When Physical Solutions Aren't Enough: The Nervous System Root of Chronic Illness | Ep 419

We’re back with Part 4 of the Endo Uncovered series, and this one is all about surgery. How to think about it, how to prepare for it, and what Rachel wishes more women knew before going in. Erin and Rachel are talking through some of the biggest questions that come up when someone is considering endometriosis surgery: How do you choose a surgeon? What’s the difference between excision and ablation? Is a hysterectomy really a cure for endometriosis? Rachel shares about her own endometriosis surgery process, why excision is considered the gold standard, hysterectomy nuance, and exactly how she prepared her own body before surgery, from reducing alcohol and prioritizing protein to increasing iron-rich foods, vitamin C, omega-3s, pelvic floor PT, strength training, walking, and strategic supplementation. If you are considering endometriosis surgery, preparing for surgery, recovering from surgery, or trying to understand what questions to ask, this conversation will help you feel more informed and grounded.

What does your nervous system have to do with your digestion, hormones, immune system, inflammation, sleep, symptoms, and healing? And is “regulating your nervous system” just another wellness buzzword? Your nervous system is constantly scanning your internal and external world for cues of safety or threat. And when your body keeps perceiving threats (even when you consciously know you’re safe), it can keep you stuck in inflammation, immune activation, digestive dysfunction, and chronic symptoms. In this episode, Erin explains why nervous system regulation requires both top-down and bottom-up work. Breathwork, meditation, and yoga can be amazing tools, but if you never address the beliefs, patterns, trauma, emotional suppression, people-pleasing, perfectionism, and subconscious threat signals underneath the dysregulation, the work may only go so deep.

You finally got the endometriosis diagnosis. Now what do you actually do after years of pain, dismissal, weird symptoms, confusing imaging, surgery, or being told everything looked “normal”? While a diagnosis can feel validating, it can also bring a whole new wave of fear, especially around fertility, surgery, symptom management, and whether this condition is going to define the rest of your life. In part 3 of the endo series, Erin and Rachel walk through the labs, nutrition, lifestyle shifts, gut support, hormone testing, nervous system work, and supplements they think about when supporting clients with endometriosis. Rachel also talks about excision surgery and why you still need a whole body approach.

We’re back with Part 2 of the endometriosis series, and this one is personal. Lead practitioner Rachel Heintz shares her own story with stage 4 deep infiltrating endometriosis. You’ll hear about the symptoms she didn’t realize were clues, the functional work that helped her feel dramatically better, and the surgery that revealed just how severe things really were. Rachel walks through her timeline: going on birth control for acne, coming off the pill and experiencing debilitating periods, dealing with extreme allergies and histamine issues, living in a moldy apartment, and eventually discovering endometriosis in a pretty unusual location. Erin and Rachel talk about why surgery is not a failure, why not every OB/GYN is an endometriosis expert, why getting another opinion can matter so much, and what Rachel’s excision surgery ultimately revealed.

We are officially kicking off the endometriosis series. In this first episode, Erin and Rachel Heintz, lead practitioner at The Funk’tional Nutritionist, are untangling one of the most misunderstood, underdiagnosed, and wildly dismissed conditions in women’s health. Painful periods might be common, but that does not mean they should be normalized, trivialized, or ignored. Erin and Rachel explain what endometriosis is, what conditions commonly overlap with it, why it is considered a chronic inflammatory whole-body condition, and how it can show up far beyond the uterus. Spoiler: we’re going inflammation hunting, and no, you do not have to just suck it up and suffer your way through being a woman!