Diet doesn't seem to affect me, and I've tried a bunch. I've been:
Vegan
Vegan No-Soy
Vegetarian
Vegetarian No-Soy
Ate food low in estrogen
Gluten Free
Avoided processed sugar
Raw Food
Dairy free
Organic

Being vegan for 6 months nearly killed me lol I missed burgers so much! I did feel more energy on the vegetarian diet but it did nothing for my pain. My pain didn't seem to increase or decrease on any of these.

Even though diet change failed for me it might work for others. And I found Carolyn Levett's Recipes for the Endometriosis Diet to actually be a very good cookbook. I use it all the time.

So no. My symptoms didn't change for the better or for the worse on any of the diets I tried :(

when i was told i was pre-diabetic, i was put on a 1500 calorie diet. i did for about two months before i got injured of my shoulder. then i just gave up since i could not cook my own meals at that point. now i want to try to do it again, but it does not make a difference pain wise for me. i still feel the pain all day everyday. i wish i could find something to make it go away. i am a loss......

I have completely changed by diet and feel a big difference. Now if I cheat a little or have to break it because I am out and there is nothing else to eat, I end up feeling like crap. I am on a high protein, low carb diet with no gluten, no dairy, no sugars other than what's in fruit, and no caffeine. It took me a few weeks to really see the difference. I am told it is supposed to stop me from craving sweets and carbs, but I still crave them (more when I'm stressed). It has definitely helped with my symptoms though. It took a few months at least to really notice the difference with my symptoms, but once I was really good about my diet i started to have less symptoms. Now I notice that if I have a weekend away and end up drinking and/or eating things not so good for me then my symptoms come back and I have a lot of pain. It has definitely worked for me, but maybe gluten doesn't effect you the way it does me.

If you have intolerances, it will make a difference. Q becomes, what are our intolerances? For me, I am suuuuuper gassy when I eat oats. Caffeine has also impacted my periods in the past. I know this because I drank a ton of caffeine one month, and the next month I had a period for a month straight.

Others have found certain hormones in non-organic meat triggers things. But I think it takes like forever to figure out or triggers. I think you can try allergy testing too, but it told me nothing.

Someone recently posted about changes she made, I will bump it back to the top for further discussion...

But in general, I did cut out oat based cereal, but have not done much else. I try to eat grass-fed beef and free range chickens, and organic milk, but I do that for my health in general, not to feel better for my endo.

@bf1515 Caffeine! I forgot about that. Cutting out caffeine was the only thing that seemed to lessen my pain diet-wise. It cut my pain by like 30% from just ditching caffeine.

I used to drink a lot of coffee though (3 or more large cups).

Same with me. Tried different diets, and the only thing was I went to the bathroom more. I wish I could just go gluten free or something and be better, or even a little better

Well 30% is good! It's something, and every little bit counts. Coffee will give me pain and night sweats all night.

Well, I'm glad it helps some people. I'll keep thinking about intolerances. I already can't handle caffeine for non-endo reasons. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try cutting out dairy. I think I'm going to start gluten again, though.

Toast, here I come! Pasta, oh how I have missed you! :)

Yeah, I tried gluten free for a week, and decided it wasn't worth the effort. Yeah, toast!!!

I've never tried gluten free but did drop caffeine for a long time for other reasons and it didn't have any noticeable effect on my pelvic pain. I've tried to alter diet for other things too (kidney stones) and it didn't seem to matter. I've taken out specific foods I've noticed causing adverse effects for good results though. Dark leafy greens, especially spinach, really mess with me.

I did gluten free for a few months, pain was not better at all. I wish it were just that! LOL!

Im glad that someone brought diet up in these discussions, I am 24 and was diagnosed with stage three Endo in August, I had a three hour excision surgery on August 21 which the surgeon removed most of the endo bar a small patch on my bowel. It was pretty messy in there.

I had my follow up a few weeks ago and saw the photos etc... The surgeon then recommended I follow the most ridiculous diet, Wheat free, dairy free, sugar free, egg free, red meat free etc, Im not actually sure what that leaves me to eat. Im not all that keen on trying the diet to be honest, I would become really sad, its hard enough dealing with the pain, bad days etc but if I couldnt even have a peice of chocolate or some chips or something that tastes good I would become depressed.

I have wondered what difference it would make in the long term, and im not sure the benefits would outweigh the negitives of this crazy diet. The surgeon told me to stay away from anything with Estrogen and Parbens including skin care, hair care etc.

I am interested to know what changes people have made and if they have found a difference, if the surgeon could gaurentee that the endo will not grow back by cutting estrogen then by all means I would do it, but there are no gaurantees......

@JTredo I had a doctor give me bizarre diet advice too. He told me to starve myself until I'm so thin that I no longer get my period. He called it a "natural menopause." I was a little shocked because my regular gyn had told me I was too thin, and here he was saying, "Eh, you could be thinner."

Obviously I didn't listen lol

@JTredo - Yeah, that diet sounds really extreme. I think there is something to be said for enjoying your food and not feel like you are constantly depriving yourself. ;) Some people swear by different diets. I would try eliminating one thing at a time.

I saw an endo specialist who told me I needed to never drink out of plastic water bottles again or heat up anything in plastic. Apparently there are chemicals in those that have been proven to cause ovarian cancer in endo patients. I can't say I never drink out of them now, but I bought some glass water bottles for every day use.

JTredo, I am surprised you had a surgeon that recommended that! When I told my gyno that I changed my diet to help my symptoms he looked at me like I was crazy. I found out about the diet from a naturopathic doctor because I was tired of nothing working and I wanted another opinion and other options. I had a really hard time with the diet at first, and I still do at times. But I honestly notice a difference when I am on it and when I veer off of it a little. At first it seems like you can't eat anything, but if you make food at home it's not bad. You get used to it and you realize there's more you can eat than you thought )even though it's not everything you could eat before). I say try it, and if it doesn't end up working for you then you can go back to eating what you do now. But so you know it took at least 2-3 months for me to definitely see a change in all of my symptoms on a consistent basis. I know it's a long time, but if it works it's worth it I think.