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You know your body best, and you know what endo tips work for you when it comes to managing symptoms. We are including an Endo Tip of the Week in our newsletters from now on, and we want to hear from you. We've created this handy Endo Tip Jar for you to share your endo tips. The more information we collect and share, the more individuals who have endometriosis—whether preparing for their next surgery or newly diagnosed—can ease their pain and get the answers they need. Let's get sharing!

Last week, EndoFound's Melissa Boudreau and Dr. Jen Gunter, author of The Vagina Bible, spoke with Bloomberg QuickTake about the latest Supreme Court decision to roll-back birth control, letting employers opt-out of coverage. This decision is going to affect endometriosis care, and we need to advocate for change.

This week Lauren Kornegay, the founder of EndoBlack and co-founder of the Black Women's Health Coalition, shares the incredible work she's doing for the endo community. Also meet our newest advisory board member, Ana Herrera, and check out the new addition to the EndoFound Bookshelf. 

In community,
Margaret Cianci

Executive Director, EndoFound

Endo Tip of the Week:
Breathe for Ease

In her Long-Distance Reiki class last week, Stephanie Christian shared a tip to promote mindfulness meditation, which is proven to help with anxiety and depression. Focus on your breathing in a comfortable setting. Set an intention about what you’d like or how you desire to feel, then breathe in. Try breathing with this count: In for 4 seconds, hold for 2 seconds, out for 4 seconds. Try this for 10 to 20 minutes.

EndoFound co-founder Padma Lakshmi spoke with Women’s Health about the workouts that make her pain manageable and the anger she felt after a late endometriosis diagnosis. “At first, I was relieved,” Padma told Women’s Health on Tuesday. “It wasn’t until a year after the surgery that I started getting really pissed. Like, ‘Wait a minute. I lost a week of my life every month of every year since I was 13 because of this s---, and I could have had this operation at 20 rather than 36?’”

In 2015, Lauren Kornegay founded EndoBlack to create a platform for people of color with endometriosis to connect and learn from one another. Now, Lauren’s continuing her mission to advocate for critical change in the medical community with the launch of the Black Women’s Health Coalition. Lauren explains that the purpose of the BWHC is not to call hospitals and doctors out—it’s to advocate for these hospitals to make necessary changes. “I'm just here to ask them for what we should already be getting,” Lauren says. “We want every African American woman or woman of color to be treated fairly.” Thank you, Lauren, for your dedicated and critical work in the endometriosis community.

Last week the Supreme Court upheld a rule that gives employers with religious objections a right to refuse to offer birth control through their health plans. EndoFound Director of Marketing and Outreach Melissa Boudreau joins Dr. Jen Gunter in explaining how birth control helps manage endo pain on Bloomberg QuickTake.

Ana Gonzalez Herrera’s endo story is like that of many corporate executives with the disease. She once gave a presentation in a male-dominated boardroom while masking her excruciating pain. Another time in Starbucks she doubled over in pain and fainted, then woke up and drove straight to work. Now, Ana’s pain has become her mission. As a member of EndoFound’s Advisory Board, Ana is already working on securing partnerships for PeriodNow. Welcome, Ana!

Our latest addition to EndoFound’s bookshelf is Emily Dwass’ Diagnosis Female: How Medical Bias Endangers Women's Health. An in-depth analysis of the inherent gender bias in today’s healthcare system, Diagnosis Female uses unequivocal medical facts to illustrate the widespread skepticism and disregard that women and individuals assigned female at birth have encountered. Dwass also cites how these discriminatory patterns make healthcare even more challenging for women of color. Diagnosis Female is sure to empower any person who has ever been told that pain is “all in their head.”

Thank you to everyone across the country who has fundraised in support of endometriosis! From birthday fundraisers on Facebook to running 5Ks, you make it happen. With your help, we can continue working towards increasing endometriosis awareness, education, advocacy, and research. To create a fundraiser, please set up your fundraiser on Facebook.

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We hope that you find endofound.org useful in providing information and in helping you make your own health care decisions.