How to Endo

Book excerpt: A vibrant, empowering guide to surviving and thriving with endometriosis, from triple j presenter and endometriosis advocate Bridget Hustwaite. After years of dismissive doctors and misinformation, Bridget Hustwaite finally received a diagnosis for her intensely heavy periods, pulsing headaches and the excruciating abdominal pain that makes her ovaries feel like they are on fire. She has endometriosis - hard to pronounce, hard to diagnose and even harder to live with. Two excision surgeries and one thriving endo Instagram community later, Bridget knows firsthand how much personal research and self-advocating endo sufferers have to do just to have their pain acknowledged. With her trademark enthusiasm, Bridget has blended her own experience with a raft of tips and strategies from health experts and endo warriors to help you thrive whenever you can, and survive on days when you just can't. Covering everything from diet to acupuncture, fertility to mental health, and surgery to sex, How to Endo is the essential guide to navigating this sucker punch of a chronic illness. Inspiring, vivacious and completely honest, Bridget's book is for everyone on the endo spectrum: the battle-hardened warriors, the newly diagnosed and those still searching for answers. 'Compassionate, informed, inclusive. This is a book generations of endo sufferers have been crying out for.' Zara McDonald, co-founder of the Shameless podcast 'Sensitive, inclusive and eminently readable . . .Essential reading for anyone with endometriosis and those who love them.' Gabrielle Jackson, author of Pain and Prejudice 'An essential to add to your endometriosis management toolbox.' Jessica Taylor, QENDO