Endo Battery

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Your pelvic floor might be doing its job a little too well. When stress hits, many of us brace without noticing and that tension can land deep in the core, shaping everything from pelvic pain to how safe we feel in our own body. We sit down with Karla Ehlers, a pelvic health occupational therapist and founder of Ocupelvic Health and Wellness, to connect the dots between nervous system states and pelvic floor dysfunction in a way that feels practical, human, and doable.

We talk about the pain cycle: fear and past trauma can trigger a protective “guarding” response, which ramps up the sympathetic nervous system, which then feeds more pain and more threat. Karla explains why fight or flight is not the villain, we need it for energy and everyday function, but we also need an off-ramp back to parasympathetic regulation. You will hear concrete examples of where people hold tension most, including pelvic floor tightening, jaw clenching, upper ab gripping, and glute squeezing, plus how sensory stress like constant noise can push the body further into dysregulation.

We also dig into interoception, the skill of sensing what is happening inside your body. Chronic pelvic pain, chronic stress, and neurodivergence can make those signals either harder to read or so loud that everything feels like danger. Carla offers a steadier approach: build functional awareness first, notice early signals before they reach 10 out of 10, and practice small releases that support lasting change.

If this quick, focused conversation helps, subscribe for more expert insights, share it with someone who needs it, and leave a review so more people can find support.

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Waiting for a perfect diagnosis can cost your child months or years of support at school, and Dr. Sarah Cohen Solomon wants families to know they don’t have to wait. I sit down with Dr. Cohen Solomon, a board-certified pediatrician who specializes in hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome and related conditions like POTS, MCAS, and dysautonomia. She also speaks as someone who has lived through chronic pain, misdiagnoses, and medical gaslighting, which gives her a rare, practical lens on what “whole-person care” looks like for kids who are often dismissed. 

We dig into one of the biggest real-world challenges parents face: helping hypermobile students and other kids with chronic symptoms function in school. That includes learners navigating autism, ADHD, endometriosis, fatigue, pain, and sensory overload. Dr. Cohen Solomon explains how the accommodations process can be more than paperwork. Done well, it teaches self-advocacy, helps kids learn when to speak up, and reinforces a powerful message: you’re allowed to take up space and have your needs met. We also talk honestly about the downside, like scarce resources and the frustrating reality that families sometimes have to fight for basic supports. 

Then we get concrete about school accommodations and disability rights, including the difference between a 504 plan and an IEP, plus the kinds of symptoms a 504 plan can address. Think far beyond extended test time: mobility challenges between classes, classroom temperature triggers, allergies, and other chronic symptom disruptions can all matter. The most important point: you can request a 504 evaluation based on symptoms, even without a formal diagnosis, and you can start the process with a clear letter to the school. 

If this helped, subscribe for more short, expert answers, share this with a parent or educator who needs it, and leave a review so more families can find these tools.

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Pelvic pain can make your body feel unpredictable, tense, and impossible to trust. But what if that tightness isn’t your body “breaking” at all, and it’s actually a protection strategy from a nervous system that’s been through too much for too long?

We sit down with Karla Ehlers, a pelvic health occupational therapist and founder of Occupelvic Health and Wellness, to connect the real dots between pelvic floor dysfunction and nervous system regulation. We get into why strengthening isn’t always the answer, how chronic stress and medical trauma can keep your system stuck, and why symptoms can flare when life feels unsafe, uncertain, or out of your control. If you’re navigating endometriosis, pelvic pain, hypermobility, or that constant bracing you can’t seem to turn off, this conversation offers language and clarity that many of us never get in a doctor’s office.

We also talk practical tools you can try right away: building functional awareness, understanding interoception, using sensory supports, and finding what actually helps your body feel safe. Karla explains co-regulation and neuroception, and why healing often speeds up when you’re in the right community, not just doing the “right” exercises. We even challenge spoon theory and explore how you can be “resting” while your nervous system is still burning energy in a spiral.

If this resonates, subscribe, share this with a friend who needs validation, and leave a review so more people living with pelvic pain and endometriosis can find these nervous system grounded tools.

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Chronic illness does not just change a body, it changes a marriage, a home, and the way your kids understand safety. I sit down with writer and advocate Kody Adamson to talk about what happens when your health shifts early in a relationship and you are suddenly trying to hold love, parenting, and survival at the same time.

Kody gets brutally honest about the emotional weight that follows: mom guilt, wife guilt, anger, sadness, and the feeling of missing out on your own life. We talk about why humor helps but cannot carry everything, and how couples can “regroup and reconnect” when one person is running on fumes. If you have ever apologized for the dishes, the laundry, or the plans you had to cancel, you will feel seen here.

We also dig into the hardest layer: kids. Kody shares what it is like when children grow old enough to realize their family looks different, including how their reactions to seizures change over time. We explore simple, practical ways to build connection on bedbound days, like inviting your child to bring their Legos or drawings to you, turning limited energy into focused closeness. We also discuss therapy for children and partners, plus a powerful communication tool they used during a tough season: a “transparency journal” with a 48 hour response rule.

If you are navigating chronic illness, disability, endometriosis related fatigue, caregiving stress, or the mental load of parenting while unwell, this quick connect offers real strategies and real hope without sugarcoating. Subscribe for more short expert conversations, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review with the question you want us to answer next.

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Fifteen minutes can decide whether you get help or get brushed off, and that reality hits even harder when your symptoms span multiple systems. We sit down with Dr. Sarah Cohen Solomon, a board-certified pediatrician who specializes in hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, hypermobility spectrum disorders, POTS, MCAS, and dysautonomia, and who also knows chronic pain from the inside as a patient. Together, we talk about why endometriosis and connective tissue disorders so often get missed, why patients leave appointments feeling dismissed, and how we can start changing that story earlier, especially for kids and teens.

We get practical about walking into a medical visit with a plan: how to prioritize what matters most, how to share a symptom list without setting off alarm bells, and how to protect your own boundaries when fear and time pressure make it hard to speak. We also dig into the “bendy brain” connection, including how neurodivergence like ADHD or autism can shape communication, sensory sensitivity, and even the pain experience, and what trauma-informed care can look like in a real exam room.

School support is a major theme too. We break down 504 plans, what accommodations can look like for chronic pain, hypermobility, fatigue, and dysautonomia symptoms, and why you can often start the process based on function and symptoms rather than waiting years for a formal diagnosis. We wrap with a grounded conversation about pain management: reframing pain without minimizing it, medication options that may be considered with your clinician, and why individualized movement matters even when you are starting very slowly.

Subscribe, share this with someone who feels overlooked, and leave a review if these conversations help. What question do you want us to ask Dr. Cohen Solomon next?

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The “extra flexible” kid is often celebrated, not evaluated and that can be the start of a long road of unexplained injuries, chronic pain, and being told it’s “just growing pains.” I’m joined by Dr. Sarah Cohen Solomon, a pediatric specialist in hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (hEDS) who brings something rare to the table: deep clinical expertise plus lived experience of hypermobility, pelvic pain, and years of dismissal.

We get clear on what hypermobility is (and what it isn’t), why hEDS diagnosis is still heavily dependent on history and exam, and how treating it like a single sore joint misses the real problem. Dr. Solomon explains why management is the right framework, what safe physical therapy for hypermobility should prioritize, and how proprioception and body awareness can reduce injury cascades over time. We also talk mobility aids, why accessibility is not failure, and the one hands-on technique she strongly warns against: rapid high-velocity neck adjustment.

From there, we shift to kids and teens. We walk through early signs parents and pediatricians may overlook, including persistent pain, fatigue after activity, GI issues like constipation or nausea, dizziness with standing, frequent ankle sprains, and recurrent nursemaid’s elbow. We also cover bruising, how it can be misunderstood in pediatrics, and why careful documentation protects families. Finally, we dig into advocacy and medical trauma: how to ask better questions, how to avoid the “doctor shopping” trap, and why being believed is a medical intervention all by itself. We close with emerging research on the overlap between endometriosis and EDS, including striking pelvic pain rates, plus a preview of part two on neurodivergence and practical support tools.

If this hits home for you or your child, subscribe, share this with someone who needs it, and leave a review so more families can find the conversation.

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Life can move fast when your health changes, and the pressure to “figure it all out” can take over your days. We sit down with Kodi Adamson, a writer, advocate, wife, and mom who has spent the past decade learning how to live with chronic illness while protecting her marriage, her identity, and her joy. She shares what happened when her health shifted early in her relationship and how honesty and humor helped, but also why she needed something deeper to get through the hardest stretches. 

Kodiopens up about a traumatic event around Christmas 2024 and the decision to take a step back in 2025. Instead of chasing every diagnosis and answer, she focuses on a practical, body-aware reset: a three-part list that helps her find what still feels like her. She revisits old interests, tests them in real life, and then makes a clear call on each one: keep it, adjust it, or drop it. The result is fewer distractions, less overwhelm, and more emotional clarity, especially when chronic pain, fatigue, and uncertainty make everything feel heavier. 

We also talk about what happens after bad doctor news and how easy it is to slip into fight-or-flight choices that don’t actually help. Kodi shares the small set of “favorites” that reliably pulls her out of a spiral, like painting, puzzling, playing piano, and riding an e-bike, plus the permission to keep simple comforts that work. If you’re looking for chronic illness coping strategies, relationship resilience, and a realistic way to rebuild self-worth, this quick, focused conversation offers a tool you can try today. Subscribe, share with someone who needs it, and leave a review with the one activity that brings you back to yourself.

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Reading endometriosis research while you’re exhausted and in pain can feel like being handed a textbook when you asked for a lifeline. So we did what we always do on Endo Battery Fast Charged: we translated the studies into clarity, kept the nuance, and skipped the false promises. You’ll hear why research is messy by nature, why correlation does not equal causation, and how to stay curious without spiraling.

We start with a genuinely exciting tool for the future of personalized medicine: patient-derived endometriosis organoids. These tiny 3D tissues grown from real surgical samples can mimic key features of different endometriosis subtypes, reinforcing what patients have said for years: this disease is not one-size-fits-all. We also unpack what it means that tissue from patients using hormonal treatments may grow differently in the lab, plus the limits of organoids that don’t include your full immune system, nervous system, or real-world biology.

Then we zoom out to the gut and the immune system. A large case-control study finds higher rates of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) and intestinal methanogen overgrowth (IMO) in endometriosis patients, and we talk about what that overlap can and can’t prove. From there, we dig into endometriosis and autoimmunity research, chronic inflammation, cytokines, impaired immune surveillance, and why symptoms can feel systemic. Single-cell sequencing adds another layer, linking abnormal gene expression to progesterone resistance and uneven treatment response. We close with a major association study connecting Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) to higher endometriosis and reproductive health risks, validating that overlapping conditions may change what good care looks like.

If something clicks, use it as a conversation starter with a provider who actually listens. Subscribe, share this with someone who needs the validation, and leave a review so more people can find evidence-based endometriosis support.

Patient-derived epithelial cell organoids mimic the phenotypic complexity of endometriosis subtypes

High prevalence of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and intestinal methanogen overgrowth in endometriosis patients: A case-control study

Endometriosis and autoimmunity

Gynecologic disorders in women with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome

Endometriosis and adenomyosis unveiled through single-cell glasses

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Pelvic pain after endometriosis surgery can feel like the cruelest plot twist: you found the specialist, went through excision, did the recovery work, and you still do not feel right. When that happens, most of us get pushed toward the same conclusion: the endometriosis must be back. I sit down with my close friend Chelsea Taylor to explore a different possibility that too many endometriosis patients never hear about, vascular compression syndromes and how they can mimic, worsen, or even drive chronic pelvic pain.

Chelsea shares her lived experience with May-Thurner syndrome, nutcracker syndrome, and the long road from years of gaslighting to the right imaging, the right referrals, and finally treatment that restored her day-to-day function. We get specific about what symptoms can overlap with endometriosis, including pelvic heaviness, leg pressure, fatigue, brain fog, pain with standing still, bladder sensitivity, and back or flank pain. We also talk through what a venogram is, why MRV and specialized evaluation matter, and what it is actually like to have venous stents and follow-up care.

We zoom out to the bigger picture of pelvic pain generators: endometriosis, pelvic floor dysfunction, nerve issues, central sensitization, connective tissue disorders like EDS, and dysautonomia or POTS-like symptoms that can muddy the waters. You will leave with practical language to bring to your doctor, a few clues that may suggest a vascular component, and a reminder that better outcomes often come from asking better questions, not rushing into another surgery.

If this helped you, subscribe, share it with someone stuck in the loop of “maybe it’s just endo again,” and leave a review so more people can find the conversation. What symptom are you rethinking after listening?

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Ever been told your labs look fine while your body is screaming for help? We sit down with Jenna Stewart—a former pro dancer turned fascia relief specialist, somatic practitioner, and chef—to explore how the body holds stress, how symptoms act as protective messages, and how regulation, not willpower, unlocks real healing for chronic pain and endometriosis.

Jenna takes us inside somatic therapy in plain language: body scans that anchor attention, audible breath that changes nervous system state, and gentle fascia release that loosens guarded tissue. We talk about why emotions must move to be metabolized, what “safety” actually feels like in your body, and how to create space for tears, shaking, and yawning as healthy release—not setbacks. You’ll hear how anticipatory fear can magnify cyclical pain, why pre-regulating before your period changes the experience, and how simple tools like a soft ball for gut work can ease cramps by helping organs relax and fascia un-grip.

We also dig into the real-life balance between medical care and somatic work. Rather than compete, they complement: a regulated system tolerates procedures better and recovers faster. Jenna offers micro-habits you can keep—60 seconds of shaking before bed, havening when anxiety spikes, hydration before coffee, and foot rolling while you watch TV—plus the surprising red flag high achievers miss: poor sleep. Finally, we map a practical life operating system across emotional, physical, and financial boundaries so your choices stop fueling fight or flight and start sending a steady message of safety.

If you’re navigating endometriosis, IBS, or lingering trauma, this conversation reframes your symptoms from failure to guidance. You’ll leave with grounded, repeatable practices to reduce flare intensity, restore trust with your body, and build resilience one small choice at a time. If this resonated, follow the show, share with a friend who needs it, and leave a review to help others find these tools.

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