In Sixteen Years of Endometriosis Amy and Brittany

Dr. Jeff Arrington is an outspoken endometriosis advocate, expert endometriosis excision surgeon, and advanced Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery specialist. The evolution of his practice to focus on advanced excision of endometriosis really was driven by patient need. In practice he was able to continue advancing knowledge and surgical skill through focusing on endometriosis care, eventually building a full multi-disciplinary practice.  Now, after his last 4 years as a surgeon at the Center for Endometriosis Care in Atlanta, GA, he is opening a new world-class endometriosis clinic, EndoWest, in the greater Salt Lake Valley. 







Dr. Arrington is well known in the endometriosis community as one who advocates for all patients both in and out of the OR, constantly working to improve care options for patients with a focus on true and truthful informed consent and a higher value to patient autonomy.







We have a great conversation about what informed consent is, why it’s so vital, and what it would like look with endometriosis care. We also discuss changes we’d like to see in the ACOG endometriosis guidelines, and what we hope for the future of endometriosis treatment.







CONNECT WITH DR. ARRINGTON: FACEBOOK - Jeff Arrington-Endosurgeon







INSTAGRAM: @dr.jeff_endosurgeon







WEBSITE FOR HIS ENDOMETRIOSIS MULTIDISCIPLINARY PRACTICE: www.endowest.net

With dealing with this disease and all the repercussions of it on our physical and mental health, many of us feel or have felt like we are broken. We explore the feelings of brokenness and talk about how although we might feel like we are broken - which are valid feelings and a normal response to living with chronic illness - we are not inherently broken as a human being. We are not unworthy, inadequate, unlovable, or undeserving in any way.







CONNECT WITH US! INSTAGRAM: @in16yearsofendo







WEBSITE AND RESOURCES: insixteenyears.com







AMY’S BOOK: Finding Peace with a Devastating Disease by Amy Corfeli







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Dr. Abhishek Mangeshikar (he/him) is an expert excision surgeon who also advocates and spreads awareness of correct information of endometriosis. He’s performed almost 2000 surgeries, and has been running his multidisciplinary endometriosis practice for over 7 years. He is the founder and director of the Indian Centre for Endometriosis (ICE), which is a knowledge bank about endometriosis: correcting myths with endometriosis facts, discussing treatment options/procedures, and providing ample research data and key developments in the field of endometriosis in India and worldwide.This is a great interview in which he speaks about excision surgery for endometriosis and various endometriosis topics such as bowel endometriosis, adhesions, imaging, and endometriosis guidelines.







SOURCES: Clickable links at insixteenyears.com/episode91







CONNECT WITH DR. MANGESHIKAR: TWITTER: @mangeshikar







INSTAGRAM: @endometriosis_india







WEBSITE: https://www.endometriosis-india.com/







YOUTUBE VIDEOS:







--Extra Pelvic Not Rare and Indian Center for Endometriosis talk Extra Pelvic Endometriosis – “Dr. Abhishek Mangeshikar of Indian Center for Endometriosis and Dr. Wendy Bingham, PT, DPT of Extra Pelvic Not Rare discuss non reproductive system disease in the person with endometriosis. Chocked full of easy to understand statistics and pictures of extra pelvic disease this is a must see for anyone with bowel endometriosis, diaphragmatic endometriosis or extra pelvic disease.”







--Understanding Bowel endometriosis : What patients need to know – Video by excision surgeon Dr Mangeshikar







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WEBSITE AND RESOURCES: insixteenyears.com







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Olivia Nwankudu (she/her) is an endometriosis advocate and Founder of EndoSurvivors International Foundation (ESIF); a non-profit organization focused on raising awareness about endometriosis, educating the public about endometriosis, and supporting endometriosis patients in Nigeria.







ESIF is also committed to reducing period poverty and improving school retention through the free distribution of sanitary pads to school children. Since inception, ESIF has educated over 9000 adolescents on menstrual hygiene and the symptoms of endometriosis, thereby encouraging discussions about periods and promoting a care-seeking behavior among those experiencing symptoms of the disease in a bid to reduce diagnostic delays.







In this episode, we discussed the work that ESIF is doing in Nigeria, as well the standard of care she’s come across there.







CONNECT WITH US! INSTAGRAM: @in16yearsofendo WEBSITE AND RESOURCES: insixteenyears.com LIKE OUR SHOW? Please rate it or leave a review!







CONNECT WITH OLIVIA AND ESIF:







--Instagram and Twitter: @endosurvivors--LinkedIn and Facebook: EndoSurvivors International Foundation--Donations: Reach out to their organization on social media to be sent the link to support their hard work.

We continue our series on disability by talking about identifying as disabled with endometriosis, internalized ableism, invisible or non-apparent disability, the social vs the medical model of disability, and language around disability.







CONNECT WITH US! INSTAGRAM: @in16yearsofendo







WEBSITE AND RESOURCES: insixteenyears.com







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Soha Wahb (she/her) is a Lebanese medical student at the American University of Beirut, and founder of “Endo In Arabic”, an initiative that aims to provide accurate information about Endometriosis in both English and Arabic, and to shed light on patients’ struggles and the factors hindering access to proper care.







In this episode, Soha brings forth her perspectives of being both a patient and healthcare professional to talk about the difficulties of accessing expert care, such as how loosely the term endometriosis “specialist” is used, and the lack of set criteria and unwillingness among the general medical community to distinguish true optimal care from suboptimal care. We also had a thought provoking discussion about how the medical community in the region and worldwide needs to take initiative and responsibility in improving endometriosis care.







This episode is a part of a short series I’m doing on endometriosis care and experiences globally. The problems with care, misinformation and lack of access to excision that the endometriosis community faces is a global problem, and I wanted to highlight the voices of a few advocates worldwide who are doing great work and who could speak on obstacles to care that they've come across and also report on obstacles to care that members of their respective regional support groups have experienced. Please keep in mind however that while they share their experiences and opinions, they don't speak for or represent all of the people in their country or region, just like when I speak about care I've encountered in the US, I'm not speaking for every person's experience in the US either. Many of our experiences are similar, but they are also each unique and individual to each of us and vary widely. All of the opinions expressed by the interviewees are their own. 







CONNECT WITH US! INSTAGRAM: @in16yearsofendo WEBSITE AND RESOURCES: insixteenyears.com LIKE OUR SHOW? Please rate it or leave a review! SUPPORT US by buying us a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/insixteenyears







CONNECT WITH SOHA!







--Instagram: @endoinarabic https://www.instagram.com/endoinarabic/ --YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfWcwXxl0l3TYr2H3qZPB8g