Jemma Bowles spent two decades bouncing between doctors before anyone said the word endometriosis. She was hospitalized for suspected appendicitis more than once. She was told to take a bath. Nobody put it together until her dad saw an article and asked if it sounded familiar.

In this episode, Jemma joins Callie Greenberg and Jaime Silva to talk about what it actually took to get diagnosed, why she chose to wait on surgery  and how she and her co-founder Will Nixon built ENdi, an app designed specifically for endometriosis patients after every period tracker on the market failed her.

They get into the difference between NHS and private care in the UK, the ring binder folder she used to carry to every appointment, and the emergency feature in the app built for the moments she collapses without warning.

This episode covers a lot of ground: diagnosis delays, healthcare access, chronic pain, and what it looks like to build something because nothing else did the job.

This episode reflects Jemma's personal experience and  the app is not medical advice. It is for educational use and support only. Please talk to a doctor about your own symptoms and treatment options.

Show Resources and Links

Jemma Bowles | Jemma struggled to manage her appointments, medications, and medical history. Recognizing the need for a better solution, she teamed up with co-founder, Will, and together, they created ENdi, a much-needed app designed to simplify these tasks and help others facing similar challenges.

Find ENdi: ENdi App Website

Instagram |  @endi.app

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Instagram | @girlsroomafterdark | @girlsroomproject

Receive 10% off your first purchase of Serae Immune & Hormonal Supplement by using code GIRLSROOM

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Bonnie Gross is the writer and executive producer of Lady Parts, an award-winning indie comedy based on her own true story of living with chronic vulvar pain and eventually moving home with her parents to undergo a vestibulectomy — surgery to remove excess nerve endings in the vulvar vestibule. The film has screened across the country and won multiple awards, but before any of that, Bonnie spent years being told to relax, drink wine, try lube, and just "breathe."

Callie and Jaime sit down with Bonnie to go deep on what it's really like to have a condition called neuroproliferative vestibulodynia — where too many nerve endings in the vulvar vestibule cause severe, chronic pain. Bonnie describes what it felt like from the time she was a teenager: tampons that felt like burning, sex that felt like a hot knife, everyday activities like wearing pants or riding a bike that most people don't think twice about. She walks through the years of medical gaslighting she experienced, including doctors who blamed anxiety, suggested she stop being "so promiscuous" (ironic, since pain was the actual problem), and prescribed Xanax instead of investigating her symptoms.

The conversation gets into the real details that nobody talks about: what dilator therapy actually involves after surgery, how long it took (about a year to get to dilator number four), and the mental work required to retrain a body that had spent years in protective guarding mode. They also talk about pelvic floor dysfunction, what "hypertonic" actually means, and why pelvic PT is one of the most under-recommended tools in women's healthcare.

Bonnie shares the moment her insurance company called her surgery cosmetic, denying coverage for the removal of nerve tissue causing her daily pain. She also opens up about her traumatic first pap smear at 18 — a doctor who held her down and told her to stop squirming — and how that experience kept her away from life-saving screenings for years, even knowing cervical cancer runs in her family.

The group digs into a bigger systemic issue: right now, there is nothing in OBGYN residency curriculum requiring that doctors learn about conditions like vestibulodynia or lichen sclerosus. Endometriosis was only recently added to training guidelines. Bonnie volunteers with an organization called Tightlips, which is currently pushing to change that.

LINKS AND RESOURCES

Lady Parts | IG

Lady Parts Website

Watch Lady Parts Film

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This is one of those episodes we're going to be thinking about for a long time.

This week, Callie and Jamie are joined by Carly Roland — actress (Dark Winds, Law & Order: SVU, NBC, AMC, Netflix), writer, director, and founder of Serae, a women's wellness supplement company she built after more than a decade living with endometriosis. Alongside her is Rica Wyman, a medical technology executive, IVF mom of two, and fellow stage 4 endo warrior who now serves on Serae's board.

Together they cover what it actually looks like to live with endometriosis long-term: the chocolate cysts, the surgeries that run four hours when they were supposed to be two, the infertility diagnoses no one prepares you for, the doctors who dismiss you, and the PTSD that sits quietly in your body on even the good days.

They also get into the science behind Serae — why Carly spent years developing a formula with clinically backed ingredients like NAC, bromelain, and ALA (backed by the LEAP study), what therapeutic dosing actually means, and why she kept it to three capsules instead of eight. Plus: the link between endo and gut health, vitamin D deficiency, hormonal and immune regulation, and why women with complex hormonal diseases are still being told to "just take some ibuprofen."

And before they wrap, Callie and Jamie announce something big: Endo Excision for All is hosting its first annual fundraising gala in Boston on October 11 — and Carly Roland is their keynote guest of honor.

This episode is for every woman who has ever been dismissed, who has Googled symptoms at 2am, or who is just trying to figure out how to feel better inside a body that keeps throwing curveballs.

Topics covered in this episode:

Carly Roland — Actress, writer, director, and founder of Serae. Carly has appeared in Dark Winds (AMC), Pulse, Law & Order: SVU (NBC), and projects for Netflix and other major networks. Diagnosed with endometriosis over a decade ago, she developed Serae after years of navigating chronic pain, multiple surgeries, infertility, and IVF — and not finding a supplement that addressed the full-body nature of the disease.

Rica Wyman — Medical technology executive, stage 4 endo warrior, and IVF mom of two. Rica serves on the board of Serae and has been an advocate for women's health education and access since her own diagnosis. She lives in Connecticut and spent 15 years in New York City before discovering — years later — that she and Carly once lived in the same building.

Fliss Hoyle spent 25 years living with endometriosis, and she didn't know she had it. By the time doctors confirmed it, they were already talking about removing everything. Seventeen months ago, she had a total hysterectomy and bilateral oophorectomy. She woke up a different person and has been figuring out who that person is ever since.

In this episode, Callie Greenberg and Fliss Hoyle talk about the grief that comes when the choice to have children is taken from you, not made by you. The grief of waking up every morning and remembering. The grief that sits quietly in the room at baby showers and screams on Mother's Day. The kind nobody warns you about, and that most doctors don't even acknowledge exists.

They talk about what surgical menopause actually does to your mind when nobody prepares you for it. About being left alone in a hospital room in the dark, in extreme pain, while nurses chatted at the station. About being asked "have you finished your family?" by a consultant and not knowing how to answer a question that assumes you had a family to begin with.

This is also a conversation about what not to say to someone who is childless not by choice. About how "you can still have a family, it just looks different" lands when you are still raw. About what people actually need, which is usually just someone who will sit with them and ask the right question.

Fliss Hoyle is a mental health professional, educator, and advocate who works with charities, healthcare systems, and schools. She created the Fill Your Cup method after her surgery, a practical wellbeing framework she built for the people who keep being told to practice self-care with no real tools to do it. She talks about that here too.

If you have been through a hysterectomy, if you are grieving a version of your future that was taken from you by endometriosis or another illness, if you feel like the world keeps moving and you are standing still holding something no one can see, this one is for you.

Topics covered: Endometriosis and late diagnosis, total hysterectomy, bilateral oophorectomy, surgical menopause, involuntary childlessness, childfree not by choice, grief after infertility, PTSD, bipolar disorder, medical trauma, being dismissed by healthcare, the emotional impact of hysterectomy, Mother's Day when you cannot have children, what not to say to someone who is childless not by choice, the Fill Your Cup method, mental health advocacy, lived experience in healthcare.

Find Fliss: https://www.livedexperienceinspires.com/

Fliss Hoyle IG

The Girls Room Project After Dark is the unfiltered version of the show. Real stories. No polish.

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Welcome to the very first episode of The Girls Room Project After Dark — and we're not easing you in.

Candice Guardino is a comedian, actress, singer, and screenwriter best known for her one-woman theatrical comedy special Italian Bred, streaming on Amazon and Apple TV. She's been called the real-life Italian version of the Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, 

Before she was making sold-out audiences laugh about growing up in Staten Island with a loud, unapologetically Italian family, she was sitting in fertility clinics, giving herself injections she called "I wish this was drugs," and learning — at 36 years old, after more than a decade of painful periods, failed IVF rounds, surgeries, and miscarriages — that she had stage 3 endometriosis.

Nobody told her. Nobody connected the dots. And she's done being quiet about it.

In this episode, Callie Greenberg and Candice Guardino go deep on the stuff nobody puts on the highlight reel: what it actually feels like to be dismissed by a dozen doctors, what IVF with endo looks like versus what the industry promises, the moment a dermoid cyst had grown so large it was pressing into her chest cavity (and she was blaming stress), and the natural IVF round with no medication that finally gave her her son, Maverick.

They also talk about the shame spiral — apologizing to your husband for being a "lemon," calling your mom after a hysterectomy diagnosis to say you're sorry, and why the endo + infertility community still isn't showing the stories that don't end with a baby photo.

This one's funny, this one's raw, and this one is long overdue.

Resources and Links 

https://www.candiceguardino.com/

https://www.instagram.com/candiceguardino/

https://www.youtube.com/@CandiceGuardinoComedy

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Girls Room Project After Dark | IG

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Endometriosis can sideline an elite athlete the same way it sidelines anyone else. In this episode of Endo Warriors, host Callie Greenberg sits down with Olympic sprinter Brittany Brown to talk diagnosis, fertility, excision surgery, and what it took to return to competition in under four months.

Brittany breaks down what fertility testing actually looked like for her, how she weighed egg retrieval against excision, and the real cost of building a medical and performance team around a chronic illness. She and Callie get into the financial side, nutrition and recovery, and why so many women in sport stay quiet about endo until their bodies force the conversation.

This is one of the most direct conversations on the show about competing at the highest level while managing endometriosis. Brittany does not dress it up. She talks about trusting her body, finding excision specialists, and what advocacy looks like when your career depends on the answers.

This episode is for any athlete, runner, or high-performer who has been told to push through pelvic pain and is starting to wonder if there is something more going on.

In this episode:

Resources & Links:

What if the clutter in your home is making your chronic illness worse? In this episode of Endo Warriors, professional organizer and healing advocate Alison Kero joins host Callie Greenberg to share her powerful journey with Lyme disease and the surprising role that decluttering, both physical and emotional, played in her recovery.

Alison is the founder of From Clutter to Confidence, and her work sits at the intersection of organization, trauma healing, and chronic illness recovery. She and Callie explore how environmental overload affects the nervous system, why so many women with chronic illness feel surrounded by stuff they can't process, and the small steps that compound into real healing for endo, Lyme, and other chronic conditions.

This episode is for anyone who senses their environment is part of why they don't feel well, and is ready to find out what changes when you let some of it go.

In this episode:

Resources & Links:

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If you have endometriosis and are thinking about your fertility, this episode is essential listening. Host Callie Greenberg sits down with Julia Kelejian, who shares her decade-long struggle with debilitating period pain, misdiagnoses, and repeated ER visits before finally receiving an endometriosis diagnosis and life-saving excision surgery.

The episode covers the emotional toll of dismissal, fears around fertility and treatment options, the physical recovery after surgery, and Julia's move into patient advocacy to help others get heard. Callie and Julia talk through what every endo patient should know about protecting their fertility, the differences between excision and ablation surgery, and how to push for a real diagnostic workup before infertility becomes the diagnosis that finally gets you taken seriously.

This conversation is for anyone living with endometriosis who is thinking about kids now, later, or just wants to keep the option open.

In this episode:

Resources & Links:

Menopause and hormone replacement therapy are two of the most misunderstood topics in women's health. In this episode of Endo Warriors, host Callie Greenberg sits down with Heather Danby, host of Sharing Out Loud, to talk about the hidden truths around menopause, HRT, and what so many doctors aren't telling their patients.

Heather and Callie explore the gap between what current science says about hormone replacement therapy and what women still hear in exam rooms, the link between menopause and chronic conditions like endometriosis, and why community and storytelling are critical when the medical system is slow to catch up. They dig into addiction, hormonal health, societal stigmas, and the healing power of being honest about your own experience.

This episode is for anyone navigating perimenopause, menopause, surgical menopause, or trying to figure out whether HRT is right for them.

In this episode:

Resources & Links:

Women's health is broken, and a 330,000-follower social media account is helping prove it. In this episode of Endo Warriors, hosts Callie Greenberg and Jamie Silva welcome René Jay, the influential creator behind @bornwithadarktan, to discuss his viral series exploring new topics in women's health and what he's learned along the way.

René has built a massive following thanks to his natural curiosity about women's health and his refusal to look away from what the system gets wrong. He, Callie, and Jamie unpack medical gaslighting, why so many women are dismissed in healthcare, the cultural conspiracy of silence around women's pain, and how visibility on social media is changing what patients are willing to accept.

This episode is for anyone who has ever felt like the medical system was working against them, and for anyone tired of being told the system is fine.

In this episode:

Resources & Links: