also changed and went to a female general practitioner. Bottom line, ladies do not sacrifice when it comes to your health. If you feel you aren’t being heard, more than likely, you aren’t.
So glad you found a team that supports you. My experience was being equally dismissed by female GPs and OBGYNs. Things only improved when I finally got into see a reproductive endocrinologist.
It was so difficult when he kept dismissing me and I finally had enough. A male friend, much older said: how much mistreatment by your caregiver will you keep accepting before you find someone new???
He was spot on.
Yeah, that’s an epically shitty answer from your male OBGYN. So what if things changed after having kids? All the more reason for him to investigate and try to find a solution. Besides, what if something is really wrong? You’re not in pain for no reason!
I have endometritis and it just takes over your whole life. It’s hard to explain to someone who doesn’t have it, but you’re either suffering, recovering or preparing for the pain.
My story has a happy end though: I had the mirena coil inserted and after a rough time with it settling in, I am now entirely period and period pain free. It’s honestly like being given my life back.
I can’t even begin to recount what an utter joke women’s reproductive health care is – the way I’ve had to educate and advocate for myself. I was told for YEARS that my options were birth control or a hysterectomy. Having to FIGHT for tests and specialists. I’m the only woman on my maternal side who still has a uterus. If this were happening to men, it would be solved decades ago.
Agreed 100%. I have endo but not nearly as bad as a lot of woman. It effected my fertility though and I had to use IVF and clomid. I too heard all the same lines though, that pregnancy cures it and so on. I also had a doctor dismiss my pain by saying that every woman has at least some endo so….. I left that practice that day.
So glad Olivia is sharing her story, especially the idea that she could resolve endo with diet. There are so many things out there about how to can resolve inflammation related disorders by cutting out gluten, sugar, dairy, or by taking certain supplements. When you are in that kind of severe agony, you just plain and simple need more of an intervention.
It’s a miserable disease for a lot of women, so I’m glad she’s giving it more awareness. My doctors thought I might have had it when I was younger because my periods were so painful, but they’ve evened out in my thirties, so it’s thought it was hormone flux. One of my friends is thought to suffer from it (she doesn’t have certain signs, but she has a lot of symptoms), and one of the only things the doctors could come up with to permanently fix it was to burn out her uterine lining, which obviously nobody wanted to do at the time because it would permanently destroy her ability to have children. Really just kind of sucks all around.
Uterine ablation is not a good treatment for endometriosis. The gold standard treatment is excision surgery. The Mirena iud or medications to cause temporary menopause can also slow the disease progression a bit. Good luck to your friend.
I had a friend in high school who used to have the most debilitating period pain, and I’ve always wondered if this is what was going on with her. Her parents used to have to regularly take her to the hospital for a shot of morphine, which always made her throw up, but it was the only thing that could take the edge off her first-day pain.
I had really bad periods for my whole life, but no pain in between periods. One doctor told me I could have endo but he doubted it and I ‘don’t want to go down that path’, and I believed him. A few years later a polyp showed up in ultrasounds requiring surgical removal, and it’s not until I saw a specialist for that that the specialist raised that I could have endo. Booked me in for surgery for both, and it turns out I had stage 3 endo. It was such a relief to know it wasn’t in my head and I wasn’t being a big sook about ‘normal’ periods. I didn’t / don’t self-describe my symptoms as badly as some of these women do – I just described it as a really heavy period with very strong pain. So a good reminder that you can have endo even if you’re not crying from the pain.