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u/Main_Difference7125

▲ 19 r/Endo

Looping Endo in With PCOS

I know many mean well, including dietitians, nutritionists, and women’s health advocates, but is anyone else EXHAUSTED by endometriosis constantly being lumped together with PCOS when they’re fundamentally different diseases with different mechanisms, symptoms, and treatment approaches?

Yes, endo and PCOS can coexist. Yes, both affect women’s health and hormones in different ways. But it often feels like combining them into one conversation often oversimplifies both conditions and spreads misinformation.

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u/Main_Difference7125 — 1 day ago
▲ 95 r/Endo

I’m getting really tired of seeing hormone misinformation in “women’s health” books, especially around endo and PCOS.

A lot of it comes down to oversimplifying estrogen in a way that just isn’t accurate.

The idea that eating soy = “adding estrogen” or making estrogen-dominant conditions worse isn’t how physiology works.

Phytoestrogens are much weaker than human estrogen and can compete for estrogen receptors.

Because of this, they don’t just “add” to your estrogen levels. In some cases they can actually have a modulating or even anti-estrogenic effect by blocking stronger endogenous estrogen from exerting its full effect.

Also:

- Endometriosis isn’t just “too much estrogen” — it involves local estrogen production, inflammation, immune dysfunction, etc
- Even if your estrogen levels are high, that doesn’t automatically mean you’re “estrogen dominant”
- PCOS isn’t primarily an estrogen issue — it’s more driven by insulin resistance and androgens

What bothers me is how confidently books like this tell women to restrict foods based on oversimplified hormone explanations. It creates unnecessary fear around things like tofu and tempeh when the reality is way more nuanced.

I’m all for being intentional about diet, but this kind of messaging feels more like wellness dogma than evidence-based guidance.

u/Main_Difference7125 — 18 days ago