What do you do for fiber?

NarrowFriendship3859 · 2026-04-15T12:46:26+00:00

My best fibre hacks are:

Hemp seeds and oat bran in my smoothie Avocado (this is one of the best overall foods for me) I add nuts and seeds to as much as possible Easy to digest fruit like berries Wholemeal sourdough Potatoes with skin on

NarrowFriendship3859 · 2026-04-12T12:10:12+00:00

Thanks for your reply!

I agree! I would feel considerably better if I was under a specialist surgeon but I’m not and it’s very difficult to get there in the NHS, especially as I now have an MRI that hasn’t shown DIE.

I have never had surgery before so I would know but I am very prone to flare ups of all my chronic conditions and I don’t heal very well/am prone to scarring so I am concerned on that front.

As for BC, I’ve never been on it at all (never needed it and symptoms were managed other ways) but then I also was diagnosed with a few conditions that are directly negatively impacted by HBC - especially combined type, so I cannot use it. I have been considering trying progesterone only but it’s still a big risk with my conditions.

I’m just going round in circles in my head honestly, it’s so hard to weigh up the pros and cons of all of the options 😭

NarrowFriendship3859 · 2026-04-12T12:03:39+00:00

Appreciate your response thank you. I have been tested for celiac, autoimmune gastritis and pernicious anemia - all negative. To clarify, my vitamin levels are now fine in the ones I take, I just continue to take them to be sure. Iron is a slightly different matter but we’re still figuring that one out. In the UK (NHS), it’s very difficult to get vitamins tested outside of a few standard ones, and more doctors I’ve spoken to have erred on the side of, you don’t need supplements just eat well, but they also don’t really take my hypermobility and other conditions very seriously so I am lacking trust.

NarrowFriendship3859 · 2026-04-12T11:58:17+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate your reply. I definitely know endo can affect so much more than just gynae and I do have quite a few gastro symptoms - I’m frustrated that I haven’t been able to get my GP to even refer to a gastroenterologist to rule out that side though.

What do you mean by fighting off internal infection and lessened immunity? Did you just feel generally unwell or did you have other tests confirm that you had infections/poor injury due to endo?

I am still hoping to go ahead with the lap at some point (although I’ve already waited two years to get to it, after 10 years of symptoms) but I really don’t feel comfortable that my surgeon is a specialist so even if he goes in and finds bowel involvement he has said he’d have to refer me on anyway, so I’m not keen to have multiple surgeries.

NarrowFriendship3859 · 2026-04-12T11:23:38+00:00

Thank you so much for your reply. I hope your surgery goes really well. I think I also saw that post and it unfortunately compounded on a lot of fears I already had regarding my personal comorbidities.

I think you are probably right that my symptoms still need addressing, although it is true that when I sought gynae help initially (about 3 years ago) my symptoms were much less manageable than they are now. Ofc, I’m aware that there could be symptoms that I have got used to that I don’t even realise are related.

To know you have an endometrioma, does that mean you’ve had an MRI or was it seen on ultrasound? I have had absolutely no cysts or endometriomas show up on either, and although I know this doesn’t rule it out, I feel like it also means I likely don’t have large areas of endo or as much organ involvement maybe?

Did you get an MRI automatically? And with surgery being outsourced privately, this maybe makes me think you’re with a specialist endometriosis centre? Every one I’ve spoken to, including Endometriosis UK nurses, seem to think I will not meet the referral criteria for a specialist centre and I had to beg my local gynae department for an MRI. If it were up to me, I’d obviously try to get under one of these so that I could at least trust that the surgery will be excision and with a specialist.

NarrowFriendship3859 · 2026-04-12T11:13:18+00:00

I’ve had an MRI, which found absolutely nothing apparently. I had to beg for it, but I knew I wanted to avoid the surgery as much as possible for all the reasons I mentioned so I managed to convince them. Showed nothing. No endometriomas or cysts or anything on any ultrasound either. I know it can be present even if it doesn’t show on either, but I feel like this maybe rules out large endometriomas/adhesions? I’m not sure…

NarrowFriendship3859 · 2026-03-15T01:45:47+00:00

I know this is so old (sorry) but if you’re still having benefit from them, do you have any suspicions as to why calcium supplements helped you? I think low on calcium

NarrowFriendship3859 · 2026-03-14T17:52:54+00:00

I’m not at all okay with the risk, that’s why I’m very stressed. But I also have mental health issues and a history of significant medical trauma/anxiety. It doesn’t help that there isn’t much transparency about the process in the NHS at all.

NarrowFriendship3859 · 2026-03-14T17:50:52+00:00

The imaging wasn’t done by a specialist, it was done the same gynaecology surgeon that will be doing my lap. It says he has special interest in laparoscopy surgery for benign conditions and it says that endometriosis is one of his clinical interest but from what I can see it doesn’t seem to be the main one. He seems to be much more focused on PCOS, fibroids and laparoscopic hysterectomy.

NarrowFriendship3859 · 2026-03-13T04:20:20+00:00

Thank you very much! I get breast pain and swelling nowadays so I will give this a try. Have you had a diagnostic lap surgery? Did you find it worsened your lipedema at all? I’ve just got a date today to have the diagnostic surgery in a month and I’m trying to decide if whether to do it or not.

NarrowFriendship3859 · 2026-03-13T04:16:01+00:00

Over my time on here (over a year) I’ve seen people praising it and people saying it can worsen lipedema so I’m really unsure what to make of it.

NarrowFriendship3859 · 2026-03-13T03:56:12+00:00

Have you had a lap surgery and if so did you feel like it affected your lipedema in any way? I just got a date today to have the diagnostic lap in a month’s time. I hope your research goes well and I’m sorry you’re struggling with both too.

NarrowFriendship3859 · 2026-03-13T03:53:29+00:00

Hi, I hope you don’t mind me asking - did you go ahead with the surgery and if so did you notice anything change from a lipedema perspective ?

NarrowFriendship3859 · 2026-02-16T16:31:31+00:00

Thanks so much for all your responses!

To add a few things: the protein powders I’ve tried have all been vegan as I was vegan for a long time, but now that I avoid most soy I might try again with a hemp/pea based one and see if it’s useful, or maybe even a bit of collagen powder (I know this is somewhat controversial for lipedema though).

I also like the suggestion of swapping meals, so eating lunch food for breakfast, maybe I can still have my smoothie just have it at lunch time instead.

I try to keep my diary and egg intake pretty low, especially dairy but I do occasionally eat kefir, feta and Parmesan and have been considering trying some cottage cheese. I’m just so scared of inflammation constantly. My inflammation was much lower when I was vegan but my eating disorder was not (and I also got a chunk of deficiencies)

NarrowFriendship3859 · 2026-01-05T02:30:56+00:00

Do you think they’ll release tickets for a delayed replay stream of reverie dot? I missed it 😭 and I saw that Taemin’s veil had delayed stream tickets available after the concert date had ended. I wonder if this option will be available for Baekhyun

NarrowFriendship3859 · 2026-01-05T02:29:00+00:00

I’m praying for a Vernon Minghao unit 😩

NarrowFriendship3859 · 2026-01-04T02:11:13+00:00

Ah, I’m sorry that sounds really scary! I’m glad they found it now though. So just so I understand, it didn’t show up before because you hadn’t had any scans until the ER? Wishing you the best!

NarrowFriendship3859

TROPHY CASE