Beyond the Scale: Endometriosis patients report relief after using GLP-1s
Women with endometriosis have long relied on surgery or hormone medications to manage their symptoms, but now, doctors are exploring a new option: GLP-1 medications. While it is not FDA approved to treat the condition, one woman says it has helped her get back to living her life.
Savannah Regensberger recently captured the attention of thousands of women on social media after sharing her own experience of taking a GLP-1 for the chronic condition. She’s very open about her battle with the disease and using a GLP-1 to improve symptoms. Her hope is to help the thousands of women looking for answers.
“GLP-1s, specifically tirzepatide changed my life,” she said.
From chronic fatigue to painful bathroom breaks and severe bloating that causes discomfort, known as “endo belly,” endometriosis is a chronic condition where tissue similar to the lining of the uterus grows outside of it.
“I was literally going to the restroom 15 times a day. Sometimes not able to fully release the urine, sleeping so much. I would wake up anxious, depressed. I wasn’t able to work out anymore for me, like that’s physical, but also very mental,” Regensburger said.
Seeking medical help, Regensburger found Dr. Chandra Spring-Robinson with United Medical Doctors in California, who performed an excision surgery.
“So with the surgery, we’re removing the source of the disease. But knowing that it’s a chronic inflammatory disease, patients still have flares,” Dr. Spring-Robinson said.
And that was the case for Regensburger.
“So I think there was nothing worse than to know like I’m doing everything right, and like still nothing is really working in terms of reducing that inflammation,” Regensburger added.
As a clinical researcher, Regensburger was following the latest on GLP-1s and hearing from women online using them for endometriosis.
Under Dr. Spring-Robinson’s care, she decided to try tirzepatide, better known as Zepbound or Mounjaro.
“It definitely brought me some hope, and thankfully, I’m somebody who it’s worked well for,” Regensburger said.
She said her symptoms have improved with less bloating, brain fog and fewer flares, allowing her to reengage in daily life including returning to work in person.
“I am able to go in, I am able to do the thing that I love,” Regensburger added.
Dr. Spring-Robinson said many of her patients, like Regensburger, have seen less inflammation while taking a low dose.
“I’m doing a low dose titration, like, and I’m saying very low dose. We’re looking at 0.5 milligrams versus 2.5 milligrams,” Dr. Spring-Robinson said.
Research on GLP-1s and endometriosis is still limited and the FDA has not approved the drugs to treat the condition.
Dr. Spring-Robinson and Regensburger, now a clinical researcher in her practice, are teaming up to study the connection.
“I just want to be able to provide patients the ability and the tools to get them to have a normal and healthy quality of life,” Dr. Spring-Robinson said.
“I feel grateful that I was able to take one of the worst things that ever happened to me and be like, okay, we’re going to do something with this now,” Regensburger added.
Doctors at UConn Health are also seeing positive results and are conducting research.
“I’ve seen improvements that I can’t explain,” said UConn Health OBGYN Chair Dr. Danielle Luciano.
Dr. Luciano is the co-director of the Connecticut Endo Rise Program, a partnershp between UConn Health and the Jackson Laboratory. The lab is currently studying endometriosis tissue collected from patients who are taking GLP-1s.
“We are starting to see some signals that are different, and we’re hoping to study those more to better understand it,” Dr. Luciano said.
While Dr. Luciano is excited by the research, she says she remains cautiously optimistic.
” I think that you know it’s not going to work for everybody, unfortunately. And I think we should get our hopes up a little bit, but we still need to better understand this disease,” Dr. Luciano said.
Dr. Luciano could not emphasize enough the change she is seeing in some patients who have tried other medications or surgery and haven’t gotten relief.
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