# Endometriosis and Chronic Pain: Why Surgery Alone Doesn't End the Pain, with Heather Yoshimura

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/wellness-reimagined-7641383/endometriosis-and-chronic-pain-why-surgery-alone-doesn-t-end-the-pain-with-heather-yoshimura
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/wellness-reimagined-7641383/endometriosis-and-chronic-pain-why-surgery-alone-doesn-t-end-the-pain-with-heather-yoshimura.md
Podcast: [Wellness Reimagined](https://stenobird.com/podcast/wellness-reimagined-7641383)
Published: 2026-07-23T13:50:00+00:00
Episode link: https://wellness-reimagined.captivate.fm/episode/endometriosis-and-chronic-pain-why-surgery-alone-doesnt-end-the-pain-with-heather-yoshimura
Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/084d4b20-26aa-49eb-a2ac-9a05445bdf42.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/wellness-reimagined-7641383/episodes/endometriosis-and-chronic-pain-why-surgery-alone-doesn-t-end-the-pain-with-heather-yoshimura
Duration seconds: 1467

## Resource

If you've had the surgeries, taken the hormones, followed every instruction, and the pain still comes back, this conversation is for you. Heather Yoshimura joins Shreya to question the model itself: find the lesion, remove the lesion, repeat. Heather explains why chronic pelvic pain is generated by the nervous system, not just by tissue, and what shifts when you treat the whole system: inflammation, sleep, stress, unprocessed trauma, and the thoughts that quietly turn pain up. Educational conversation, not medical advice. About the Guest: Heather Yoshimura is a UCSF-trained nurse practitioner, founder of a telehealth practice focused on endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain, and author of The Endo Dilemma. After two surgeries and years of treatment left her still in pain, she started asking a different question. Key Takeaways: Pain severity doesn't track disease stage: stage four endometriosis can be painless, stage one excruciating. Inflammation sensitises the nervous system, so sleep, movement, and food are levers, not afterthoughts. Catastrophising thoughts strengthen pain pathways; pain reprocessing work helps decouple sensation from fear. Unprocessed trauma and chronic stress live in the body and show up as pain. Track small wins, not just pain scores. That's how you can see healing while it's still slow. Connect With the Guest: Website: https://luteal.health Instagram: @the.endo.np Episode Chapters: (approx.) [00:00] What the Old Model Keeps Missing: find the lesion, remove it, repeat [04:10] Pain Is Made in the Brain: phantom limbs and stage four without pain [09:20] Inflammation as the Driver: sleep, food, stress, movement [14:05] The Part Nobody Checks: nervous system, trauma, and the mind-body split [19:15] Pain as a Signal: what Heather's own pain was asking…

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