Endometriosis New Zealand, Wellington Support

2011-01-30T10:52:00.000+13:00

Apologies for the short notice, but I want to let you know that there is no get-together tomorrow evening - there has been some uncertainty over our long standing bookings of the meeting room that is not yet resolved. Hopefully it will be situation normal by March.

On the subject of meetings, I'd really like some feedback on what people want from the support group. The format of having a more formal 'meeting' has been going for some time now and the attendance is pretty erratic indicating that for one reason or another it doesn't work for a lot of people.
An alternative could be to have a regular slot at a cafe in town on a Saturday/Sunday morning (or possibly vary the venue from month to month) where people can meet in a less formal setting than the large room we currently use.
Or we could look to combine the two options and continue with using the library (once the booking fiasco has been resolved) on alternate months and try launching the cafe option on the intervening months.

I'd really appreciate it if you could take a few minutes to respond with your thoughts on these options. Please reply by email to wellingtonendometriosis@windowslive.com

2010-11-24T18:19:00.000+13:00

The meeting for Monday 29th November has been cancelled due to lack of interest.

New Look Blog!

2010-06-23T21:09:00.003+12:00

We hope you like our new look blog! As we mentioned back in February, we have changed our colours and logo to reflect changes to the colours used by ENZ. We hope you agree that the colours are more vibrant and 2010. We have got some exciting events planned for the next 6 - 12 months so keep checking this blog or our facebook page for updates. We'll be posting news of our July meeting soon.

Best wishes,
Wellington Support

May meeting - osteopathy

2010-05-03T21:33:00.013+12:00

Details of our next endometriosis support group meeting are:

Date: Monday 31^st May

Time: 6-7pm

Venue: Mezzanine meeting room, Wellington Central Library

Liz and Jane will be talking to us about how osteopathy can help relieve some of the symptoms of endo. You may have met both of these lovely ladies at the mini expo we held at the last meeting.

What is Osteopathy?

Osteopathy is a system of health care that looks at the relationship between the body's physical structure (bones, ligaments, muscles and organs) and its impact on its physiological processes. It sees that the body's physical structure and how it functions are inextricably linked.

Osteopaths diagnose mechanical imbalances within or between physical structures and use their hands to correct them. The manipulative techniques that are used help restore balance to the musculoskeletal system, including the blood and nervous systems that integrate the normal functions of the body.

The presentation will cover the following topics:

What is osteopathy?

What training do we do to become an osteopath?

What does a treatment involve?

Anatomy of the pelvis and its relationship to the uterus.

Osteopathic approach to treating and managing the symptoms of endometriosis

The role of treatment in post surgical rehabilitation

How osteopathy can be part of a multidisciplinary approach to managing endometriosis

Other lifestyle changes which may be useful for self management

What other conditions we can help with

Osteopathic diagnosis and technique demonstration

Liz Johns B.App.Sc (Clin.Sc.), B.Osteo.Sc. Dist Reg. Osteopath. ACC Treatment provider

Liz graduated with distinction from a 5 year double degree in Osteopathic Medicine and Clinical Science at RMIT in Melbourne in 2002. Since graduating Liz has been working and living in New Zealand. During this time she has developed a passion for treating women’s health issues, assisting women through their pregnancy and recovery process and also treating babies and children. She has also continued to further her skills by completing post graduate studies in paediatrics, osteopathy in the cranial field, biodynamics and visceral osteopathy.

Jane Burns B.App.Sc (Clin.Sc), B.OSt.Sc. Reg. Osteopath. ACC Treatment provider.

Jane graduated from RMIT university in Melbourne in 2003 and has been working as a full time osteopath since then. She has worked in several practices, both in Australia and New Zealand and has developed her own unique style of treating which utilizes both structural techniques and gentle cranial manipulation. She enjoys tailoring a treatment program to the individual patient and has a special interest in assisting people in trauma recovery, women’s health issues and supporting women throughout their pregnancy and the treatment of children.

Meeting dates for the next 18 months are booked!

2010-04-20T21:20:00.002+12:00

Yes, that's right. We have booked up the Mezzanine Level meeting room at Wellington Central Library for the following dates:
Monday 27th September 2010
Monday 29th November 2010
Monday 31st January 2011
Monday 28th March 2011
Monday 30th May 2011
Monday 25th July 2011
Monday 26th Sept 2011
Monday 28th November 2011
The meetings will continue to be held between 6 & 7pm.

We will continue to email out reminders and include details of any guest speakers prior to each meeting.

Exciting Changes

2010-02-14T15:08:00.003+13:00

Just a quick post to explain the changes to this blog. Wellington support have always been linked to Endometriosis New Zealand, but in order to make this relationship more official we are now known as Endometriosis New Zealand, Wellington Support.
What does this mean? Not much changes, our logo is now the offical logo of ENZ, and as such we are moving towards a more nationally recognised look and feel to all of our communication. You might see other support groups moving in the same direction. What this means is our members have the reassurance of knowing that their local support is an affiliated member of the ENZ group.
Other than that, we have always worked with ENZ behind the scenes to bring you the best information and advice we can through their skills and knowledge. We'll keep providing local support in the way we have done for the last 2 years, and we look forward to seeing you soon.

Regards
Wellington Support

Next meeting - Tuesday 26th January

2010-01-12T18:46:00.006+13:00

6-7pm in the Mezzanine meeting room at Wellington Central library

We are very pleased to have a fantastic guest speaker for our January meeting. Delwyn McKenzie is a nutritionist who also teaches gluten-free cookery classes at Onslow College. Delwyn will be talking to us about how we can improve our symptoms through diet. And since there are probably a few of us with an aim to eat more healthily this summer, Delwyn will probably have some great tips for us all!
Please feel free to bring a friend, partner, flat mate with you - basically anyone you are likely to share a shopping trolley or kitchen with. Making changes to your diet or eating habits (and sticking to them) can be tricky at the best of times and it may well be made easier if the person (people) you shop and cook with or for understand what you are doing and why (even if they don't do it themselves).

Please email us to RSVP by Wednesday 20th January and indicate if you are bringing someone with you.

All our meetings are essentially free, but we do ask for a gold coin (or we are happy to accept paper) to cover the cost of hiring the meeting room.

Look forward to seeing you soon.

Photos from Expo and October meeting

2009-10-26T22:08:00.007+13:00

We've just had a great meeting with guest speakers Dr Vasu Iyengar, and Deb Bush from ENZ so I thought I would post some photos to share. I've also uploaded well over due photos from the Women's Expo in August.

Dr Iyengar, taking to the Wellington group about surgery and the latest techniques.

Jenae, Natasha, Sian, Annie, Deb & Vasu at the October meeting

Deborah Bush giving an impromptu introduction to her book

Women's Lifestyle Expo, August 2009

Sian and Jenae just before the doors opened!

A happy volunteer trying Ora's gluten free cupcakes

Chloe and Emma talking to women about Endometriosis @ the Expo

Keep checking the blog, we'll keep you up to date.

We hope to see you all in January for the next meeting.

October Meeting - Special VIP Guest Speaker

2009-09-29T21:20:00.003+13:00

Monday 26th October

6pm - 7pm

The Band Rotunda, Oriental Parade

Dr Vasu Iyengar

Bring a friend / support person!

Join us for a special meeting with guest speaker Dr Vasu Iyengar. Vasu is a specialist gynaecologist who will talk about the latest in surgical techniques and what to expect from your endometriosis surgery.

This is a great opportunity to hear from one of the leading gynaecologists in New Zealand, with a question and answer session this is a great time to bring your partner or support person with you!

We will be meeting in a different location just for this meeting, (due to the public holiday, the library is closed) so we will be meeting at the Band Rotunda on Oriental Parade. Look for the Fisherman's table restaurant, and you'll be able to find us next door. (look for our sign on the door)

We would love you to bring a friend or support person, as this is such a good opportunity to ask questions that could really help with your management of Endometriosis.

If you would like to join us, please email Sian or Annie at wellingtonendometriosis@windowslive.com

We look forward to seeing you there.

Speakers confirmed for the next 3 meetings

2009-08-27T21:54:00.008+12:00

Monday 31st August 2009 - Beatrice, from Rapha Bowen will be presenting on Bowen Therapy. For those of you who don't know, Bowen Therapy (also known as Bowen Technique) is a gentle form of body work in which very small moves are performed over a body's muscles and connective tissue.

Monday 26th Ocotober 2009 - Ms Vasu Iyengar MBBS,MD,MRCOG,FRANZCOG,CCST
Ms Iyengar is a Specialist Gynaecologist. Her main areas of expertise include major laparoscopic and hysteroscopic surgery, pelvic floor problems and repairs and major abdomino-pelvic surgery.
Her special interests include preconception counselling for women who have had difficulty with conception and miscarriages and polycycstic ovarian syndrome.
She has trained in India and the United Kingdom, and is a founding member and director of WomanCare Ltd, a multidisciplinary multi-collegial practice dedicated to improving and defining choices and options for women's health issues.

Monday 25th January 2010 - Delwyn MacKenzie. Delwyn is a nutritionist and she also teaches wheat & gluten free cookery classes at Onslow College.

All our meetings are from 6-7pm in the mezzanine level meeting room at Wellington Central Library. We look forward to seeing you there.

Women's Lifestyle Expo, 29 - 30th August 2009

2009-07-27T20:15:00.002+12:00

Endometriosis Wellington Support Group will be featuring at the Women's lifestyle expo at the TSB Arena on the 29th and 30th August 2009.

We will be meeting and chatting to women coming to the lifestyle expo over the weekend and look forward to meeting some of our members who haven't made it to a meeting yet, or meeting new members and helping with info on Endo and Endometriosis New Zealand.

If you are interested in helping us out with volunteering to be a part of our stand over the weekend, please contact Sian or Annie at the email address on this page.

We look forward to meeting you there soon.

Sian and Annie

Ora Cafe - 100% Gluten Free - Allen St, Wellington

2009-07-27T20:07:00.003+12:00

Hi All, just wanted to share this fab new 100% gluten free foods cafe in Allen St, Wellington. Lovely food, great customer service and when you've had your food you can wander around the beautiful gift shop too!

Future meetings - dates for your diary

2009-05-25T13:18:00.010+12:00

There had been some talk at recent meetings of trying to arrange a more consistent approach for future meetings, with the aim of making them accessible to more of you. Suggestions included a regular time at a regular venue. With this in mind we have booked up a regular slot at Wellington Central library well into next year.

We will be using the Mezzanine level meeting room from 6pm-7pm on:
Monday 31st August 2009
Monday 26th October 2009
Monday 25th January 2010
Monday 29th March 2010
Monday 31st May 2010
Monday 26th July 2010

Reminder emails will come out before each one, but put those dates in your diary now!

There is a charge for using the meeting room so we will be asking for a gold coin donation at the time to put towards this cost.

There is also some work going in to arranging a social evening in July - details to be made available when it is confirmed.

Fundraising For Endometriosis Awareness

2009-04-10T10:27:00.004+12:00

A big thank you and well done to everyone who raised money for Endometriosis Awareness during March. We would love to hear from you if you help a fundraising event of your own so we can celebrate your success. We managed to hold a few fundraising events in the official awareness week, but the money has continued to roll in during March which is fantastic. Money raised for Endometriosis Awareness Week all goes to Endometriosis New Zealand, and they will then help us with support in the Wellington region using the money we raised. A big thanks to Annie, Natasha and Nicola, who all contributed.

Annie is our hero of the month for cycling 101 kilometres in 4 hours and 23 minutes to raise money. Annie's sponsors are still flowing in, but her current total stands at $1,138.20 which is an amazing achievement. Thanks Annie for your efforts and for thinking of ENZ for your selected charity.

Added to the money raised through morning teas, poker nights and a wine and tapas night, that brings the Wellington Support Group total to $1,329.20 Thanks! We hope we can raise more next year.

Endometriosis Awareness Week 2009

2009-02-21T14:38:00.021+13:00

International Endometriosis Awareness week is the 2nd - 8th of March and we want to support Endometriosis New Zealand with their efforts to raise awareness.

This year the ENZ theme is "girl’s night in". As such we are asking our members to host a “girl’s night in”, that can be for other Wellington Support Group members or for your own social groups, with the emphasis on having a good time and raising awareness and funds.

ENZ has provided some hosting ideas, which appear at the end of this post.

Annie is hosting a ‘wine and tapas’ evening on Wednesday 4^th March and Sian has plans for a charity poker game on Thursday 5^th March. If you would like more info on hosting and advertising or attending an event, then please contact either of us on the Endo email. We’ll be happy to help!

It's a great opportunity for the group to raise money for its own use, this money will be used solely to make sure we can hold meetings with guests and offer refreshments. Depending on how much money we raise, we may also put some towards marketing to raise our profile. But for now we'll be happy just having regular meetings with great attendance.

The next meeting is booked for Monday 2nd March from 6pm to 8pm on the Mezzanine level at Wellington Central Library, Victoria Street, Wellington.We've moved to this location as it’s open and everyone can access it. However there is a charge for renting the space so there will be a gold coin donation for entry.

We are hoping to have Helen, a yoga instructor, who has said she is happy to give her time to teach some very basic yoga for half an hour, so if you are keen to come and join in make sure you bring some clothes that you can move about in. Stretchy fabrics work best for yoga.

As we are using the library for the meeting we are asking people to bring a plate or one item of food to be shared with the group. This can be anything from a bunch of grapes to homemade gluten free muffins. This way we'll have nibbles for everyone without having to charge more money to our members.

We'd love to see as many people there as possible, the venue can hold up to 100 people so there's plenty of room for you all.

If you can let us know you're coming that would be great - email us at wellingtonendometriosis@windowslive.com

Look forward to seeing you there
Annie & Sian

Check out these ideas to make your girls night in unforgettable:

Board Game extravaganza

Chose a couple of your favourite board games for example monopoly, cranium, scattergories, cluedo and let your competitive side shine!

Poker tournament

It's not just the boys who can enjoy a game of poker, this is a really fun card game and the best thing is you don’t need to gamble for real money. You can use chips or match sticks. This would be a fantastic evening where all the money in ‘the pot’ can be donated to ENZ.

Wine and dine

Have everyone bring their favourite bottle of inexpensive wine and tapas style appetizers to compliment. Check out foodnetwork.com for ideas.

Movie marathon

Girls night in is the perfect time to watch all those romantic dramas and comedies. Check out surewoman.com for movie ideas.

Dinner delight: A perfect girl’s night idea

Plan a dinner to prepare as a group. You could decide a theme for the evening for example: Italian, Thai, Indian, Spanish, Mexican, or Japanese. If certain gals in your group are great cooks, they can offer a lesson letting friends in on their secret recipes and tips. Be sure to let the chef have the night off from the dishes!Or have everyone over for a potluck dinner. Be sure to make it a traditional potluck though so no hinting or asking people to bring specific things. It’s more fun if it’s a surprise!

You could even be a bit cheeky and put in for some takeaways. Have them at home or if it’s a nice night take them to the beach or the park with the girls. There is nothing better than on a warm evening sharing fish ‘n’ chips on the beach.

Bring ‘a day at the spa’ to your house

This is a night to relax, pamper yourselves, gossip, listen to luscious music and just be girls! Get everyone to bring their favourite coloured nail polish and all the equipment needed for manicures and pedicures, clay masks, hair treatments for a truly gorgeous evening.

Set a spa-like ambiance by keeping lighting to a low by using candles and dimmed lights to relax your friends. Keep everyone hydrated during the evening with cucumber water and hot water with lemon or herbal teas. Try this easy and economical body scrub for delicious smelling supple skin. The maple and honey lend a luscious scent perfectly appropriate for the season. The salt and/or sugar serves for exfoliation, oats are good for dry, sensitive, tired, fatigued skin, oil serves as the moisturizer/hydrator and honey and maple syrup as a fabulous antioxidant, hydrator and toner.
Ingredients

1 Cup Table Salt and Sugar

1 Cup Ground Oats (oat meal) chopped in a coffee grinder

1 1/2 Cup(s) Vegetable or Olive Oil

3 Tablespoon Pure Maple Syrup (not corn- must be pure maple)

2 Tablespoon Honey

Steps

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and scrub (you can add a little coffee for rosey skin).

Morning or afternoon tea

The theme is girl’s night in but not everyone has the luxury of having an evening off so if that’s you, don’t despair there are still things you can do. Organise a lovely morning or afternoon tea with the girls at your place or at work. If you ask people to donate a gold coin to sample your excellent baking, this will give you a chance to catch up with your friends and contribute to the cause at the same time.

Playstation or Xbox games

For all those with a playstation or xbox this can be a really fun way to spend a night in with games like singstar, guitar hero, and buzz for all you competitive people out there. If you don’t have those games don’t fret you can hire them at most video stores for a small cost.

Dessert buffet
What girl doesn't like desserts? Get everyone to bring a different dessert to share. This is a really enjoyable and scrumptious girl’s night in! You could even dust of your old fondue set and dip fruit into melted chocolate yummm!!!

Reading fans

For those of you who enjoy a novel or two this is a chance to share all those fab books with your friends. Get all your girls to bring around their favourite book to do a wee summary of the storyline, this may provoke some great discussions and can be coupled with a good old catch up.

Cocktail therapy at home

Even when times are tough, we all need time with our girlfriends..and a little Cocktail Therapy, of course! Filll up your guests with food that is delicious, semi-healthy, and inexpensive, like hummus with homemade pita chips and fresh veggies. Save money and time by making a big batch of Margaritas, cosmopolitan or for a non-alcoholic alternative, punch is always a fab option.

Margaritas

Ingredients

1 Bottle Tequila

1/2 Bottle Triple Sec

1/2 Bottle (the one that had the Tequila in it) Fresh Lime Juice

1/3 Bottle (the one that had the Tequila In it) Orange Juice

1.5 Cup Agave Nectar or Simple Syrup ( add ½ cup at a time and taste until it's at your desired sweetness)

Some Lime Wedges

Steps

Combine all ingredients except for the salt. Serve over ice. If a guest would like some salt, before pouring the cocktail, rub the rim of the glass with lime and dip it into a shallow plate of salt. Garnish with lime wedges.

The Ultimate Cosmopolitan

Ingredients

3 parts Citron Vodka

1 part Cointreau

1-2 parts cranberry juice

splash of fresh lime juice

Steps

Add all ingredients into a cocktail shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into a large cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon slice or a twist of lemon peel.

If you prefer to avoid pretty pink drinks, make a White Cosmo and substitute white cranberry juice instead.

But don’t skimp on the vodka!! Always make sure that you’re using a top shelf brand, because the vodka is the predominant ingredient in the Cosmopolitan and poor vodka will result in a poor drink

Non-alcoholic sparkling punch (serves 20)

Ingredients

2 (750 millilitre) bottles sparkling apple cider

1 litre carbonated water

3 large oranges

2 lemons

177 ml frozen lemonade concentrate

10 g white sugar

2 trays ice cubes

Steps

Thinly slice the lemons and the oranges and place in a large punch bowl. Pour in the thawed lemonade. Gently stir in the seltzer water and the sparkling apple cider. Add sugar to taste. Add large block of ice.

However you host your fundraising, make sure you have fun!

Gluten-free cookery lessons

2009-02-21T14:33:00.002+13:00

Onslow College have an extensive community education program, which includes gluten-free cookery lessons.
Check out their course range here and hit the 'community' tab.

January's meeting

2009-01-28T20:46:00.026+13:00

Well, it was second time lucky at the Hudson office.
Thanks to Sian for organising a great meeting, thanks to Hudson for allowing us to use their office and thanks to the State Tower for not having a fire whilst we were there.

Kelly started things off with a talk about exercise, nutrition and all the things we can do to keep ourselves fit and healthy. All good stuff with or without the Endo. The overriding message was that a healthy & balanced diet combined with some regular exercise is good for all of us. The more processed the food or the more fizzy the drink = bad stuff!! And as for the exercise, well what ever you can manage to fit in to your day. You don't have to be slogging it out at the gym all day. Start with the simple stuff like getting off the bus a stop early, take the stairs instead of the lift. Heard any of that before?

Next up was Emma from Equilibrium massage therapy. Emma talked to us about the benefits of massage, again not just for Endo, but for general relaxation and well being. Natasha was the lucky recipient of some of Emma's moves as she showed us what we or a friend/partner could safely do to help ease symptoms of abdo & back pain and cramping. Looked like good stuff to me. I'm a sucker for a massage and will happily rave on about how relaxed and fabulous I feel after one. My top tip is to get a facial and usually while the mask or whatever is working it's anti-aging magic, the therapist will do you a head, neck and shoulder massage. Bargin! All for the price of a fabulous facial.

Last up was Jeannie. Jeannie is an acupuncturist and she talked to us about how acupuncture works in Chinese medicine and how it and other aspects of Chinese medicine can help us with our Endo symptoms amongst other things. Sian and I had a needle (completely painless, honest) stuck in our ear. It is supposed to help with stress and tension. Well, all I can say is "wow'!! Jeannie said to take the needle out after three or four days. Over a week later and mine is still in and I don't want to be parted from it. The few days that followed the meeting would normally have had me crawling the walls and brewing a good stress ulcer. Instead, I was switching between mildly irritated to cool as cucumber.
Jeannie gave us all a recipe for Chinese chicken soup - I'll type it up and add it on at a later date (along with the Christmas cupcake recipe that I promised a long while back!). I for one am game to give it a go as my chi needs a bit of a rark up. Natasha has already tried it and I think is working on a new and improved version .... .....

I find the holistic approach to looking after yourself, treating symptoms and managing disease fascinating. Being a bit of a scientist by profession (I am a pharmacy technician) and spending all day in the world of drugs and conventional medicine, you'd be forgiven for expecting me to be a bit sceptical. But no, I always think it's worth giving it a go. Sometimes it may not work out, but if it does, then marvellous. Surely it has to be better than max-ing out on painkillers, steroids, hormones and the like.
The idea of a balanced diet and less chemicals is not a new one and one I whole heartedly subscribe to. I know I feel a lot better in body and mind when I am eating well.
I had accupuncture several years ago performed by a conventionally trained physiotherapist in a UK public hospital. It worked wonders. There is one health service that can see a place for nationally funded complimentary therapies. I wonder if New Zealand will ever follow.

Contact details:
Emma Main, equilibrium massage therapy, 04 9703662 / 021 1344300 for workplace and on-site bookings or 04 4730110 for clinic bookings at Beautique, 224A Tinakori Road

Jeannie Redman, City Osteopaths, Level 4, 166Featherston Street 04 4991439

I'm also going to plug a friend's website The Naked Trainer It's all about getting started, giving it a go and setting achievable goals. it's free to use, so why not have a look and see how you go?

Thanks to those who brought a gluten free treat to the evening. I think we are hoping that that will be the way forward for food. Any suggestions or comments, please let us know.

Take care and see you next time,
Annie

First meeting of 2009

2009-01-11T16:14:00.005+13:00

Endometriosis Wellington Support Group will be having it's first meeting of 2009 on 21st January at Hudson office, in the State Insurance Tower, 1 Willis St.

As before, please come to level 6 reception for 5.30. The lifts stop bringing you to level 6 after then but if you do miss the cut off someone will come down and get you, so just wait for us by the lifts.

We are delighted to be able to introduce Kelly Rastovich as a guest speaker. Kelly is a trained fitness instructor, and can offer tips on diet, exercise and fitness.

We are expecting that there will be a lot of questions for Kelly, so please do have a think about any before you come.

We will be catering for the event so if you haven't let us know that you are coming please do so at wellingtonendometriosis@windowslive.com

We look forward to seeing you all there,

Best Wishes.

Wellington Endometriosis Support Group

Christmas nibbles and a social agenda

2008-12-16T19:12:00.003+13:00

Some of you will have been aware of the Christmas morning tea we had last Saturday. It was a bit short notice, so apologies for that. Anyway, the idea was to try a new and experimental or favorite tried and tested gluten free goody. It didn't matter if it was a home baked or shop bought. Despite there just being three of us, I think it achieved it's purpose!
Sian rustled up some yummy chocolate muffins using a Basco mix, I made cheese scones using Healtheries baking mix and also Ruth Pretty's Christmas cupcakes (recipe to follow) and Paula brought some chocolate dipped ginger cookies from Eat Right

Sian and I were thinking of arranging the odd 'social' thing to run alongside the more formal meetings. Maybe another morning (or afternoon) tea, perhaps a weekend brunch at your favorite cafe, a trip to yoga or even just the cinema. Please let us know what you think and what you would like to do.

Sian is working on the details of the next meeting, which looks likely to be towards the end of January. Details to follow.

Keep well and hope to see you soon.
Annie

November Wellington Meeting round up

2008-11-12T19:39:00.003+13:00

Well what can I say! We made sure this meeting will be remembered for some time. I am still trying to recover from the shock of the bad timing and the one a million chance of having a fire evacuation on the one night our meeting was booked for!

Anyway, to those of you who came thank you so much. It was great to see such a good turn out, I think there were between 20 and 25 of us, and for everyone to stay and help out during the unplanned relocation was excellent, thanks for the support.

I was so pleased to find everyone chatting in groups like you'd known each other for ages, in our case, the ice breaker was a fire!

I was so pleased to be able to introduce you all to Deborah Bush, as one of the founding members of Endometriosis New Zealand, which started with three women in Palmerston North as a support group, I find Deborah inspiring every time I see her and was so glad you got to meet her too. I especially loved the fact that Deborah came and spent time with us on such short notice. Thanks Deb.

While I'm saying thank you I would also really like to acknowledge the people who helped make the meeting a success.

Thanks to Natasha for your clear headedness in a crisis and a great venue space for us to use on absolutely no notice!

Thanks to Nik for bringing delicious Gluten Free Pates to share around. They were lovely and it was great to try something different. They are available from Common Sense Organics in Wellington CBD on Wakefield St for future reference.

Thanks especially to Rebecca from Thoroughbread for her generous donations, Rebecca made a gorgeous gluten free loaf for every member who came to the meeting (and for some who didn't make it) Rebecca makes all her bread herself by hand and put a lot of love and care into making sure Wellington Endometriosis felt special!
Rebecca works at local markets and is available at Paraparaumu on Saturday and Willis St in the CBD on Sundays. If you want to make contact with Rebecca her email is thoroughbread@gmail.comThanks again Rebecca!

Thanks also to Dean Young of Radiant Health Centre who came to talk to us about Ortho-Bionomy. If you want to hear more about what Dean might be able to do for you, please contact him on. 04 473 7318.

The next meeting will be planned for January sometime around the 2nd or 3rd week of the month. Can you contribute something or do you know someone who could be a guest speaker? The guest speakers I know of include the following:

Diet, Nurition and Exercise
Accupuncture
Yoga Instructor
Massage Therapist
Surgeon

If you can let me know how you want to make sure we get the best of each speaker I would really like to plan these guests in as it would be great to keep having new and interesting people speaking at our meetings, but I'm open to suggestions as to how many we should have.

If you haven't been able to make it to one of our meetings and would like to get in touch please note the change of email address. We would love to hear from you.

More Great News!

2008-10-15T20:45:00.000+13:00

Yes, we've managed to get the confirmation of three special guests at our November meeting!

We will have the pleasure of introducing the delights of "Thoroughbread" a range of Gluten Free Bread, and it's owner Rebecca will bring some tasters with her so you can sample excellent quality, homemade gluten free bread that will give you back your love of bread!!

We are also delighted to offer the services and expertise of an Ortho-Bionomist - for those who don't know (like me!) Ortho-Bionomy is a gentle, non-invasive, osteopathically-based form of body therapy which is highly effective in working with chronic stress, injuries and pains or problems associated with postural and structural imbalances. The practitioner uses gentle movements and positions of the body to facilitate the change of stress and pain patterns. A strong focus is placed on the comfort of the individual, no forceful manipulations are used. The practitioner also suggests home exercises that individuals can do to further facilitate the neuromuscular re-education process begun in the session. Ortho-Bionomy is very effective in helping alleviate both acute and chronic pain and stress patterns by reducing chronic muscle tension, soothing the joints, increasing flexibility, improving circulation, and relaxing the entire body. please see the following link for more information: http://www.ortho-bionomy.org/

We also have the fantastic support of Kelly Rastovich to give you ideas for nutrition, exercise and diet options that will help alleviate your symptoms. Kelly is a qualified personal trainer and works with a nutritionist for her work as a competitor in competitions such as Body Sculpting. Kelly has a great fascination with understanding diets and how she can help you with getting a good diet that will work with endo's "special requirements"

So with all this excellent advise and expertise on offer, how could you resist coming to see what we're all about? You'll meet like minded sufferers and get an opportunity to share your top tips and get more in return. We'd love to see you, so come and join us on:

Tuesday 4th November at Hudson offices, level 6 of the State Insurance Tower, 1 Willis St, Wellington CBD from 5.30 onwards.

Please contact us at endometriosiswellington@gmail.com to confirm your attendance as we will provide some catering and need to know numbers a week before the event.

We look forward to meeting you.

Best Wishes

Sian, Jo and Bernadette.

2008-09-26T21:33:00.001+12:00

Great news!

We are now able to confirm our next meeting in November.

Date: Tuesday 4th November
Time: 5.30pm onwards for a 6pm start at

Place: Hudson offices, Level 6 of the State Insurance Tower, on 1 Willis St,
Wellington CBD.

We will aim to meet the needs of as many members as possible and it would be great to see you all there.
For those of you who came last time, we'd love to see you there again and feel free to bring a friend!
For those of you who couldn't make it, we're starting a little later, and giving a bit more notice, so we hope you can make it.

Please be aware the lift access to Level 6 stops at 5.30 so we will have someone waiting downstairs from 5.30 to 6 to give access to the meeting room.

We will be providing nibbles and drinks, so please email us at endometriosiswellington@gmail.com confirming your attendance before the 24th of October. (It would be great if when you email, if you could please confirm your full name, as some email addresses are quite anonymous! Thanks)

We are lucky enough to have two guest speakers on the night, as well as the opportunity to talk to women who can genuinely understand your experiences and offer their tips on how to live your life with endometriosis!

One of our guest speakers will be providing tips on nutrition, diet and exercise so please feel free to bring questions, and if she can't answer them on the night she will take your details and get back to you.

Our second speaker will provide some insight into alternative remedies available to you.

So come and join us, we'd love to meet you!

Don't forget to let us know that you can make it, by the 24th October.

We look forward to meeting you all,

Stay Well,
Bernadette, Jo and Sian

September's Meeting

2008-09-14T15:02:00.000+12:00

Hi All,

Thanks to those who joined us for our first meeting in September. It was great to finally meet members who have been patiently waiting for us to get the meetings back going again! Thanks!

It was a good meeting, everyone who came benefitted from hearing that she is not alone with symptoms, or feelings caused by endometriosis!

We used the first meeting as an opportunity to understand what our members want from the meetings, and the blog site. Here are some of the topics we discussed.

You want to hear about:

Diet
Nutrition
Exercise ideas
Alternative remedies
Recipes
Myths
Other symptoms
and want to talk to other sufferers, to hear their stories.

Some of the topics covered meant that we shared secrets of what we each use and swear by, these included:

Yoga, Pilates for keeping fit and allieviating symptoms
Flaxseed oil, either ground or grind yourself and add to food daily
Omega 3
Chinese herbal remedies
Other symptoms includes IBS and cystis
Try removing either wheat or gluten from your diet
Some people recommended removing sugars and dairy.

We shared the names of the specialists in Wellington we would recommend using:

John Tait
Rose Elder
Hanifa Coya
Mike East
Vassu Iyengar

We decided to hold our social meetings one every two months, and therefore our next meeting will be in the first week of November.

Watch this space for confirmation of the date and venue. We will aim for a 6pm start to give people time to come after work, or get into the city. We will make sure we have at least one guest speaker, with tips and advice on the preferred topics, as above for each meeting. Our next meeting will hopefully include a speaker on nutrition, diet and exercise! (tbc)

We hope these tips are useful for you, and if you have any tips you would like to share either add them here, email us or leave a note on our facebook page, or make sure you come to our next meeting, we would love to see you there!

Keep Well,
Sian

IMPORTANT AMENDMENT TO LAST POST!!!

2008-08-27T08:18:00.000+12:00

Hi there,
I've made a slight error in the details of our meeting.

The meeting will take place on Tuesday 2nd September 2008
at SOLNET HOUSE, level 4, 70 The Terrace Wellington.

See you all there at 5pm :)

Regards,
Jo

Endo Support Wellington meeting

2008-08-25T20:12:00.000+12:00

Hello all,

The much anticipated Endometriosis Support Wellington meeting has been scheduled for:

Tuesday 2nd September 2008 at 5pm
Meet us at: Solnet House, Level 4, 70 The Terrace, Wellington

The meeting will be held in the training room at the motorway end of the building which will be signposted so you can find it with ease :)

A chance to meet others with Endo, share information, learn about endo health and your local support network.

Looking forward to seeing you all there and feel free to bring along your friends with Endo. Spread the word as it would be nice to get some new faces along.

See you there,
Sian, Bernadette and Jo

Fertility Seminar in Wellington

2008-06-28T10:23:00.000+12:00

Hi All, thanks to Annette from Hamilton support group for sending this information. This may be a very useful seminar!
FREE Fertility Information Seminars
Fertility Associates regularly hosts free fertility information seminars. These seminars aim to provide information and options to couples experiencing difficulties in achieving pregnancy. At each seminar a fertility doctor, counsellor, embryologist and nurse from Fertility Associates are all available to answer any questions you may have about fertility issues.
The next free fertility information seminar is:
WellingtonTuesday July 8 2008, 6.30-8.00pmThe Quality Hotel, 223 Cuba Street, Wellington

To register or for more information please call Fertility Associates on 04 384 8401 Ext 0 or email faw@fertilityassociates.co.nz.

Welcome to the new support group!

2008-06-21T14:26:00.000+12:00

Welcome to the new Endometriosis Wellington Support Group blog!

Sufferers with endometriosis know that an important part of managing the disease is being able to share your experiences and feelings with people who understand. As a support group we are able to provide our members with the opportunity to talk to other sufferers, share stories, exchange tips and ideas for coping, and most importantly, realise that they are not alone.

This blog, our email address and our facebook page are all there to help endometriosis sufferers in the Wellington region, to get the support and help they need to live with this painful and damaging disease. Not just that, but we aim to have regular support group meetings to enable members to meet face to face and from time to time, to hear from expert guests who will give their advice on how to live a great life with endometriosis.

We know we are not the experts, and we therefore welcome all feedback from our members, so feel free to post your comments here, or email us at our email address to add a post of your own.

Membership is free and we will continue to use this blog and our facebook page to post articles we think might interest you. Our group is managed purely by volunteers and we would welcome any members who want to join in behind the scenes.

Our first meeting will be announced soon, so we look forward to meeting our members, and hope to have your continued support.