“We push through, but sometimes we push too hard, too long, too often.” - Candice Guardino

It’s so easy for painful periods to become part of a family story. Your mother had them, your aunts had them, your great-grandmother had them. Throughout, everyone learned to keep going, show up for work, take care of the family, and not make too much of it. While we should be proud of that strength, normalizing pushing through the pain makes it much harder to recognize when pain is not normal and when a different level of care is what’s needed.

The same family dynamics tend to come back into play with fertility treatment. The questions, opinions, encouragement, and advice probably come from a loving place, but they add pressure to an already exhausting process. As women’s health practitioners, we have to consider what our clients are navigating outside our treatment rooms. Are their symptoms being minimized at home? Do they feel like they can ask for help? Are they avoiding family because they don’t want to explain another unsuccessful IVF cycle? Having these conversations with our patients and clients can help us better understand the support she actually needs.

In today’s episode, I’m joined by author, actor, and comedian Candice Guardino to talk about the family and cultural dynamics that shaped her experiences with endometriosis and infertility. Candice shares how years of painful periods were normalized, what it was like to continue performing through chronic pain and IVF treatment, why receiving an endometriosis diagnosis changed the way she understood her body, managing miscarriage, the emotional and financial strain of fertility treatment, finding a more individualized approach to IVF, how practitioners can help women feel less alone, and more.

Enjoy the episode, and let's innovate and integrate together!

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Learn more or watch the video version of this conversation at https://integrativewomenshealthinstitute.com/the-family-dynamics-of-endometriosis-and-ivf-with-candice-guardino/.

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