How to Endo with Bridget Hustwaite

0:02 A listener production. Before we get into this episode, I want to let you know that my brand new podcast, The Confidence Coach with Cast Done, is going live on May the ninth, and you can subscribe right now. There will be six episodes for you to binge, and each episode will cover a confidence concern that has been sent to me by a real listener, whether to do with career, or body image or relationships. And I will talk through the problem and share helpful psychological ideas that are relevant to everyone, so that you can take away one tip or strategy from each episode that you can use in your own life. I cannot wait for you to hear it. The link to subscribe is in the show notes below. This is Crappita Happy and I am your host, Cas Done. I'm a clinical and coaching psychologist and mindfulness meditation teacher and of.

0:55 Course, author of the Crappita Happy books. In this show, I bring you conversation with interesting, inspiring, intelligent people who are experts in their field and who have something of value to share that will help you feel less crappy and more happy. Bridget Hustwaite first started experiencing painful periods when she was just fifteen, but it took over twelve years for her to finally be diagnosed with endometriosis, a disorder which, contrary to popular belief, does not only affect reproductive organs, but every organ in your body. Despite ENDO impacting one in nine women and girls, there is still a huge amount of misunderstanding and misdiagnosis around this painful and debilitating condition. That is what inspired Bridget to create her Instagram account at endogram and to write the book how To Endo to help other women and girls navigate the disorder and the maze of possible treatments.

1:53 In this chat, Bridget explains all the useful science about ENDO, and she shares her own long journey through diagnosis, treatment, and relatively pain free living. Whether you are like me and you've heard of endometriosis but you sort of don't really know what it is, or if you are someone experiencing this for yourself, I know that you will find this conversation enlightening and hopefully empowering. He's much out with Bridget Frigid Welcome to the Crappy to Happy Podcast. Such a pleasure to have you here. Thanks CAAs I'm excited to chat. Bridget we're here to talk about endometriosis and particularly your journey. I have to admit that this is something that I personally don't know a whole lot about, which is why I was really keen to talk to you, because I think there are a lot of people like me who hear the word. It seems to be more in the conversation.

2:42 But we're not really sure what this is. So can we please just start with what is endometriosis? Yeah? Absolutely, It's honestly the best question to start with, because there's so much yeah, misinformation I suppose, or misunderstanding rather about this condition. And even when you actually google it in Australia, the first definition that comes up is incorrect. So I'll give you the right one. Now we'll start to. Lease that because I did google, so please do. Yeah. Yeah, So, endometriosis is a chronic condition in which tissue similar to the lining of the uterus. So the lining of the uterus is called the endometrium, but it's tissue similar to that, and it grows outside of the uterus.

3:24 It's been found in every major organ of the body, so it is more so a whole body disease rather than just you know, it's traditionally deemed as a women's reproductive health issue, but it's so much more than that, and it affects more than women too, I mean like non binary transgender people. There's even been rare cases in which endometriosis has been found in cisgender men, which is quite mind boggling. Yeah, but there's just this kind of dated notion that it's just confined to our pelvic cavity. But the key thing with endo is that it actually occurs outside of the uterus. So the poor uterus cops all the blame and all the heat for Endoh, but it's actually you know, it can be found pretty much, yeah, everywhere, And for me, it was a very widespread diagnosis. I suppose, like they found it across my bowl, my rectum, my pouch of Douglas. I've had friends who have had endometriosis found in their diaphragm.

4:20 Wow. Yeah, it's really full on. But there's just so much misunderstanding about it, and for some reason a lot of people do kind of hold on to the dated, incorrect information regarding the reproductive system. But it's so much more than that. But yeah, it essentially, you know, causes a lot of pain. It can stick organs together, and I think it's up to fifty percent of cases it can cause infertility. So unfortunately, no known cause or cure. And yeah, more questions and answers. I suppose just. What you have said just then is so enlightening. You said it is a material like the lining of of the uterus, but it is not the lining of the uterus, because that's what I read. It's like the you know, the same I'm getting the word wrong, but whatever, it is that lines of uterus starts growing on the outside instead of sticking to the inside.

5:13 Yeah, so this is key you Like. The biggest misconception about endometriosis, I suppose is that people think it is the endometrium. It's so important to know that there is a difference. There's another condition called adenomiosis. April is actually adenomiosis. Awareness muth and I liken adenomiosis to kind of like the evil cousin of endo, and that is actually within the walls of the uterus. So it is the endometrium for adenomiosis. Just to give you an example, there's a cure and that is a hysterectomy. By removing the uterus, you're removing adenomiosis. But because endometriosis occurs outside of the uterus and it's not the endometrium, a hysterectomy won't cure endo. Unfortunately, there's a lot of misinformation and unfortunately not all medical professionals are across it. They may sometimes recommend people who have endometriosis to get a hysterectomy when that's not proven cure, and it's you know, that's a life changing decision, and that's why we've got a you know, that's why I think I'm so passionate about talking about it and trying to put out the right information because yeah, these are life changing decisions that can really affect your life, your quality of life. But also yeah, if you wanted to have kids or whatnot, Like, it's just it's a big decision to make, you know, totally.

6:36 So Bridget tell us about your journey. It took you a long time to get an accurate diagnosis in. That yeah, really long time. So the average diagnosis duration in Australia they now say it's six and a half years. Mine was twelve years, so mine was double that. It was a really long journey. I first saw a doctor when I was fifteen about my period. My key symptom I suppose was period pain. And in high school I just noticed, you know, I was really uncomfortable. It was just really intense, the cramping and the headaches, and none of my friends were really experiencing it. My sisters weren't dealing with it either, and my mum was, yeah, definitely showing some concerns. So we went to a doctor when I was about in year ten, and it was just such a standard consultation. I mean, I didn't know endo existed at that time. There was certainly no one to talk. Yeah, there was no one talking about it wasn't covered in the health curriculum. And yeah, so I just thought I had a really bad period, and or potentially that I just was you know, not handling it as well as others because you kind of made it feel that way.

7:42 There's no real frame of reference, I suppose when it comes to this stuff. So I was just recommended to go on the pill, no questions asked, you know, thought that was the natural thing to do. Unfortunately, the pill just you know didn't vibe with my body and it didn't do anything to you know, yet the pain or whatnot. So that was the first kind of step that I took in terms of trying to seek answers and information for my pain. As the years went on, I started to experience other kind of symptoms that I never thought to link together. So when I first started having sex when I was eighteen, that was really painful. I started having a lot of pain just even passing bowel movements, and I would also get really intense, sharp cramping around my abdomen, so like higher up. But I just never thought to piece it all together, and I probably didn't until just a few years ago after my diagnosis, where I learned more about endometriosis. So kind of to fast forward, I suppose, you know, over the years, I saw numerous doctors, and some of them would refer me to a gynecologist.

8:47 But it's also not cheap to see a gynecologist. And I've honestly never been financially stable until I started working full time at Triple J and earning you know, a solid income of sorts. And at that time, when I was, you know, getting these referrals from doctors, I was working as a travel agent, which essentially pays peanuts. I'm I'm sure it's better now but back in my day, I don't think so it wasn't the best, yeah, pay And then I also had some doctors who just flat out dismissed me. A year prior to my first surgery in diagnosis, I had a female GP who was actually recommended to go see in Ballarat and I went and saw her. I was really excited because I thought she's going to know, you know, other people have gone and seen her, She's been recommended, And it was the most disappointing experience that I've had with the medical professional. She just flat out said to me, you don't have endomitriosis. Others have it worse than you. And it was a really shocking thing because she just decided then, and they're based on what I was telling her. She pretty much, yeah, decided that what I was saying wasn't serious or enough or worth investigating or even worth a referral to a gynecologist.

9:53 That's shocking. Yeah, it was really really bad. Like I remember going back into my car and calling my mom and just being like, I don't know what just happened, but I just got flat out, you know, shut down. And it wasn't until the following year that I moved to Sydney. So this is twenty eighteen, and had to move to Sydney for work, and I decided that I needed to get on top of it because my period pain started getting worse every month. You know. I was in the studios doing my radio show with a heat bag, lying around the office, trying to just you know, get in a comfortable position before I had to go on air and kind of switch on. And yeah, that was when I was like, I really need to, you know, put some more time into this and kind of demand more because I was a bit of a pushover, I suppose, but I knew. I just knew something wasn't right.

10:40 And I think that's the key takeaway. I think listening to your body and know if you know something's not right, you have to keep pushing and know that it's okay to get a second opinion because we're so often made to feel like we can't. And I think that's a really you know, unhealthy power balance and power dynamic between a medical professional and a patient, you know, a hundred percent a work for us, Like that's kind of what it should be. So yeah, finally saw another GP who was absolutely amazing and she referred me to a gynecologist and we did surgery, except he actually didn't perform the surgery.

11:21 This is kind of like another key point about endemetriosis in terms of treating it. It was through the public health system, and he had training excision surgeons. So I'll talk about what excision is in a moment, because that's a very important word with endometriosis. But these you know, surgeons were essentially learning how to remove endometriosis in the correct way. And I was fine with it because I was I didn't know anything about endo. But had I known the extent of the disease, you know, maybe in advance, which is impossible, but I guess hindsight, I probably wouldn't have opted for that because I ended up having I needed to get a second surgery because they didn't. End up they didn't remove all the endometriosis, so right, Yeah, I was diagnosed with what they call stage four, which is pretty much just widespread, like there was a lot of it, and the gynecologist said, if we'd left it any longer, they would have had to remove part of my bowl, which is just a pretty I don't know, sober, Yeah, really shocking things. You hear when you're twenty seven, because you wouldn't expect that to happen to you at that age.

12:25 But yeah, I was so stoked, Like I was so happy to get that diagnosis because it meant validation, confirmation my pain was real. And yeah, then I just kind of had to look forward to navigating life with ENDO. But that's a whole different story, coming to realize that it's a chronic condition, and it's yeah, a marathon, I suppose. Wow, the fact that people just have to live with those symptoms for so long, even six years being the average, is way too long for somebody to have to live with those symptoms. I just want to back. Track a little bit, Bridget, when you said that you first approached the GP about painful periods when you're fifteen and the standard response, which it typically is is to go on to the pill, is that you said your body didn't really jive with the pill. Do some people, do you know, get relief from going on the pill or is that just like not a thing that is going to help if you suffer from endometriosis.

13:26 Yeah, it's a really important point to raise because birth control and some sort of I guess hormonal suppression of source. It can help in symptom management, but there's a difference between symptom management and disease management, and unfortunately, some medical professionals will tell you that things like the pill or the Marina IUD will you know, stop or prevent growth of endometriosis, which is factually incorrect. Really yeah, but it can help with relieving symptoms, and that's fine. It's just as long as people know that. Like, this is where I guess informed can scent really comes into play and knowing its purpose and what it will do in terms of your chronic condition. It literally won't do anything to stop the disease growing or preventing it like that be.

14:13 Harmful in some ways. If it's suppressing the symptoms but the disease is still growing, Yeah, it could actually be detrimental. Yeah, So that's this is actually a really big conversation that's being had in the endometriosis community right now. The gold standard of treatment and diagnosis is what we call excision surgery. So we can't cure endometriosis. Goodness knows how long it will be until we get a cure. But the thing that we can do right now is ensure that patients get the correct technique in removing the disease. So excision surgery is when you physically cut out endometriosis from the root. You think of it like a shovel and like a weed, right, so you like dig it out and pull it out in its entirety. That is the gold standard because that ensures a lower recurrence rate.

14:58 If you're pulling it out for the from the root, highly unlikely it's going to grow back. It's a very delicate, invasive procedure and we don't have enough excision specialists in Australia. It's also a bit of a classism issue because it's only really mostly available via the private health system. Chronic conditions are really expensive to manage and not everyone can afford private health. My first procedure was via public I had to wait five months for the surgery. My second one was via the private health system. The other technique is called a blation, and that's burning the disease from the surface. So I guess when we think about the weed analogy again, that's just burning the tips, right, but the root is still there, so it's very likely it's a higher recurrence rate of that route. You know, growing up again.

15:47 That's like the round up treatment, just spraying the weed. Yeah yeah, yeah, it's just my surface, Yeah, pretty much. It's still there though, and it's probably you know, likely to grow back. So that's what ablation is, kind of circling back to the whole concept of the pill and birth control and whatnot. Unfortunately, a lot of patients are kind of presented with this option where they will be told to do, you know, take the pill or take zolidex, or get the IUD inserted or whatnot before even going down the root of surgery. Surgery is the only way to get an official diagnosis with excision surgery because they're physically cutting it out. They can send it off to get testing like pathological testing and one hundred percent confirmation that that is endometriosis. You can't even do that with ablation because it's just burning the surface. But what it should be is one surgery done right. So you go in, you have one excision surgery with an excision specialist who can precisely remove the disease. That's not going to remove the symptoms straight away because a lot of people have dealt with their ENDO for years. So that's why things like a pelvic floor physio is important, or even maybe looking at diet changes, foods trigger inflammation and whatnot. Some people like to look to you know, acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine, and I mean, if we're talking about a wide team even psychology of course, or a sexologist to

17:17 help with you know, painful sex and stuff. I think pelvic physio is like so crucial because that can really help with, you know, improving your kind of connection with your pelvic floor, because a lot of people with endo and the pain, they will just lock up and it gets to the point where you just have no you're not in sync with your pelvic floor muscles and you can't relax at all like mine will like gridlocks. So I had to go see a pelvic physio for about eighteen months. I'm fascinated by the fact that you just said you can only get a diagnosis with surgery, but presumably you need to have a diagnosis to have the surgery, So I don't how does that work. When you said that GP shout you down and dismissed you based on you describing the symptoms to her, Well, then if that wasn't enough to get the diagnosis, like how do you get the diagnosis in order to have the surgery.

18:06 Yeah, well, I mean that's the thing, like she essentially decided that what I was telling her wasn't enough to warrant a diagnosis or even exploration of that. There are numerous things that a GP can do, so they could do if you're comfortable doing it, and this is also at a gynocologist's office as well. They can do a manual examination, so they can kind of test, you know, the pain, if you're responding to if they're like poking around down there in certain areas. They can also refer you to get an ultrasound or a DIE scan, which is a deep infiltrating and demetriosis scan. It's pretty much just like an extensive transvaginal ultrasound. It goes for I mean it can go up so like forty five minutes, like it can be a long time, and you've got the sonographer and a gynecologist there both kind of just poking around and looking at the ovaries and looking for what they call deep infiltrating and demetriosis. So that's kind of endo that's a bit deeper embedded into organs, right.

19:04 The superficial endo as well, which is kind of surface level and not as deep I guess, but these scans don't a one hundred percent pick up these endometriosis. My scans before the surgery didn't pick up deep infiltrating endometriosis. But I did have it on my bow and my pouch of Douglas like it was like a war zone, you know. Wow. So those techniques like they're good to do, definitely, but surgery is really the most definitive way of detecting and removing endometriosis. I hope that you're enjoying this conversation and realizing the benefits of positivity in your own life. If you are enjoying the show, please be sure to like and subscribe so that you get notified when you EPs drop and head on over to Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen and leave us a rating and review. So, while you describe Bridget, you know, as a fifteen year old, heavy periods, painful periods, lots of girls experience that, and I do think that we kind of just, oh, well, you're just bad luck. You know, some people handle periods better than others.

20:20 What if some of the other sin could you just kind of give me a tick and flick basically of this is when you should start having some alarm bells ringing that this could be ENDO and more than just kind of standard a heavy period that you might control with the pill for example. Yeah, totally. Well, the thing is with painful periods, A lot of people are told that that is the main key red flag so to speak, of endometriosis. But some people with ENDO don't even have bad periods. I've got a really good friend, Georgia who has the cruisy periods like she's sweet, but it's the other pain like endo belly. So that's extreme bloating, an inflammation of the stomach, pain during sex, pain when empty the bladder or passing bowel movements.

21:02 Some people get pain in the lower back and upper leg, fatigue, brain fog, and I guess just you know, some triggers to particular foods as well. So those are the kind of key symptoms and it is important to be across all of them, because yeah, endometriosis isn't just a bad period, as it is commonly kind of coined, as it's so much more than that. So Britin, now that you have had the correct diagnosis, Finally, now that you have had not one, but two surgeries, can you tell me how does this affect. You now day to day? Like, what are your residual symptoms if any? Yeah, So, I mean in terms of the pain and the symptoms, I'm pretty lucky in comparison to other people where it's still just my period pain. That's the worst part of it. So that's you know, one, two, maybe three days a month where I'm just a bit, you know, not not vibing with life and just have to slow down or take time off work. And it's something that I've kind of learned to manage because my luckily, my period's really regular, so I can anticipate when it's going to happen and I can plan around it, just not do anything on those couple of days and just rest and whatnot for me. Interestingly enough, I guess my focus now in terms of my endemitriosis and navigating it is I've just turned thirty one and I'm single, and I guess the issue of fertility kind of comes into question.

22:28 I just recently went and did the AMH test to determine my egg quality or how many I could freeze if I was to do egg freezing. Yeah, kind of planning ahead, I suppose, because yeah, you just don't know what's going to happen. I guess in terms of relationships, and I definitely want to have kids one day, but it's not something that I think will happen in the immediate future. So it's just planning ahead because fertility starts to, you know, decline when you're thirty five. And I can tell you during lockdown last year, I was like, come moment to find someone. If I'm in four lockdowns in Melbourne, jeez. I feel sorry for anybody who is single during lockdown. So that is another really important reason why early diagnosis is key, right, so you can plan ahead for these things.

23:14 Yeah, absolutely, And it's hard because it's something that you just, yeah, you don't know what's going to happen with your life. But it's just good to know what your options are. And for me, getting that information was really handy. I'm not gonna, yeah, probably not gonna freeze them this year, maybe next year, but it's kind of that age between thirty and thirty five if you are looking at doing it, that's when you want to get the best quality eggs, because yeah, thirty five onwards. That's when the quality and the quantity really start to decline. But that is absolutely why early diagnosis is so key, so you have the window to make choices and explore options and not feel like, you know, it's too late and you can't do anything.

23:59 It's I would be devastated, you know, for it was a few more years and I didn't know any of this, and so many people don't know this, Like again, like that's why we have to talk about it and really put it out there, because some people don't even know any any of this information. I didn't know anything about ENDO leading up to my diagnosis because I just trusted what I was told. But it wasn't until I made my endogram account on Instagram and connected with other people and also connected with other specialists from around the world and access you know, studies and clinical information and yeah, evidence based information about ENDO that I was like, oh my goodness, I need to kind of really get this out there. And I guess that's what led to the formation of how to ENDO my book. So you know, thankfully that's on bookshelves and people can read it and their minds are just blown because they're like I thought, I knew endo, but I really didn't. And that's the sad reality, you know, we have to do so much of the work ourselves.

24:55 Yeah, and yes, so grateful for people like you who take your experienceence and gather all of this information and put it out there for other people's benefit. A true definition of having a purpose in life there, you know, using your suffering for the greater good. Love your work, Bridget I want to ask to you said right at the beginning that it can affect your fertility and up to fifty percent of sufferers. I just want to clarify. So, even if you've had a diagnosis and you've had the surgery, the excision surgery, and it's out, is there still a risk to fertility because of your earlier experience of what it was doing while it was in your body?

25:36 Can you explain that to me? So my I guess my example is probably the best one to use here in terms of fertility. My last surgery was in twenty twenty. At that time, my specialist said that my tubes are looking good. If I wanted to have a crack at having a baby at that point, it would be pretty sweet. So he didn't have any concerns. The thing is, I guess, you know, that was two years ago, so I don't know. I don't know if endemetria has actually grown back until I have another surgery, until they actually go in there. At the moment, I don't feel the need to have another surgery because my pain isn't you know, at that debility pay debilitating point where I'm like, I need to have another surgery. You need to, you know, have a look and see if it's come back, and hopefully I don't have to have another one because the recovery is so brutal. But that's the thing I don't know, and I don't know until I try. I could naturally conceive and that could be sweet.

26:28 But the thing with ENDOH is that it can, yeah, physically, like physically serve as a barrier to you know, the whole process of making a baby, blocking the tubes and whatnot. It can be a physical barrier there. But yeah, it's just one of those things like you don't you don't know until you until you try. And another thing I guess is with the surgery is some people unfortunately fall into this surgical cycle where they end up having like some people have ten or more surgeries to remove ENDO, and that's because they're getting ablation done, burning from the surface, like that's the thing they keep going back and back. Yeah, it's so bad. The more surgeries you have, you're creating adhesions and scar tissues, and then it also can affect your nerves, and that's it's almost creating like this new onset of pain. That's you know, the pain that you end up being in isn't even from your ENDO, it's just from having all of these surgeries. And in terms of fertility, yeah, you really want to just take it easy on the surgical front in that, like you don't want to have heaps and heaps of surgeries because that can physically damage you know, the organs down there. So it's a pretty it's delicate. I mean, honestly, it's delicate in terms of even talking about it because it is a sensitive issue for people, but it is also literally physically a delicate area.

27:48 Yeah, of course, I said earlier Bridget that this is something that you know, it's a term that I have heard. I've heard people say they have ENDO. Like I've never fully understood the extent of it, but I do feel like there's a whole lot. More conversation out there. Now there's your book, I've seen other books come out where people are talking about their experience. Do we have a sense now of just how many people are affected by this? Yeah? So recent information from Endemitriosis Australia came out to indicate that one in nine Australians have it. So just as common as asthma and diabetes. Yeah, like this is millions and millions and millions of people worldwide. And I think because we're you know, really driving conversation, You're seeing public figures talk about it, funding being announced and whatnot, which is fantastic. I feel like it's got to the point where everyone actually knows someone who has ENDO or has suspected endemitriosis. And a really nice thing for me working at Triple J and you know, connecting with a lot of young people on air, is that I'm connecting with people.

28:53 I mean, I'm connecting with guys and you know, brothers and dads and stuff who had no idea. But now you know, I've had so many people message me being like my boyfriend or my brother had no idea about it, or my friend and they were like, oh I heard you know, I heard Bridget talk about it on Triple J and like for them to kind of, you know, open that dialogue and have that kind of conversation, I'll never forget. I always I tell everyone about this girl. She was a female trade working in the tool shop, and when Triple J covered my diagnosis, she was in the workshop with the guys and she used that as an opportunity to be like, hey, guys, that's actually you know why I've been in hospital. And they were like, oh shit, you know, like can you imagine some trading's being like, oh wow, that's gnally like, it's awesome for them to have that awareness and to normalize it, I suppose, because it's again when you link it to reproductive stuff, we're kind of made to feel like we can't talk about it. It's the same as like miscarriages and yet periods in general, we're made to feel like we have to endure it in private, and that is absolutely not what we should be doing. It's that's terrible.

30:03 Exactly right. We should be able to be having these conversations. I feel like it's like all kind of women's issues really where it just expected to shut up. Yeah and deal with it. Yeah, and you know, maybe that's why it's taken so long for it to start getting attention too, because it's just one of those women's issues that we just shove aside. Tell women that they're winging. Yeah people, guys or yeah, I will say guys. I mean maybe it's a generalization, but they get offended when they see tampons on TV. You know, like that's controversial. It's like you can watch a bloody movie of someone getting murdered, but you can't handle a tampon. Okay, yeah, make it make sense. Fifty percent of the population exactly. Bridget What has been the response to the book since you put it out.

30:49 It's been amazing. It reached a best selling status within its first week of release. It was iconic. It was like in the charts of the top ten nonfiction alongside all those Bridges books, which was hilarious because that was when the Netflix series came out, so it was popping off and it was just cool to be like, you know, I figures that on the charts and like the Barefoot Investor and stuff, I think. Go in though. Yeah, yeah, I mean I will totally flex that because I think it's so incredible to see such a niche book on such a specific chronic condition become a bestseller. I think that shows that as a lot says a lot, and I think at the same time, it's also sad because it's like it took you know, it took me to write it, Like it should have been available all this time. But I'm glad that, you know, people are responding and resonating and it's educating people. Yeah, definitely was a needed resource and I'm really proud of it. And I'm really thankful too, because it was a real collaborative effort, you know, I really wanted to include the patient community and have other voices and perspectives and make it a bit of a team effort, not just it's not just about me. It's you know, sharing my person experience. But it's more so serving as a practical guide, you know.

32:03 It's it's the kind of book that I want friends to read. I want friends to gift to people who are, you know, going through that journey of seeking answers. It's yeah, it's a book for everyone, really, But it's been amazing. It's been yeah, just over a year now since it's released, and I'm still getting messages about it all the time, and you know, people say that it has like changed their life, which is a really loaded thing to hear. But that's the thing with the chronic condition. It is with you for life. So if, like I said, if I've learned about Endo in high school, that would have changed my life. So I can only imagine what the book has done for people. And I'm really grateful to everybody.

32:46 Is grateful for you, Bridget And what is your Instagram account? So endo Gram? It's just at endogram so e N d O gr a M. Big shout out to my mum for thinking of the name. I remember we were sitting in her drum and Ballarat when I decided that I'd launch an Instagram account just for Endo and she was like, why don't you call it Indo Gram And I was like, yeah, fair point, Debby. And then I look it up, Debbie, I know. And then I looked it up and it was available, and I was like, how has no one's taken that handle? Because it's so it's just so simple and easy and it's you know, it's mine. That is great. So people can go there and connect with your community, and obviously they can go by the book it's called how to Endo and where else can they kind of connect with you, Bridget.

33:33 So I mean, if you want to listen to me talk about music, I do that on Triple Jay Monday to Thursday nights. But I've got my personal account which is just at Bridge at Hustweight on Instagram. And yeah, I've just launched my own little podcast which is called Figuring Out thirty. So that's kind of yeah, detailing the last year of transitioning and this into this new chapter of life. But I have an episode that's coming on Fertility, So I've actually documented my consultation in the office with the gynecologist and documenting the results and everything and talking about my ENDO there. So that's yeah, another little thing that we'll be popping out a just personal insight into that aspect of my of my ENDO. So hopefully it helps, Yeah.

34:17 So helpful for people. Bridget. Thank you so much for your time. This has been so informative. Thank you for everything that you are doing to help. Yeah, appreciate great questions and I've loved noticing throughout this chat your eyes have been like popping out of information because it's been a lot. But I think you successfully passed this crash course an endo A plus. Yeah, I do like a gold star. Yeah. You can find Bridget's book how to Endo at all Good bookstores and her Instagram handle is at endogram. We'll put those links in the show notes. Don't forget you can always pick up my Crappy to Happy books in all good bookstores as well, or you can listen for free on Audible. Connect with me on Instagram at cast done underscore XO. I am now on TikTok at cast done underscore XO. Thank you so much for listening, and as always, I cannot wait to catch you on the next episode of Crappy to Happy Listener