Endometriosis Diagnosis Delay: Tina’s 20-Year Journey (Episode 487)

Full Transcript

Lisa: I’m excited to be here today with Dr. Tina Krupczak. Tina and I have been working together now for a couple of years. You were not only a member of the FAM program, but you joined the FAM alumni program. So we’ve had just a really nice opportunity to get to know each other a little bit. And of course, you’ve had the opportunity to go beyond the deep dive in FAM as part of the alumni. So welcome to the show.

Tina: Thanks. I’m so excited to be here.

Lisa: I’m so excited to have you and to dive into your story. So I’ll start with the first question that I love to ask, which is where it all started out. Let us know when you had your first period, what that experience was like, if you’ve ever used hormonal birth control, and what led you ultimately to choose fertility awareness, both personally and then professionally in your practice?

Tina: Yeah, so I got my period when I was 12. My mom had prepared me a little bit, knowing she had gotten hers at 12 too. I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was always painful. I remember getting it at home for the first time, and then my mom announced it to everyone in the family the next Sunday. I was mortified. We didn’t really talk openly about our bodies. There was a lot of shame. I grew up in a very religious background. All the women in my family were pregnant in their teens. It was just a weird topic—body awareness, body literacy. They were still coming to terms with it themselves.

In middle school it was tolerable, but in high school the pain became significantly worse. I remember once screaming on the bathroom floor, begging my mom to help me. We didn’t have health insurance then, so going to the doctor wasn’t really an option. She apologized and told me, “This is just how it is in our family.” She had bad periods too and felt guilt watching me go through the same.

I did explore birth control in high school after a traumatic experience where I bled through my pants. It was humiliating. Hormonal birth control helped reduce the symptoms, and I stayed on it until I was about 24. Around that time, I was engaged and preparing for my wedding. It was a really stressful time, and I experienced significant pain, even outside of my periods. I went to the hospital several times but never got any answers.

At the time, I was pursuing my master’s in nutrition and integrative health. We were learning how to interpret blood work, and I realized I potentially had Hashimoto’s. I went to an endocrinologist and was formally diagnosed. I continued to live with pain, hiding it, rearranging my life around it, and not communicating it to anyone. I felt disconnected from my body, which is ironic looking back as a practitioner. I take my clients’ pain seriously, but I hadn’t realized how much I had normalized my own pain until years later.

Lisa: That’s such a powerful reflection, Tina. What you went through was traumatic, compounded by generations of normalization. So when did you first hear the term “endometriosis”? Was that something anyone ever mentioned to you as a possibility?

Tina: Not really. I first started connecting the dots during my master’s program. I went into health because I felt so confused about my own health. In physiology classes, I started to recognize patterns that felt related to my symptoms. I remember telling my professor I thought I had a thyroid condition. She kind of brushed it off—“You’ll think you have everything”—but later, in a blood chemistry course, I found real data that confirmed it.

I still didn’t take my pain seriously. That was just my norm. And because I was in a health program, I felt ashamed that I still struggled. I thought I should be able to “fix” myself with nutrition and lifestyle. While those things helped reduce some symptoms, I was still experiencing significant pain. I just hid it and figured out how to function around it. That’s also why I work for myself now—I need flexibility to slow down when needed.

Lisa: That insight into your pain and how it shaped your professional path is so important. Let’s talk about fertility awareness. How did it come into your life and practice? And how did the FAM program play a role?

Tina: First of all, I love you and your work, Lisa. Learning directly from you was important to me. I needed experiential learning—real case studies, charting our own cycles, mentorship. During the program, I finally had the confidence to get a laparoscopy. That was huge. The support from you and the cohort helped me take myself seriously. I always tracked in an app, but through FAM I learned to master temperature tracking, read patterns, and feel empowered instead of ashamed. I even stopped denying myself basic care like pain medicine when needed.

Going through that with support helped me realize I deserved better. I had internalized that maybe this pain was normal, or maybe nothing would be found if I had surgery. That fear delayed my diagnosis.

Lisa: You were such a powerful example in the program. Watching your journey unfold was impactful. How did your diagnosis and this process affect your perspective on preconception care?

Tina: Getting diagnosed allowed me to take my preconception health more seriously. Even though I wasn’t sure if I wanted children, I wanted to preserve my options. I began addressing other factors—like gut health and inflammation, because I also had SIBO. Once I addressed that, my symptoms improved significantly. I also began considering egg and embryo banking with my partner.

We approached it as a team. I told him preconception was relevant for him too. We made lifestyle changes together, including reducing alcohol and focusing on sperm health. Testing validated our efforts. My AMH improved. We retrieved more eggs and embryos than expected. Seeing those results was empowering.

Lisa: And what a great example of how fertility awareness and data-driven care can support outcomes. Your partner’s improvements, your own AMH shifts—these are meaningful insights. What would you say to someone listening who’s struggling with similar pain or considering this path?

Tina: There’s hope and support out there. Pain can be isolating, and it’s easy to spiral into thinking you’re just not trying hard enough. But you’re not alone. Understanding your cycle can offer clarity and direction. It’s not about fixing everything—it’s about quality of life. That’s the biggest message I want to share. The support, education, and insight I got through FAM have been invaluable.

Lisa: Thank you so much for sharing your journey, Tina. Where can listeners connect with you?

Tina: I’m the founder of Concēv—a practice focused on proactive, holistic preconception planning. You can find me at concev.co or on Instagram at @letsconcev.

Lisa: Amazing. We’ll have those links in the show notes. Thank you again for joining me today, Tina.