Endo Fertility Podcast
Picture of Dr. Lizzie Alexander, PhD

Dr. Lizzie Alexander, PhD

Certified Integrative Nutrition and Health Coach

EF#28: Research into the Estrobolome & Endometriosis with Lara Thieme

Lara Thieme in her laboratory

Lara Thieme is my guest today and she is a postdoctoral researcher from Germany. We met doing Nicole Jardim’s Fix Your Period Apprenticeship a couple of years ago. Back then I didn’t quite get the link with the gut microbiome, the “estrobolome” and Endometriosis, or why Lara was talking about how she planned to research the connection between them. She was specifically talking about the “estrobolome”, a sub-group within the gut microbiome and its really important connection with Endometriosis. At the time she was attending some really cool research seminars about the microbiome including the estrobolome. Lara has Endometriosis herself and so she has her own personal struggles and knowledge of the disease, and because of this her personal story has really driven her interest to merge her research specialism and Endometriosis. I know it is women like Lara that will make the difference in the future into Endometriosis research and ways to better diagnose, understand and heal it. Research into Endometriosis is massively under researched because it is not ‘critical or exciting’, something we discuss in the podcast.

Lara is a scientist by training and is currently doing her PhD in the field of antibiotic resistant bacteria and biofilms at the Institute of Infectious Diseases and Infection Control in Germany. Managing and healing her endometriosis holistically for three years, she has experienced first-hand the importance of a healthy gut and balanced microbiome to control pain and inflammation of this debilitating disease. To contribute to the much-needed research of endometriosis, Lara is planning a research project analysing the connection between endometriosis and the estrobolome.

In this episode we talk about:

  • Lara’s personal story with Endo on how it has influenced her research career
  • How difficult it is to conduct research studies on women with Endo, especially during Covid
  • Infertility rate increases
  • Toxic burden in the environment
  • Correlation vs causation in research
  • Need and difficulty of evidence-based research into Endometriosis
  • Why good gut health is so important in women with Endo
  • Connection between inflammation and the gut
  • How your gut army is being challenged to “new unknown enemies”
  • Immune system relationship with the gut
  • Hygiene hypothesis and the importance of “dirt”
  • Good and bad bacteria within the gut connected to Endo
  • Biofilms and antibiotic resistance
  • What the “estrobolome” is and the importance for Endo and fertility
  • Gut and reproductive microbiome
  • Link between gut, Endo, histamine intolerance and Mast Cell Activation Syndrome
  • Ways to improve your microbiome

I promise we didn’t get too geeky, which I could have done! I think you will find this useful to hear from someone who works in the research community but who has suffered from agonising pain. Though Lara doesn’t suffer anymore as she has used natural ways to give her body the tools it has needed to heal many of her symptoms.

Mentioned links

Connect with Lara

Relevant podcast episodes:

Relevant blogs:

Further Endo Fertility resources:

This episode is sponsored by the Endo Fertility Resource Library where you can get your 3 amazing freebies: E-Book:

  • 5 Things I Learnt to Drop My Pain & Optimise My Fertility,
  • Your Guide to Super Sperm
  • 88 Ways I Dropped My Pain and Got Pregnant.

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2 thoughts on “EF#28: Research into the Estrobolome & Endometriosis with Lara Thieme”

  1. Pingback: EF#30: Reproductive Microbiome, Endo and Fertility - The Endo Fertility Specialist

  2. Pingback: EF#31: Listeners Endo Fertility Q&A Session - The Endo Fertility Specialist

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