When endometriosis pain is normalized and women are dismissed, cannabis often enters the conversation as both a medical option and a source of tension.

Callie Greenberg speaks with Melanie Wentzel, an international speaker, healthcare strategist, and bestselling author of Cannabis Queens, about cannabis, pain management, and endometriosis through a women’s-health-forward lens. They unpack how stigma, limited research, and delayed diagnosis have shaped the way chronic pelvic pain is treated, and why cannabis continues to sit outside mainstream care despite its long history and growing evidence.

The conversation goes deeper than symptom relief. It asks what happens when women are expected to tolerate pain instead of being supported, and what pain management could look like if curiosity replaced dismissal. This episode invites listeners to rethink how care is defined, who gets taken seriously, and what becomes possible when women’s pain is finally treated as worthy of real solutions.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Welcome to Endo Warriors 

01:30 Melanie Wentzel’s Path Into Cannabis and Health System Reform

04:45 Women’s History With Cannabis and the Roots of Stigma

12:47 Cannabis, Chronic Pain, and Endometriosis

19:55 The Endocannabinoid System and How Cannabis Works

25:16 The Real Cost of Endometriosis and Chronic Pain on Women’s Lives

32:15 How Cannabis Supports Pain Relief and Nervous System Balance

39:28 Cannabis Delivery Methods, Dosage, and Safe Use

49:27 Side Effects, Safety, and Responsible Cannabis Use

52:45 Hormones, Menstrual Cycles, and Personalized Cannabis Response

01:00:50 Where to Find Melanie Wentzel and Cannabis Queens

Connect with Callie Greenberg:

Visit the Own My Endo website

Follow Endo Warriors on Instagram

Living with an invisible chronic illness often means trusting yourself before the system catches up. How do you know when something is wrong if no one else can see it?

Callie Greenberg reconnects with longtime friend Lauren Buchsbaum for an honest conversation about life with a chronic inflammatory condition and the reality of navigating care that often feels incomplete. Although Lauren lives with ulcerative colitis, her experience mirrors many of the same challenges faced by people with endometriosis and other autoimmune conditions.

Lauren shares what it was like to receive treatment without clear explanations and to live with symptoms and side effects she was never warned about. She reflects on how that uncertainty pushed her to ask better questions, seek holistic support, and become a stronger advocate for herself. The conversation explores the connection between physical symptoms, mental health, and daily habits, along with the emotional weight of living with an illness others cannot see.

This episode offers a reminder that healing is rarely about one answer. It is about learning your baseline, listening closely to your body, and making small, supportive changes that help you feel more like yourself again.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Welcome to Endo Warriors and Lauren Buchsbaum’s Story

01:55 Early Symptoms, Misdiagnosis, and Feeling Dismissed

03:20 Learning to Advocate for Yourself in Chronic Illness Care

05:20 Accepting New Baselines and Listening to Your Body

06:45 The Emotional Weight of Invisible Illness

10:15 Steroids, Side Effects, and Finding Specialized Care

14:38 Anxiety, Dehydration, and the Mind-Body Connection

18:42 Food Triggers, Nutrition, and Inflammation

24:16 Blending Western and Holistic Approaches

28:01 Gentle Movement and Somatic Therapy for Healing

32:18 Advice for Anyone Newly Diagnosed

Connect with Lauren Buchsbaum:

Connect with Callie Greenberg:

Visit the Own My Endo website

Follow Endo Warriors on Instagram

Medical gaslighting reshapes the mind as much as the body… and this episode explores how endometriosis can slowly strip a woman’s voice, confidence, and sense of safety long before she ever receives a diagnosis.

Callie Greenberg is joined by clinical therapist and former OR nurse Marissa Chabai for a look at what repeated dismissal does to a person’s intuition and mental health. How does someone start to doubt their own reality? What happens to the nervous system when every appointment feels like a battle? Marissa explains why chronic survival mode becomes so common for women with endo and how it fuels anxiety, depression, and isolation.

They also talk about the moments that feel hardest to say out loud: freezing in medical settings, withdrawing socially, and trying to advocate for yourself in workplaces that often have little understanding of pelvic pain. Marissa offers support as well as  strategies that help rebuild a sense of safety in the body, from simple nervous system resets to preparing for appointments with more clarity and confidence.

This episode is an invitation to reflect on your own experience with pain and disbelief and to consider what it might feel like to be truly supported. It reinforces a message so many women rarely hear: your symptoms are real, your story matters, and you deserve care that meets you with respect rather than doubt.

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Welcome to Endo Warriors

01:24 Marissa’s Journey from Nurse to Therapist

03:44 The Mental Toll of Medical Gaslighting

09:04 How Chronic Stress Impacts the Nervous System

15:43 Isolation and Emotional Fallout of Endometriosis

23:11 Advocating for Yourself in the Workplace

25:04 Simple Nervous System Regulation Tools

Connect with Callie Greenberg:

Visit the Own My Endo website

Follow Endo Warriors on Instagram

Callie Greenberg introduces Endo Warriors by opening up about her twenty-four year search for answers and the way endometriosis shaped her health, her decisions, and her sense of self long before anyone gave it a name. She shares the reality of being pushed into surgical menopause at thirty-nine and the grief that comes with infertility, late diagnosis, and a body that had been asking for help for decades. Her story invites real reflection. How many women learn to downplay symptoms that deserve immediate care? What happens when a system built to treat us keeps missing the truth right in front of it?

Callie created this podcast to give others what she never had: a place where people navigating endometriosis or early menopause feel understood instead of dismissed. She hopes each episode helps listeners feel less alone and more grounded in their own experience. 

Join Callie as she builds a community rooted in real stories, honest conversations, and the shared strength that comes from finally being heard!

Episode Breakdown:

00:00 Welcome to Endo Warriors

02:19 Medical Dismissal and the Reality of Women’s Health

04:45 A 24-Year Search for an Endometriosis Diagnosis

07:00 Early Symptoms and Severe Period Pain

16:04 Escalating Pain and Repeated ER Visits

20:48 The First Doctor Who Finally Believed Her

22:07 Learning the Severity of Advanced Endometriosis

25:27 Surgery, IVF, and the Return of Endometriomas

27:46 Grieving Infertility and Choosing Hysterectomy

32:04 Why Endo Warriors Was Created

Connect with Callie Greenberg:

Visit the Own My Endo website

Follow Endo Warriors on Instagram

Endo Warriors is a weekly podcast created and hosted by endometriosis expert and stage four endo warrior Callie Greenberg. Each episode dives into real stories, expert insights, and practical tools to help listeners understand, manage, and advocate through life with endometriosis. Each week we discuss topics like diagnosis, fertility, pain management, holistic health, and mental well-being. New episodes every Thursday—empowering warriors at every stage of their endometriosis journey.