In the inaugural episode of 'Endometriosis A to Z,' the hosts introduce the podcast's mission to demystify endometriosis through factual information and the latest research. Highlighting a groundbreaking development, Dr. Mark Noar shares his journey from gastroenterology to creating 'EndoSure,' a rapid diagnostic test for endometriosis using the newly discovered GIMA biomarker. Carolyn Plican, a fertility awareness instructor, joins to discuss her role and experiences in bridging healthcare gaps for women. The episode concludes with an invitation for listeners to engage in future episodes for more solutions and updates.
00:00 Welcome to Endometriosis ADZ
00:42 Introduction to the Podcast and Hosts
01:09 Innovative Diagnostic Solutions for Endometriosis
01:26 Dr. Mark Noar's Journey and Contributions
04:19 Personal Stories and Emotional Impact
10:19 Carolyn Plican's Story and Fertility Awareness
18:12 Closing Remarks and Future Episodes
Find out more:
Carolyn: Welcome to Endometriosis ADZ. We're here to separate fact from fiction, from old myths to current reality, and to dive deep into the latest research and medical interventions that can help endometriosis sufferers. And our guests will help us explore what's really happening, offering insights and hope along the way.
Whether you're living with endometriosis, supporting someone who is, or simply curious, you're in the right place. Let's demystify endometriosis one episode at a time.
Carolyn: elcome to Welcome to Endometriosis A to
Z Endometriosis A to Z for all ages
and
all stages This is our first episode filmed and
mark: this episode we wanted to actually introduce ourselves as podcast hosts and why we are starting this podcast just Endometriosis A to Z is a podcast about solutions.
Carolyn: Solutions that are going to become
mark: more and more available and I believe there will actually be more of them for endometriosis because suddenly we have non-invasive rapid diagnosis that is dropping the diagnostic gap from the current 8.6 years
down to thirty minutes And actually there's more there is a lot to this story we have Dr Mark Noar here who was the inventor of this technology it's a test called EndoSure and it was actually developed he developed a new biomarker called the GIMA or ˈɡiːmə biomarker to detect endometriosis And so Mark I'm just wondering if you could tell listeners about your story, about how you, as a physician, as a gastroenterologist got involved in gynecology and involved in endometriosis diagnosis.
Thanks very much. And I just love sharing the story. Um, it is a deep story. It goes back many, many, many years. And, um, it's one that's deeply personal. Uh, and it's illustrative of the fact that that, that you can be very, very supportive and deeply committed to a disease that you can't possibly get yourself.
And here's the reason why. I mean, I, I practiced gastroenterology for about 35 years and every year. It was not unusual for me to see literally hundreds of young women in their 20s and 30s and sometimes their teens coming with period associated pain from their gynecologist, don't know what's wrong, and so as a gastroenterologist you begin looking for do you have IBS?
Do you have Crohn's? Do you have ulcerative colitis? Do you have a one of the other type of colitides, any number of different diagnoses? And so what do you do? You do a colonoscopy, you do an upper endoscopy, you do a cat scan, you do maybe a bowel imaging study. And these are all negative. In fact, pill cameras were also fairly routine looking for more subtle forms of inflammatory bowel disease.
And at the end of that workup, you realize that the woman is complaining of menstrual-associated symptoms. And so, duh, what is it? It's going to be endometriosis. It can't be anything else. And so you now are in the position to send them back to their gynecologist and say, look, we've already looked at everything.
Now go do your job and go find the endometriosis and help this young woman. Because that's what she has. And I probably sent half of the endometriosis. That existed in my area back to the gynecologists so that they can make the diagnosis and you know, why was I passionate about endometriosis? It could have been any other type of disease, any other number of diseases, and that goes way, way back, right?
at? We're talking about what?:And I walked over and Wendy was. doubled over in pain, tears streaming down the side of her face, collapses into my arms, which in and of itself, as a 12 year old male, is very difficult to know what to do. Oh my God. Um, and I said, Wendy, what's wrong? And she said, look, since I was 11 and I started having my periods, I have had horrible pain.
The doctors don't know what it is. They're telling me there's no way they can fix it. There's no medication they can give me. They don't know what it is and I'm going to have to live with it for a while. And then maybe I'll get better. This was a very, very impressionable moment. And I had already decided some years earlier, look, I'm going to become a physician.
That's what I'm destined to do. And I looked down at Wendy as I was holding her in my arms. And I said, Wendy, I don't know when, I don't know how, but I'm going to find something that's going to help with this problem you have. Of course, we didn't know what the problem was, but I'm going to find something.
do this. Now fast forward to:I had just popularized one of my inventions that was able to actually do that by measuring with electrodes on your tummy. And he said, can you find the same frequencies? And so we took the same people who he had done the transnasal studies on. We took a couple of those women. We tested them with my device now newly changed so we could read higher frequencies.
had come to. be published in: ust brought the device out in:Who had, since the time she was twelve had severe periods, severe pain, every year being taken to the emergency room, you know, 911, in an ambulance, several times per year. And after four or five years, they told her that there's nothing wrong with her. They can't find anything wrong with the usual methods. So therefore, what's the conclusion?
You must be crazy. Okay, so now we're going to start seeing a psychiatrist and so she's seeing a psychiatrist a year into this, her family is incensed because they're still living with their daughter who can't function 25 percent of the time and she's seeing a psychiatrist and they know there's something else and they begin pushing back and what does the system do?
Does the system say, you're the parents, you know, you're living with this? No, no. The system says, yeah. You're empowering her illogical pain. Therefore the whole family needs to see psychiatrists. I was dumbfounded by this story. And so here we are in a room with probably 21 people. I'd say 21 people, mother, father, other family members, nurses, doctors, administrators from the hospital, other interested individuals, people I didn't know.
We put the leads on her. She drank her glass of water and 30 minutes later, I knew in less than 30 minutes by looking at the tracing 30 minutes later, I turned to her and I said, listen, I've got good news and bad news for you. The bad news is you have endometriosis. And the, the good news is You're not crazy.
You actually have something wrong with you in that room. At that second in time, there were 21 people who could not speak through their tears. It was so emotional, even now for me to recount the story. This is the journey we do this. not for for personal good. We do this because it's compelling. These women need help, and we're able to disrupt this horrible cycle of decades and decades of neglect and ignorance and get in the way and say, No, you have a diagnosis.
Here's what it is, and it's highly accurate. And let's go from there. Now let's treat the disease. So that's my story. And then, of course, We were privileged enough to meet Carolyn and Maria, and I'll let Carolyn pick it up with her story.
Carolyn: My name's Carolyn Plican. I'm a fertility awareness instructor, and the way I came into this, there's a little bit of a back story. I do not have endometriosis. I actually had infertility. Um, and it was caused by juvenile cancer. Um, I went through chemotherapy as a young person. And after I got married, I actually couldn't become pregnant. And I had a deathly fear of really invasive procedures. So I started looking for options that were outside of in vitro fertilization. And, through, finding some different modalities. I was able to restore my fertility, partially by learning about my fertility and cycle charting and also with the help of a physician to balance my hormones. I was able to actually achieve pregnancy three times and have my entire family without assistive reproductive technology. Because it was so successful, I took the training and Started teaching women, and
I've taught hundreds of couples suffering from infertility but also a segment of younger women who came in with severe pain chronic pelvic pain who were not able to function For both of those groups there was a clear lack of or healthcare gap
in the ability for their healthcare providers to be able do anything We knew because we were able to chart and capture what was going on in their cycle but there was nothing we could do about it they were generally prescribed the birth control pills in the young percent And for people with infertility sent for IVF IUI first and then. IVF These were the solutions that were given and often it did not work or it had massive symptoms it was not addressed properly So I realized there was a healthcare gap Because of my interest in this area I really
d dove into data analytics in:women understand where they are in their cycle and better record what's going on And they can use that to one. Can you do the same thing? Can you do those avoid pregnancy to achieve pregnancy especially if they have infertility to treat frequent miscarriage and to treat pain during their periods because they know where they are it.
The big thing is, um,
During all of this research and working with the International Institute of Restorative Reproductive Medicine supporting a Canadian conference they were having I came across Dr Noar's work and got in touch with him And I have a very interesting story Mark So, uh, uh, I'm glad That very first time we were on the phone together I can't wait to see my daughter called me she was in Grade 12 in high school she called four times and I kept ignoring her phone call And I thought as soon as I'm off the phone with Dr Noar because I'm learning about such fascinating biomarkers that can actually help my clients then I'll get back to her As soon as we were off I actually called my oldest daughter Uh, she had thankfully gotten hold of my
mark: So it's, uh, you can just, um, search the wording, um, uh, text a word, uh, and it'll, um, it'll, uh, kind of make it into an actual sentence or something.
Uh, and the other thing is, um, uh, This is, uh, another Touchy, touchy. Yeah. It's very touchy. And you can sort of like, we'll just, um, uh,
Carolyn: who openly
mark: How do you spell that? there's seven years and seven decades. So, I'm excited to turn on. I'm excited to hear it. I'm excited to hear it. I'm excited to hear it. We hope you're all excited.
for joining us this evening. We hope you have a great evening, and we will see you next time.
Carolyn: especially if it's progressing to
mark: gonna put that, uh, in this, uh, this, this, this, this, this, this. And then, uh, it's basically, and I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna explain why this is important and I'm looking forward to it. So I think that's it.
everyone. This is it. This is it. So all. And we'll see you next year. Good bye.
Carolyn: got my resolve
mark: so this is the very first session of the conference, uh, I don't want to get too, uh, I don't want to get too devoted. so much for watching and I'll see you in the next video. Take care. Bye bye. Uh,
alth Canada since December of:mark: like that, People like that. Uh, This is like, Uh, Puffled
Carolyn: is really here to
mark: So, uh, I don't know if you can see it, but, um, Um, so, um, Um, so, so, um, So, um, so, um, So, um, so, um, So, um, so, um, So, um, so, um, So, um, so, um, So, um, so, um,
Carolyn: what is happening in the field.
I'm really excited about this podcast and I hope it's really useful for you as, um, as a listener or if you're joining us on YouTube. Um, I, I, I hope it's very valuable for you and you're able to take some of these ideas, uh, that we're able to bring forward.
mark: And that ends another episode of Endometriosis A to Z, where we feel knowledge is power when it comes to managing endometriosis. We'd love to hear from you about topics you want covered. If you have questions that you need Dr. Noir to answer, you can email us directly at hello at endodiagnosis. com.
Until next time, stay informed, stay hopeful, and keep advocating for your health. See you in the next episode.