Acquaviva Treatments

08/03/2026

Endometriosis Awareness Month Day 8 - Working with endometriosis

My working life has been severely disrupted by symptoms of endometriosis and it's great to see changes in workers rights for anyone suffering menstrual issues. But more needs to be done.

If you are suffering from menstrual issues of any kind, I'm running a self care workshop on 28th March, which will give you a toolkit to manage your symptoms. I draw on my years of yoga, Chinese medicine and I'm supported by a nutritionist and specialist in family constellations. We are all trauma informed and devoted to finding the best care solutions for you. https://anahatahealth.co.uk/.../endometriosis-self-care.../

07/03/2026

Day 7 Endometriosis Awareness Month - Jaw Clenching

Nature is a remarkable thing. It makes fabulous designs, then repeats it in different locations. The design of the pelvis and the skull has many similarities, the hip joint opens in a similar way to the jaw.

In clinic, sometimes pain in the pelvis is mirrored in the jaw, sometimes it’s not mentioned because the menstrual pain is the most prominent. Obviously with a flare up of pain in the pelvic region patients don’t want to be poked any further so a treatment around the jaw can have a positive effect on the pelvic region.��

Today in clinic I tended to someone with a broken pelvis. While examining the tell tell signs of distress were visible around the jaw, ear and neck, so that was the treatment focus rather than the more intimate area of her pelvis.

Photo by Anne Nygård on Unsplash

06/03/2026

Day 6 Endometriosis Awareness Month - The effect of Spring on symptoms

It’s interesting that Endometriosis Awareness Month is in Spring. In Chinese Medicine this is associated with Wood, the qi moves up and out and is reflected in the sword shaped leaves of the daffodils.

This is a great energy, it’s a time to get your shoes on and get things done. It’s when plans can come into action.��However, if you are suffering from endometriosis, there are little spots of blood stagnation somewhere in your body - often in the abdomen. If the disease is advanced, the organs may be adhered to each other, which is even more stagnation.��This means that when the strong upward energy of the spring occurs, which in a healthy person is quite invigorating, for someone suffering with endometriosis the strong upward qi hits those spots of stagnation creating pain. It’s a double whammy both being crippled by pain and watching everyone else being propelled forward by the Spring energy.

Understandably sufferers reach for painkillers, ask the GP for stronger pain relief and when the pain was at its worst I was using alcohol combined with prescription painkillers to manage the pain. I was lucky not to become addicted to morphine, which happened to a contemporary of mine. Coffee is also a painkiller and a morning routine I used to help me start the day.��However, both coffee and alcohol have a pronounced effect on the Wood, adding to the strong movement of qi. Once the pain relief wears off, the strong energy that remains can contribute to the pain cycle.��Lemons are associated with Wood because the contracting action (imagine the face of someone who has sucked lemon juice) controls the big expansion of Wood. One of the first swaps I made when moving from alcohol, painkillers and coffee was starting my day with a pint of hot water and a big squeeze of lemon. I still do it now. It really helps clear the liver so it can move the qi more smoothly, so it doesn’t aggravate the stagnation spots.��Another great drink is sliced ginger simmered in a pan. It’s fabulously warming for the interior and also has a pain relieving function. It’s stimulating nature makes a good substitute for coffee.

Peeled Lemons. Eliot Hodgkin (British, 1905-1987)

05/03/2026

Day 5 Endometriosis Awareness Month - Chronic Fatigue

Living with extreme pain, excessive blood loss and other menstrual symptoms can commonly lead to chronic fatigue for endometriosis sufferers https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7277433/

The understanding of how to treat chronic fatigue has changed and the NICE guidelines no longer recommend ’graded exercise’, which gradually increases exercise because it didn’t help patients. If you have no energy, doing more exercise isn’t going to bring it back.��Similarly, many treatment options are unappealing when feeling incredibly depleted. Touch can be overwhelming when already in pain and in the height of symptoms acupuncture needles may not be the best approach.

Today I’ve been doing further study in moxibustion, burning of tiny amounts of mugwort on a protective cream (so skin is gently warmed never burned). It’s an incredibly treatment that softly warms the body bringing flow of blood and qi back to areas of stagnation. It’s a technique I use in most treatments, but for chronic fatigue patients sometimes it’s all I use. Independent research has shown how effective it can be for this symptom profile. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3576895/

04/03/2026

Day 4 Endometriosis Awareness Month - Interstitial Cystitis

Yesterday I talked about my pathway to diagnosis. It only took me 3 years but the average time in the UK is 10 years.

In that time I frequently visited my GP. As well as the pain, which I was told was either normal or imagined, I had cystitis - for years!�

As the disease progressed, I would be on a course of antibiotics I’d finish the course and the symptoms would recede, then 2 weeks later I was back at the GP with the same issue. ��The understanding of endometriosis in the early 1990s was limited, so my clinicians were unable to joint the dots, but I was unsurprised to see this paper published early this year linking endometriosis and cystitis as co-morbidities, meaning they often appear together. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40575937/

What I didn’t understand as a teenager taking antibiotics for years on end, was the toll that was taking on my body. Gut health in particular is negatively impacted and that in turn reduces the body’s ability to repair itself. In all honesty, my body has never fully recovered and consequently I have to be very careful what I eat. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8756738/

If you are having frequent bladder infections as well as increasing period pain, or other menstrual symptoms it is worth asking further questions.

Photo by Nik on Unsplash

01/03/2026

Day 1 Endometriosis Awareness Month

Menstrual issues are woefully miss-understood by the medical profession, it's far more pervasive than 'a bit of period pain'. It absolutely is NOT normal.

This eloquent portrayal of living with endometriosis won a BAFTA last week https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q-uLGvRPw0 and I invite you to take a look.

On 28th March I'm hosting a workshop on self care support for anyone suffering from menstrual issues of any kind. You will be nurtured, uplifted and informed. You will come away with information on hand outs so you can relax and enjoy the practices we share. There will be time for discussion and connection. Early bird rate is £45, ending 3/3/2026 https://anahatahealth.co.uk/events/endometriosis-self-care-workshop/

An intimate, expressive documentary short film about how endometriosis has robbed Georgie Wileman of time. The film is a human insight into the realities of ...

28/02/2026

In honour of Endometriosis Awareness Month I'll be posting daily about symptoms, tips & Chinese pathology that may help sufferers of not only endometriosis but menstrual issues of any kind. So ask away - what do you want to know? Ask about any menstrual problem either in the comments or DM for privacy.

At the end of March I'm running a self care workshop for endometriosis suffers. You don't have to be diagnosed and it will be supportive for any menstrual issue. Early bird rate is £45 and ends 3/3/26. https://anahatahealth.co.uk/.../endometriosis-self-care.../

It’s not “just bad cramps.”

It’s missing work because you can’t stand up straight.
It’s smiling through dinner while your pelvis feels like it’s on fire.
It’s being told “that’s normal” when your body is screaming that it isn’t.

It’s ovulation that hurts.
In*******se that hurts.
Periods so heavy you plan your life around bathrooms.

It’s years of being dismissed.
Years of normal labs.
Years of “maybe try birth control.”

Endometriosis doesn’t always show up on ultrasounds.
It doesn’t care how strong you are.
And it doesn’t disappear because someone minimized it.

This month isn’t about awareness for the sake of a hashtag.

It’s about believing women the first time.
It’s about earlier diagnosis.
It’s about not gaslighting pain.

If she says it hurts, it hurts.

And she deserves answers.

17/02/2026

Happy New Year! It's the Year of the Fire Horse today.

Contrary to the memes I've been seeing, the energy is more like a bucking bronco than a steady shire horse. So stay centred and boundaried and you will keep your seat.

Good news is traditionally no one sweeps their house today, you don't want to sweep away good luck. Open doors and windows to air the house and let in the good luck.

16/02/2026

It’s been a really long day, but the clinic is now ready to welcome patients tomorrow, Luna New Year. The underfloor heating is wonderful underfoot and I love the new colours and oak floor. If you’d like a treatment in this gorgeous space book here: www.acquaviva.uk

07/02/2026

Endometriosis Self Care Workshop in Kemptown Saturday 28 March
https://anahatahealth.co.uk/events/endometriosis-self-care-workshop/