Episode 466: One Woman’s Journey to Endometriosis Relief With Cannabis

Welcome to Cannabis Health Radio, where we share powerful real life stories from people around the world who are using cannabis as medicine. The goal of this podcast is to raise awareness of the healing potential of cannabis and is not intended as medical advice. And now, here's your host, Ian Jessup.

Foreign welcome to the Cannabis Health Radio podcast. I'm Ian Jessup. At just 17 years of age, our guest today was diagnosed with endometriosis. And for those of us who don't quite know what endometriosis is, it's a chronic condition where tissues similar to the uterine lining grow outside the uterus, often on the ovaries, fall, fallopian tubes and other pelvic organs. For our guest, it was the beginning of a journey of relentless pain. Six major surgeries and years of being prescribed heavy drugs that offered little relief. And refusing to accept that this was her only way forward, she turned to holistic health and eventually discovered medical cannabis, a decision that transformed her quality of life. And joining us from the UK to tell her story, Zoe Corcoran. Zoe, it's good to talk to you. I can't imagine being 17 years of age and getting this diagnosis. What went through your mind when you heard that?

It was quite, very daunting because back then it was. No one really knew about it, so I didn't have a clue what it was, nor did my dad, you know, so we had to kind of go into research. And the fact that back then there wasn't, like, I say there wasn't like there is today, you haven't. It was very. It was like one in, I don't know, 10,000 women. It was quite. It was very, very rare. So, yeah, no, it was not good. I was in a lot of pain beforehand for a few years and it took quite a while. Luckily, it didn't take eight years. Eight years is the normal diagnosis period for women. Right. Which is what they're trying to get down, obviously, at the moment by doing all of this awareness. But, yeah, your average, average diagnosis from going into the Dr. GP is about eight years. So I was kind of lucky. I was about four. Four years, yeah.

I wouldn't call that luck, though.

Well, no, no, the other women.

Yeah, Exactly. I mean, 17 years of age, your. Your life is just really starting, isn't it?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly that. I had, you know, quite a few trips to hospitals, ambulances, you know, it was, It's. And when doctors, you'd say, oh, it's a heavy period. That really doesn't go into context. The pain, it's it's like childbirth, to be fair. A lot of the time I'd rather go through childbirth than have the pain.

Were your doctors male or female?

So a lot of the gynaecologists are male. And you do find, unfortunately, they don't have as much as empathy as I found before, especially with nurses, healthcare assistants. I find them, especially when I've been in our hospital the last year, they were incredible. Whereas if higher you go up, I find all they want to do is give me an ejection to bring me into early menopause, yet they won't remove my ovary to put me into menopause naturally.

Oh, wow. So, yeah, so. So at 17, you're diagnosed with endometriosis. What was the protocol that you went through?

So before having the operation, they put me on a lot of contraceptions. So there are a lot of hormone replacements, which I also believe messed my. Me up a lot as well. Caused a lot of side effects, negative ones, Mentally, really not good. But I. Yeah, sorry, I've gone. I've gone on a tangent. What was the question?

No, but some of the procedures that you.

Yes, yes. So they put me on a lot of contraceptions. They tried the implant, the injection, the coil, lots of tablets. And then I had the laparoscopy when I was 17 and they gave me the diagnosis then. Only then you can have really a diagnosis. So I've had loads of scans, MRIs since then. They all come up fine. They operate and they end up taking things away every time. My scans say you're fine and they operate and I'm not. Okay, so this is what trying to fight for, for these women because they just want to give them these scans and they say, oh, no, it's fine, there's nothing there. And actually there is.

So how did this impact you psychologically?

Oh, such a negative impact, especially at that young age. I didn't realize that so much. Now I look back on things and I live a very different lifestyle now, trying very nice, peaceful, calm, whereas, you know, I was so going out. My lifestyle is a lot different. And that is another thing, is lifestyle and factors in your life affect you and affect the endometriosis. And you can, I now know you can bring these things into your life to actually minimize the pain and the symptoms of endometriosis. But say back then, just constant tablets, just drugs. They put me on tramadol at 18 for two years, like eight times a day, four times a day. I was taking two lots of tramadol, morphine, really Hardcore drugs. Not the last time, but the time prior, they put me on gabapentin, which is a really hardcore drug, and they put it up really high. And then when I had the operation, I came off, I withdrawed, so I had to go back on these drugs to get myself. Back off them.

Back on the drugs to get yourself.

Crazy. Crazy. I say it now, it's crazy.

Yeah, it is. It is crazy. It's almost like you were a drug addict.

Well, absolutely. And this is why it got to the point. These last two operations, I. And I've been in a hospital, I refused. I refused the drugs and they got really not. Not very happy with me because I refused them.

Yeah. So you underwent a total of six operations or more than that?

Six. Six operations I've had. The times prior, I had both my ovaries and my right side has been awful and it fused down, had to cut it back. Each time they've operated on my endometriosis has been on my bowel, on my uterus, on my tubes. Not this time. But the one prior, I woke up and they'd removed the left ovary, even though I had loads of problems with my right.

Was that a mistake on there?

This is something I do query a lot because I still have this thing in me and it's just. Yeah, I do query it because they're like, oh, you know, there's damage to it. But every time I've been in, the pain was on the right side, it's fused down. I have two cysts on my right side still, which was supposed to be removed, but he couldn't remove it the last time, so he's just left it in there. But I'm using castor oil and holistic things to try and break them down so I don't have to go back in, but I might have to go back in to have it removed. But the medical. Cannabis is just a lifesaver and it's the stigma. I'm not too bad around the stigma around things. I'm quite. Take it as I am and I'm not judgmental and. But a lot of people are. But it's really good now, I find, because it's quite common and it's, like I say, the whole taboo around it has gone a bit, which is really good. I just wish it was legal for, you know, it's nhs, but they won't give it to anyone. I have to get it privately.

Yeah. In the uk, it's difficult, isn't it?

Oh, it's so difficult. So difficult.

So you were diagnosed at 17, so you said you suffered symptoms for four years. So you were 13 when this first began. And yeah, you told me in an email you sent me that you're 36 now, so you've done this for 23 years.

Oh wow.

This has been, this has been your life for 23 years. And I mean going through your 20s is supposed to be a great time, but not for you.

No. A lot of operations, a lot of pain, A lot of pain, A lot of pain, a lot of pain, a.

Lot of pain, a lot of medications and man, I don't know how you dealt with this psychologically to be fair.

If it wasn't for my children and my husband, I don't think I would have done. I, I'm my children and my husband are my life. So I have that focus. So for me, I grew up without a mum present. So it's very important that my children have a mum present, especially me. And I don't want to be ill. I don't want them to see like the last year I've literally been so ill. So it's so nice that they can now see me because it's like the last year they just remember that we're not time before, you know, but they, you know, I'm an 11 year old and a 12 year old, so. Which I'm very lucky to have because I was told from a young age you won't be able to have children past 30. If you want kids, try from young. So, you know, that's what I did. Luckily I had them and I can't carry now and that's okay. And actually the last operation they removed both my tubes as well. But it's, it's, it, yeah, it's between. You say that 20 odd years, that is a long, long time. I think now as I've got older and the more holistic way I'm going and actually I have met people that have come out and they can they live pain free. They have no symptoms from that, from what they do and how they live. So I'm trying to adapt that into everything like magnesium, you know, do the castor oil patches, spearmint oil, all sorts of crazy things, onions, garlic. People think I'm crazy, but I don't care. It works, it works for me.

Yeah, I know these, I mean people don't realize that a lot of this was traditional medicine before the pharmaceutical industry took over.

Absolutely.

You know, cannabis, castor oil packs, there's a lot of other things, various herbs that can be of Great assistance and essential oils, things like that. When on your journey, when did you decide that what the current medical profession was doing was not working for you and you had to try something different?

Covid. It was around Covid. So just before COVID hit, I was admitted to hospital and they were going to send me home. And my husband, I mean, he actually's got ptsd, sex forces, and that's another story. But he. He actually managed to get them to do something. He was like, this is ridiculous. This is like, you're going to send her home, she's dying, basically. She doesn't eat. And he went down. He ended up doing that. I'm going to take everyone's number. I want your names. I'm going to the prep. Like, I'm going to go to the newspaper. This. This is. This is really bad. And then within half an hour, we had matrons up and I had the operation booked and I was in within two weeks. That's when they took out the left ovary, not the right. And then we were like this. We know the process. Every four, three to four, five years, I'm back in that. That is my process. That's how it's been my whole life. So we know that. So we were like, this has been hard. The next time's gonna be extremely hard. So I've tried to. From then. So that was like 20, 19. Oh, no, 2020. Yeah. So then. So, yeah, so about five years. So from then I've started researching, you know, about detoxing, all sorts, and we're trying to implement that. My husband's really implementing as well, implementing with the children. And then I recreationally used cannabis. I'll be open about that. I did. And I found it did help. And about five years ago, I got a CAN card. So it's a card you get. I don't know if you've heard of can card.

It's a medical cannabis card in the uk.

Yes, yes. So I got one of those. So I. It was basically just saying that I'm a registered medical cannabis user, so if I ever got stopped by the police or my housing or anything, I had this card to show. So I had that for a while and then I thought, right, this. I'm. I don't want to take these medicines. These. These pharmaceuticals make me worse. Like, they make me illa. So I then went and sort of went over and I went with one clinic and then I switched over to another one after, just because it was. They were doing something with the CAN card. So I went to a different one. But actually this clinic I'm with now is really, really good. And I've been with them about three years. And because like, with my. It's inside. So it's a lot to do with my bowels. It's. It's. You know, I take these. They were coming, what they were called, but they were little capsules of THC and cbd. And the difference. I didn't feel high or anything like that, but the difference inside I could feel after a couple of days of using it. And I have these drops, these THC drops, and I say they don't. They don't make me high or anything like that, but I take them under my tongue like you would CBD oil. And it just helps. It takes. It's. It's really hard to explain because I say I've been in pain a lot of my life. I'm used to pain. So. But so, like, when I woke up from the operation, it was so nice. I had no nausea or sickness for a whole year. I was sick. I was literally sick, sick, sick, Physically sick. Couldn't hold any. Sorry. Oh, sorry.

That's okay. It's. It's your dog? Yes, my cat. My cat is sleeping beside me.

Oh, she's gonna jump now.

So how. How do you take.

You.

You just take it orally, so orally.

And I also get the flower, but the flower I have in a medical vape. So it's just in a thing called a Mighty Medic. I don't know if you have them over there. No, no, but it's yeah, it's sort of like. I can get it and show you if you like. But. Yeah, no, it's just a sort of like. There's no, like tobacco or anything like that. You just put the. The pure flour in the top.

Oh, I see. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And then that's the way they advise to do it because you can get it in the oil. But I find the oils too harsh on my. On my chest. So I found that that works. And every three months I have my review and they say, everything getting on okay? And I can just do my repeat prescription every month. And it's. Well, the difference is crazy. It's brought my appetite back. I put on four kilos. I lost eight kilos in like three months. Yeah, it was really bad. So since my op, I'm six weeks pre op, post op now, and I've put on four kilos. So I really would. Yeah, really happy.

Have you ever thought of taking the cannabis oil, thc And CBD in a capsule and doing it via suppository.

Yes, but they don't have it here.

You can get the gelatin capsules and then.

Make it myself.

Make it yourself? Yes, because we, we've done an interview with Bojadar Radizavic in Slovenia, who's an authority on this, and if I recall, I might get this wrong, but he said if you do it via suppositories, the THC is a hundred times more beneficial and The CBD is 200 times more beneficial. Now, I may have that backwards, but it's one of the interviews we did either a couple of years ago, but it's, it's on our web, on our website. So because of your, you know, your bowel issues, that may be beneficial to you?

Oh, absolutely. Because I looked into it before and I seen over in America they, they do them, they do like tampons. I think they're CBD infused. They do all sorts, but not here. Yeah, but, yeah, good idea to make them myself.

I did an interview last week with a woman in Utah who she helped. Her mother, who was 80 years old, had stage four ovarian cancer and then she was cleared via a bit of chemo, but mostly cannabis oil. And then it came back and she had a nodule on her liver and lymph. And her daughter immediately started getting her on suppositories twice a day and within three months the nodule was gone.

It's incredible. It's incredible.

Yeah. Suppositories are a very, very beneficial way of using cannabis.

Yeah, no, that is interesting. I'll look into there. Thank you.

You're quite welcome. I mean, after listening to the pain you've gone through, I think, jesus, how the hell did you. I mean, you have two kids, you have a wonderful family, and my feeling is that in spite of all your pain, that's what really drives you, isn't it?

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, they are, they're my world and they say even my dad and my sister, my sister's in New Zealand, my dad's close and we're just a tight knit family. And yeah, it's important, it's important for me also, you know, live my life healthy. I understand that completely. But how I live my life, I do, I do do everything for them and because I want, you know, I want them to not have to go through things like this and if I can help that and, you know, bring it into living a healthy lifestyle.

Does your sister in New Zealand have any issues?

No, she doesn't actually know and my mum didn't either, but my aunties did. So, you know, they say it can be hereditary, but it's one of those things. It's still another subject. They don't even know now. Even now, they cannot tell you where it's from or. Because I had it quite far up as well. You had to go up in my diaphragm and everything. And it can go. I think people had it, like everywhere because it can travel.

Yeah, yeah. How does your dad feel about you being on cannabis? Any issues?

Do you know what? I think we've had a conversation about it. I've been very open and honest with him about it. He's always very interested in it. He knows. He's a little bit more skeptical. Call on. He understands it helps and it does work and he does see that side of it, which is really good. He just also sees us. I think he sees maybe a bad side of it. It's obviously if it's used incorrectly and things like that. But my dad's. Yeah, he's. Honestly, he's so cool. He's so horizontal. It's so funny. But he's. He brought me and my sister up. He brought us up from 5 and 6, so, you know, it was just us three. So that must have been. Must have been hard for him because I look back now, I'm like, I'm so sorry, dad. But, you know, he's. I say I've always been open, honest with him and he sees it helps me, so. And with me, you know, I did. I didn't. I'll be honest, I didn't have the COVID jab. Everyone in most of my family told me and were like, I was crazy, me, my husband, for not having it. But we stuck to our ground and my dad said, because my auntie rang up, my dad was like, this is Zoe. She's not going to do something she doesn't want to do. And he's always backed me up, even with that. So no matter what I do, my dad has my back 110%. Even if I'd done something wrong when I was younger, he's got my back, so he knows I'm an adult and I think he accepts my decision and he sees how much better I am on this and not when he's seen me on the pharmaceuticals and he's seen me on the cannabis. So he does see.

Nobody knows your body better than you.

Exactly.

And I, you know, we've done our episode 466.

Wow.

And you know Everybody that we've talked to, nearly everybody we've talked to, they've had relatives or loved ones who were opposed to cannabis. Yeah, I shouldn't say everybody, but a lot of people who were opposed to cannabis, but they went ahead and did it anyway and they came through the other side healthy. I mean, we've had, you know, we've interviewed people with leukemia and you know how bloody deadly that is. Leukemia, it can just, it takes you very, very quickly and they're still alive. We've interviewed about 25 people with brain cancer, another deadly disease. Can you imagine something eating away at your brain and affecting your thought process? And they've gone with cannabis and 23 of them are alive today.

Wow.

So it's an absolutely remarkable herb that has been around since the beginning of time and has been used for millennia. But now with the pharmaceutical industry involved, we somehow think that these man made chemicals are more beneficial. And Zoe, if you went to your doctor and said, what can you tell me about the endocannabinoid system, what do you think the doctor would say?

He would have no idea. No idea. They get his book out, they get their little beat, their little DHS book and wait there a second, start flipping through it.

Right. I know Corey, Corey Yelland was telling me several months prior to passing this past February that we used to go for coffee together and she said she has about five or six oncologists that she's been talking to about cannabis who have cancer, but they won't do chemotherapy and so they're interested in the cannabis.

Interesting.

Well, that's exactly what I said to Corey. Isn't it interesting that they're oncologists but they recommend chemotherapy to their patients but they won't take it themselves?

Well, yeah, there's a lot of things like that unfortunately in this world, isn't it?

Yeah. Without your, you know, without taking cannabis and your holistic approach. If you didn't do that, where do you think you'd be today?

Probably not here. On all honesty, probably not here. I was so poorly about. Well less than seven weeks ago, before the op, I was so, so poorly. And like I say with this prescription, it makes, it is life changing. I can manage, I can eat, I can, you know, it's. And it helped me, it really, really helped me when I was really bad. So now it's good because I can take a step back and not have to use as much or anything like that. It can be more limited. Whereas before I was having to use it all the time because I Was in this constant pain. And that's a good thing about it is you don't have to use it all the time. It's not something you don't. Obviously some people do get side effects. I don't. I've never really experienced. There might have been a couple of strains I hadn't really maybe got on with. Maybe a little bit anxious. But I'm very good at recognizing that. I'm very good at knowing my own body like you said. So it's just like being sensible. It's knowing your body.

Yeah. Anxiety is, I would suspect, a lot better than having severe pain that you went through.

Oh, absolutely. So my daughter started secondary today and my anxiety has been through the roof. That's okay because I know that's anxiety, that's not the pain.

That's right, yeah. It's an interesting process. And you said you've gained eight kilos?

No, four kilos. I've gained four kilos, yeah, four. I lost eight. I lost eight over the period. About three months. I lost about eight kilos.

You must have been quite frail.

Very frail. Even now I'm way too skinny, so I'm slowly building that back up. But yeah, tight. I was like 58 kilos and I'm 5 foot 8, 5 foot 9. And normally before this, you know, I had muscles strong. I was just sort of like withered away.

Yeah, 58 kilos is about 120 pounds, roughly, I think.

Yeah. Okay. Different units.

Yeah. You didn't, you didn't use stone, which is.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, I don't know what that would be. Oh, it'd be under about nine. Under nine, probably. Because normally I was always around 10, 10 and a half stone. Always. Yeah. Load of sports, active, did cross country and things like that. So always been very, very active and fit. But where they just sort of left me in the pain and they just wanted to feed me full of. Full of drugs. I just got rapidly worse.

Do you see yourself improving to the point where you can almost forget about your. Your endometriosis and health issues?

Yes, I'm hoping so. I'm saying I have to think positive. My way of thinking now is I have to think that these things are going to work. And that's how I think some people think. You can't think like that. What if it doesn't? Well, I can't live like that. I've got to live like this is going to work. This is my new recovery. This is the start of something, you know, incredible. And I feel so positive. About it.

Do you talk to other women about this?

Yes, I have done. So there's actually a woman, Victoria, who's kind of got me onto this journey which is really, I say fate of how we met. It was through my cousin and she's been 11 years pain free by using magnesium, certain supplements and how she lives and so things like yoga, there's so many different like types of things. Like I do a lot of mindset. That's just how I have got through this I suppose especially in the last five years, a lot of mindset training with myself just to say trying to turn things into a positive, not be negative. And that's how I kind of, I think also I got through it. Wake up every day tell myself today is going to be a good day. And I just have to tell myself that.

Zoe, if someone listening today is newly diagnosed or struggling with endometriosis and feels hopeless, what words of encouragement would you give to them?

You have got this and you are a lot stronger than you believe. There are so many women out here now that are very open about, about this disease and how it affects their lives and it is awful. And I what if you can reach out to anybody and say any sort of social media platforms. There's quite, there's a lot on Facebook I think. I don't really do tick tock but I think they have quite a lot on there and just talk, talk to people because you feel like you're constantly. I feel ill, I feel ill, I feel ill. But your husband has to know how you feel. You know, your dad to your family, they've got to know to talk. The most important thing is to talk. And you do your research. Don't just go by what the doctor says. And I've learned that over the last 20 odd years because if I followed the advice of doctors I'd be on so many injections and I honestly, I don't know if I would be here. So it's follow your gut, speak to your family and your close ones and your loved ones. Always be open and honest and just research on other things and just stay positive. I know it's really, really, really hard, believe me, but it is. You've got to think of the positive things in your life. Even if you wake up every day, tell yourself three things you're grateful for. Sometimes when you are as low as you are and you think you can't get out, just waking up and having that mindset and saying, I'm grateful for my children, I'm grateful for my husband I'm grateful for my dog, you know. I'm grateful for my life. Just telling yourself that three things every morning. It does change things, as crazy as it sounds.

To a wonderful story. Thanks very much for doing this.

Thank you so much. It was great. I've seen you sort of popped up and I thought, oh, give it a go. I've never done anything like this before.

So you were great.

Thanks for.

Thanks very much.

No worries.

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Sa.