Hello everyone and welcome back. I get to talk to not just one endo expert, but two today and I am super excited to welcome Dr. Marjorie Maye Mamsaang who is an osteopathic physician and also Sandra, and I’m going to get this name right, Sandra Sandhu-Restaino Did I get it right?

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (00:29)

Great job.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (00:32)

Okay. Also an osteopath. I love osteopaths – love you guys. It’s just a wonderful profession to be in. They are both endo specialists and have unique stories. And I’m just really excited to welcome them here today. So welcome Marjorie, welcome Sandra.

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (00:49)

Thank you so much for having us.

Dr. Marjorie Maye Mamsaang, MD (00:49)

Thank you, thank you for having us.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (00:52)

Yeah, okay, so before we pressed record, Sandra, you were talking about a very interesting backstory about how you guys came to know each other and work in this way and in this field. So will you guys launch into that a little bit?

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (01:08)

Sure. Marjorie, do you want me to start? So this kind of goes back into the time of when during residency, I did residency in Miami at Larkin University, Larkin Community Hospital. And at the time I was a senior resident and we were looking into interviewing potential candidates to come in to start residency training. And one of those wonderful candidates was Dr. Marjorie Mamsaang. So we kind of met each other up. There was some food at the table. We were chatting away. And after talking to her, really, really liked her. And I remember telling my program director how much I really enjoyed talking to her. And I said, we really need to have her part of this program. I just knew she was going to do great big things and just better so many lives. So she became part of the program. then years down the road, Years later, I joined public rehabilitation medicine and she actually was part of the training program, helped train me to get on board and get started. So it’s kind of like that full 180 circle, crossing paths again later on. So it was nice.

Dr. Marjorie Maye Mamsaang, MD (02:28)

Yeah, it was full circle, but you forgot the best part. The best part was how we met was because during one of the lectures, during the interview process, during lunch, there was cake in the back. It was like a coconut white cake and nobody was eating it. So I went back there and I grabbed a slice and I was like, I don’t understand why no one’s eating this cake. And the only other person eating it was you. And that’s how we met and we remembered each other. And you helped me before, she helped me after, I helped her afterwards.

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (02:43)

That’s right.

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (02:56)

Mm Yeah, I’m a big cake person. I’m like, this has to say something that she also wants to eat cake and we’re here in the moment. And we’re having good conversation. I’m just feeling a good vibe, good energy from this person. And she’s I mean, she’s amazing. And I was right. And that’s also happy that, you know, she was part of the program. And then I was lucky enough to have her kind of train me to get on board at public rehabilitation medicine. So.

Dr. Marjorie Maye Mamsaang, MD (03:13)

Likewise.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (03:24)

That’s amazing, you’re bonding over cake. That’s great. Well, can you share a bit about your background because I think a lot of people listening may not understand what physical medicine rehabilitation really is and how you became interested in specifically treating endometriosis out of that.

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (03:26)

Ha ha ha ha!

Dr. Marjorie Maye Mamsaang, MD (03:27)

Yeah, can start. So I was also a fellowship trained in sports medicine. And at the time that I was looking for a job, really it was 2020 that I graduated fellowship, so there was zero sports medicine jobs available. But I stumbled upon pelvic rehabilitation medicine. I learned more about it. And it’s physiatry, but we treat pelvic pain from a neuromuscular skeletal perspective. So we’re still doing the same things as you would normally do in regular PM &R treating muscles, know, inflamed nerves, things like that, and functionality in patients who are debilitated, but just in a different way and a more focused way. And I resonated with it because I do have my own history of thinking that I had interstitial cystitis or urinary urgency and frequency to the point where I could not even go to a regular exercise class without having to go two or three times.

So I thought to myself, like man, I wished at that time that things were really bad. I had someone like this to guide me through it rather than just going through like gynecology, urology, and kind of being very dismissed with all my symptoms. So that is why I went into it. And that’s also why I stayed because I really do love working with this patient population. And as I worked here, the longer I worked here, I learned more about underlying endometriosis.

It’s really great to work with this population of patients because endometriosis is still to this day not very, it’s not taught very well in medical school and amongst the medical community, a lot of people don’t have a good understanding of it and how to identify it. So it’s great because there are a lot of patients who suffer for a long time and this has never really been brought up to them.

That’s why I continue this job. That’s why I really love what I do.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (05:50)

yeah, you’re right. I mean, that’s why this whole season is dedicated to nothing but endometriosis. so, in talking to you guys about your approach, are there any specific techniques, therapies, et cetera, that you find particularly effective that you lean into?

Dr. Marjorie Maye Mamsaang, MD (06:19)

So, sorry. So for me, I think a multimodal approach is always best. So I always recommend these patients to get some kind of pelvic therapy. Most endometriosis patients, because of the pain and the guarding, the chronic pain, their pelvic floor muscles along with other muscles are extremely hypertonic or tight. That’s part of the pain process. And it’s incredible how much…

it contributes to the pain process because sometimes when you get it all to down train and to relax along with nerves that are inflamed, getting that nerve inflammation to calm down, helps their pain a lot even pre-op if they haven’t even had an endosurgery. So that’s part of it. And then I don’t want to talk about all of the things that way Dr. Sandhu can talk about things that I think.

The other thing that I try to teach patients is how to down regulate their central nervous system just because they’re up regulated. And woman with endo, typically the way they perceive their pain, it becomes more amplified over time. So we talk about different ways to down regulate.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (07:31)

Yeah, that’s so incredibly important. It’s a good segue. I have one question to segue into, but yeah, Sandra, you’re about to say something.

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (07:31)

Yeah.

Yeah, so just kind of going back to a few questions ago and how it kind of connects to this last question you asked. So I kind of went through my own journey of trying to figure out my own pelvic pain issues for many years since I was a young child. But again, I saw gynecologists after gynecologists that just wanted to do hormones. And with that, I listened to them and then experienced a lot of long-term side effects from those use.

and developed other new onset of symptoms. So it was kind of difficult to go through that journey. And it wasn’t until just a year ago that I finally got my official diagnosis of stage four endo. But it was because I went through the journey of self-learning and then I came across pelvic rehabilitation medicine and curious what is it? Because in residency training,

You learn about muscles, nerves, and the connection in the body, but nothing is very focused on the pelvis specifically. So I was curious to see what that was and how we can help patients. So with the help of Dr. Mamsaang we’ve been able to help a lot of patients, especially endo patients. And when I was able to see how that multimodal approach like Dr. Mamsaang was mentioning, works for these patients and makes sense because it’s a systemic inflammatory disease. And as I was learning how to treat these patients and implementing these treatment options for patients, I knew that I had to apply those to myself too, in order to get better. So was kind of like when I was helping patients, I was also helping myself in the journey of learning about this disease process. And I feel like every day we’re always learning something new about endo and like Dr. Mamsaang mentioned, there’s just… a lot of myths that need to be debunked and info about endo that we know today and be able to spread that updated awareness and education that we have available today. Cause I see a lot of patients come to us thinking that, you know, endo is just severe cramping. And then I have to educate patients that it’s not always severe cramping. Just depends on where those lesions are. It could be the bladder, the bowel.

That’s why we kind of have to look at all the organ systems when we look at endo. It’s not just the uterus with cramping because technically it’s located outside the uterus. So it could be affecting any part of the body. So implementing those multimodal approach, like Dr. Mamsaang mentioned, the pelvic floor therapy is key in down regulating that tight spastic pelvic floor, down regulating those nerves. But we also implement injections to help facilitate that.

So we do trigger point injections to the pelvic floor muscles to get those muscles out of that chronic guarded spastic state. And then we also do hydro dissection peripheral nerve blocks that target those inflamed nerves of the pelvis. Cause we know chronic is that our endo is a chronic inflammatory disease. So you have to decrease that inflammation, which over time leads to peripheral sensitization. And then it creates changes in the central nervous system. So then that creates central sensitization. So you really have to do that systemic approach where you’re down-regulating the central nervous system and peripheral nervous system as well. So those injections help with that in addition to cognitive behavioral therapy, stress management, there’s biopsychosocial factors. There’s a lot of aspects to the chronic pain approach for endopatiens and you can’t just do one thing. It’s really you have to, you know, do that multimodal approach to get that effective long-term relief.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (11:30)

And that’s, I think, one of the most common, if I had to pick up a common thread that has been woven through every interview, and of course, it’s how I practice as a pelvic PT, is looking at everything from a systems-based perspective. And for everyone listening, systems-based simply means we look at this endometriosis as a whole body problem, not a reproductive organ problem. And I think in the past, that has hampered care and holistic and kind of a comprehensive care as much as anything else because it was so related to, know, someone’s, a woman’s value was related to her fertility and there wasn’t much treatment discussed beyond that. But there’s so much beyond the persistent pain even experience of endometriosis that

we all have to develop strategies. And I think it’s important for people to know that we would address broader aspects in the treatment plan that then definitely address the chronic pain, the persistent pain. But then beyond that, what have you found, and you hinted at it a little bit already, some of the things, the mindfulness practices, meditation, cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, what are some of those things that you reach out to that are broader aspects when we move past the chronic pain point?

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (13:10)

so I kind of look at, yeah, beyond the pain itself. I also, when I, when I see patients, I kind of like to get a background of, you know, type of relationships background. Do they have history of traumas or stress? Is there anxiety, uncontrolled depression? Cause all that plays a role because when your mind is very stressed, then it can create more tension in the pelvis. Cause the whole body’s connected in that way through the, through the nervous system.

So addressing that, sometimes working one-to-one with a good talk therapist to address those needs can also help. So there’s a lot of factors and also, you know, simple things like diet too. So when we’re eating clean, we feel better, think better. That can reduce anxiety. Sometimes when we eat bad foods, that can trigger anxiety or a lot too much caffeine in the diet. So we kind of look at different ways other than just like medication or injections or PT.

kind of look at all aspects of what could be contributing or could be creating a flare. Is it too much sitting? Maybe sitting on a hard surface or just not good posture. Sometimes just poor posture can trigger a little flare. Just prolonged standing too can do that. So there’s a lot of aspects that we’re looking at the whole body approach.

That’s the most effective way in helping our patients with endo. And you look at the GI tract too. So, you know, they have uncontrolled GERD is that triggering a flare. There’s so many things that can affect it.

Dr. Marjorie Maye Mamsaang, MD (14:48)

I agree with everything you said, Dr. Sandhu. I also want to add, so for down regulating the central nervous system, easier said than done. And I often tell patients, like, the best way to think about it is that your mind and your body is in flight or fight mode all of the time because of what you’ve been experiencing for so many years. So there are ways to do that naturally, like,

meditation, movement meditation, like yoga. And of course some patients, as soon as I see those words, they look at me like, yeah, I’m not doing that. So I kind of like, those are examples, but like think of like anything that you like to do where you can really be present and be aware. And you know, for some patients, for me to hear me say that, sometimes that’s like not something that they’re…that they think about awareness. So even that to them is like a foreign concept and you you try to be everything to them. Like you want to be their therapist too. You want to help them out with all these other things. But I think that’s just a good way to like find something that you just a good first step to tell patients, find something that you enjoy doing. And like one of my patients elderly, you know, like mindfulness awareness was not really a thing for her and her generation.

Dr. Marjorie Maye Mamsaang, MD (16:13)

And she’s like, well, I enjoy gardening. And I said, OK, well, when you’re gardening, really feel the dirt in your hands. Notice any sounds that you hear, what you’re looking at. And if you can do that, it doesn’t have to be the whole time, because no one can be present 100%. But if you can do that and remind yourself of that, you’re already doing a mindfulness activity. So simple things.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (16:37)

I think that’s an important take home message is that really anything can be mindfulness based. If you teach with the gardening example with your patient, just teaching them like maybe the five, four, three, two, one technique, five things they see, you’ve heard of that technique, Four things they hear, three things they touch, et cetera, et cetera. I think that’s a great mindset shift.

for them to realize they don’t have to go and attend a mindfulness class. They could, or sound therapy or whatever works for them, but they also don’t have to do that. It comes down to their personality type, introverted, extroverted, and what they love to do. So for everyone listening, if you’re an introvert and you do not like group classes, it’s okay. You don’t have to go to yoga class.

Dr. Marjorie Maye Mamsaang, MD (17:31)

No.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (17:33)

there’s so many ways to do this and manage that pain. Because as I was mentioning, you know, the physical aspect of what you’re suffering as you go through endometriosis and my official diagnosis and excision was just over a year ago too. So we’re like right in the same timeframe. It took so long. There’s such a heavy burden that goes along with that because there’s a great deal of unknown right up until since you know, diagnosis is through surgery essentially, that you are worried right up until that point. You know, will it be, won’t it be, if it is, where is it going to be, are they going to be able to get it all, et cetera. So patients are carrying around this really heavy mental and emotional load all the time. And then you add to that their experience of potential medical gaslighting. And that leads me to my next question, which is, you know, how do you suggest patients advocate for themselves when they feel unheard or maybe they think they’re being medically gaslit and they’re not sure?

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (18:43)

So one of the main recommendations is for my patients who undergo excision surgery and they have the diagnosis of endo, we always recommend them to send those results to their previous gynecologist who refused to hear them. Cause that’s kind of proof in the pudding like, Hey, this is what I’ve been telling you for all these years. And I finally got my diagnosis and luckily this person was able to help me.

And it’s not to rub it in their face or anything. It’s really more for education. So the more we can share and educate and just kind of bring it up in a nice way and just say, no, because there’s a lot that, you know, they’re not doing it on purpose. Sometimes they just don’t have the knowledge. That’s the big part. And this understanding is a lot of physicians out there don’t have the correct knowledge to help patients. And in that sense, I think that medical gas lighting occurs due to ignorance. And I think the more we can help and educate, even as a patient, educate our doctors. And it works both ways. Doctors educate us too, but we can all help each other.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (19:51)

Yeah, yeah, there’s unfortunately more stories of medical gaslighting than more stories of acknowledgement. Hopefully that will change over the next decade or so with the increasing awareness of endometriosis and it being at least a one in 10 disease for women out there. But it’s through talking about it doing things like this and the Endometriosis Summit and other things like that that will help us get the word out. What would you suggest for patients who don’t have that diagnosis. I’ll give you a classic case where someone has GI symptoms and they’re easily being put off by their GYN who says, that has nothing to do with gynecology at all. They’re not related. What would you say to that person then?

Dr. Marjorie Maye Mamsaang, MD (20:41)

So what I always tell patients is after I explain to them what endometriosis is in a nutshell, that the typical symptoms are, yes, painful periods, but not all women experience painful periods and some women only experience painful sex or bladder symptoms, urgency, frequency, or constipation or other bowel symptoms. And there are a lot of women who find out they have endometriosis just from having gastrointestinal issues. Endometriosis is inflammatory and it can also, even if you don’t have bowel endo, it still changes your microbiome. So lot of women with endometriosis have a lot of gut issues because of this. So it’s worth having, even if you don’t have the formal diagnosis, have a suspicion, treat it how you normally would for bowels. Bowel issues are tricky for endopatients. We always explain to patients, yes, anti-inflammatory diet is best, avoid dairy, gluten, high sugar foods, excessive alcohol, excessive caffeine, highly processed foods, things like that, eat lots of fiber. Some patients will look at me and they’ll say,

I really can’t have fiber. Every time I have something like fruits and vegetables, I feel like I’m going to throw up or like it causes extreme GI upset, like everything hurts. and then, you know, I’m not a gastroenterologist, so I don’t really know where to go from there. But there are nutritionists out there that have additional training so that they can really check your microbiome, see what’s missing and learn to replenish it with foods or supplements to see if that can restore your bowel function. And then if it doesn’t, then we can go further and maybe check also with an endo, send you to an endospecialist at least to get evaluated, see if there’s a suspicion.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (22:55)

Right, right. And from a global perspective, this can be anyone, from mental health to physiatry to pelvic PT to gynecologist, et cetera, can all have additional training in lifestyle medicine or other branches where they’re able to take that on. It’s one of the things that I definitely…

greatly value in my own practice. so that goes back full circle to where we started, you know, with the importance of like the multimodal approach, because it takes a whole village to be able to figure that out because they might do an elimination diet and that doesn’t work, or they could have overlapping issues, you know, like bacterial overgrowth or something that is really hindering their progress. so I think explaining to everyone who thinks they might have endo or has endo that it is very layered and can take some time to unwind those gut symptoms to determine what they can change and maybe what might actually be endo and need surgical intervention.

What are some of the ways that, and I know…from a personal experience with endometriosis, there’s this psychological or emotional toll that often accompanies it. What are some of the ways that you have found to be most valuable with your patients or your own journey through that? It’s also a heavy burden to specialize in that and help women with endo every day.

So how do you deal with that from a professional perspective and then from a patient care perspective?

Dr. Marjorie Maye Mamsaang, MD (24:58)

So, no, that’s okay. personally, I don’t have any known endo, so I don’t have personal experience, but as a professional, I think the biggest thing and the first thing that patients need and really crave for is acknowledgement and validation. So a lot of patients…like we’ll talk about a suspicion of endo, they’ve already been thinking about it for some time. And just me even bringing it up and explaining how it can affect their symptoms and how it can affect their pelvic floor and their muscles and their nerves, they will start crying. And I feel very bad every time a patient is crying, most of the time what they tell me is like, don’t worry, these are tears of joy. I’m just happy to be like knowing that this is a real thing, it’s not just in my head and you’re the first person or one of the first people to actually tell me that I’m experiencing something real. I think support in that way is what they need as a provider. And even if you’re not a provider, if you’re a family or a friend -That’s also what they need because a lot of patients, they get gaslit by their parents, their moms, like their spouses. They get gaslit all around, not just from providers. So it’s also a good recommendation if you know someone with

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (26:25)

true.

Yeah, that’s a very good point because it really is an invisible disease. It can be an invisible disability and that point of bringing up the lack of support you can experience inside the family is very validating for, I think, your patients probably too.

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (26:54)

Yeah. And it’s unfortunate too, because a lot of times society normalizes pain. So when you are experiencing pain, you kind of are kind of almost scared to say something because it’s almost expected that, you know, you’re a woman, you’re supposed to have painful periods. like, okay, well, maybe this is normal. But then why does it hurt so much? You know, then you start questioning yourself. So it’s hard to have that confidence to just say, I have this pain, let me go see a doctor and seek treatment. That actually takes time living personally with it. That’s kind of the journey I went through is a lot of self doubt. I just growing up, just being part of an Indian culture. That’s just my personal experience that, you know, it was very normalized. You’re supposed to have pain, women and girls are supposed to suffer. It’s just normal. But then I thought to myself, the older I got, the more debilitating it became.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (27:38)

Yeah.

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (27:50)

The fact that I couldn’t do certain things anymore that couldn’t be normal. And so then, you know, I had to kind of build almost self confidence within myself to seek care. I felt that that was the toughest part of my journey. Having support system that lacking that in the beginning was very tough that contributed to the self doubt. Then once I started feeling support and then I was able to build that confidence. Then I felt like, now I can finally start my journey of, getting care. And that’s why I love that we have good online support groups for endometriosis patients. Cause honestly, once you connect to someone else, it’s going through something similar to you, whether it’s one person or just. It finally validates. That’s like the starting point of getting validation. And of course you want validation from your doctors because it’s just so tiring to tell your doctor what you’re going through. then, you know, just. being dumped on some hormones that just create new issues. And you’re like, I’m just tired of this journey. It’s just, just want help and feel better. having that support group and knowing what other people have gone through, felt like for me personally have helped me the most and knowing how to get the care that I needed and to help others too.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (29:05)

Yeah, I think that to draw out a take home piece for that normalizing pain in women and girls is so huge. Normalizing pain, normalizing suffering to the point where then girls become young women who become women who just gaslight themselves. They don’t need any additional gaslighting. They’ve already well done it to themselves. Not to blame them, but that’s

becomes the default mode. And I think you’ve pointed out something really important, which then that onus, that burden shouldn’t sit on the person with endo to just buck up and have more confidence, right? It brings up a very important topic, like what can the medical community do? So that’s a big we. What can the medical community do to improve awareness and understanding of endo to reduce this gas lighting and improve patient care. I know you’ll have big feelings and thoughts about that. So what do you think?

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (30:13)

I wasn’t sure if Dr. Marjorie Mamsaang was gonna go, but I like the fact that we are both part of the Endos Summit. I think it’s one of the great platforms to kind of bring everyone together, public floor therapists, surgeons, us physiatrists, patients, so everyone that’s kind of working together to get patients feeling better for patients. So they’re there, they can ask us questions. So instead, it’s like a good place to start if you don’t know where to go, because it’s kind of intimidating going one-to-one with a doctor and then just kind of being vulnerable and saying, this is all the stuff that I’ve been going through. It’s very difficult to do. But I think when you go and hear that platform and you hear other people’s stories and get that education, then I feel like that kind of is like a good starting opening start to basically building up that confidence to get the care and get the education out there for one another because we…

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (31:07)

Yeah.

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (31:10)

The best thing we can do is help educate one another. That’s it, the end of the day. And that’s how we bring self-awareness. Whether it’s patient to patient, patient doctor, doctor to patient, pelvic floor therapist to doctor, doctor to, everyone, everyone that’s involved in the care team, we can just do justice for endo patients by educating one another.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (31:17)

Yeah.

Dr. Marjorie Maye Mamsaang, MD (31:30)

Yes, agree. highly recommend joining some kind of support group or something like Endo Summit where they can learn a lot from the best of the best instead of just going on a Google rabbit hole which leads to usually not great places.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (31:30)

Well said. Well said. Yeah.

Yeah. Speaking of Google and the wild world of endometriosis treatments and research advancements, is there anything you guys are specifically excited about in terms of the future?

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (31:51)

Yeah.

Dr. Marjorie Maye Mamsaang, MD (32:09)

Hmm, I think, so I mean this might be obvious one because we are, physiatry, we’re non-operative, but I think more and more non-operative treatments for endometriosis, I think that’s key and exciting because you know, a lot of people in the provider world and patients believe that the only way to treat endometriosis is with surgery. So.

really highlighting all of the other ways you can treat this pre-op or maybe without surgery at all. I think that’s what I’m excited about.

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (32:50)

Yeah, same. Likewise, I was so happy to know that there are non-surgical, non-hormonal options for patients with endo. Because surgery, it’s a lot just to schedule and take time off. And if you have a family who’s going to help, it’s just a lot of time investment, cost of surgery. mean, there’s so many factors that go into surgery.

And then when it comes to hormones, there’s a whole slew of hormones that you can try and they have a whole slew of side effects and some of them are long too. There’s just so many effects that not all patients can tolerate them. So those two may not be options for patients. So that’s why I agree with Dr. Mamsaang that it’s nice to know that there are non-operative, non-hormonal options for patients out there. And I’m just glad that I also did those treatments too that we talked about earlier and feeling great after excision surgery. And I never thought that would happen. Cause when you, have to kind of, you know, like we talked about earlier, you have to address all aspects of endo, not just removing the endo, but the neuromuscular dysfunction that’s there with the neurogenic inflammation. If you don’t treat all that, you can continue with pain even after excision surgery. So that’s why like Dr. Mamsaang mentioned,

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (33:50)

Yeah.

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (34:10)

excision surgery is not the solution alone. You kind of have to look at other aspects too and address that. That way you can live happy lives and you can go on to having babies because a lot of patients think, well, I have endo, I can’t have babies, can I? And, you know, there’s ways to go about that. A lot of women with endo do have babies. So there’s, you know, they’re able to have happy lives.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (34:30)

I do, I do. Yeah, I have three. Yeah, do. I have three boys who are all teenagers and I can use all the support that I can get. my goodness, that’s a whole other test in life. Yeah, raising a trio of teenage boys.

Dr. Marjorie Maye Mamsaang, MD (34:35)

awesome.

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (34:36)

That’s amazing.

Dr. Marjorie Maye Mamsaang, MD (34:45)

Can’t imagine.

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (34:46)

Ha ha ha ha!

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (34:57)

If there was one thing…that you could share with endometriosis patients or people, women who think they have endometriosis and they’re feeling dismissed or hopeless, what would your message be?

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (35:08)

Just know that there’s support out there and there are providers that will believe you. Because, you know, some of us have gone through it ourselves so we can connect with our patients and just know, like, I mean, we will validate your pain. are good providers out there. Not everyone is bad. You’ve experienced one or several of that doctors. There are some that are good. Just do your due diligence as a patient. I always tell patients, do your due diligence and education and awareness and background of the doctors you’re going to meet. So that way you make a good list of questions so that when you go in you feel confident after you leave having those questions addressed.

Dr. Marjorie Maye Mamsaang, MD (35:49)

I think for me, one simple sentence is, yes, your pain is real and you are not alone. And then going beyond that, explaining in layman’s terms pathophysiology, connecting the dots as to why this and this this happens and the connection of their symptoms to endometriosis.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (36:13)

Yeah. I hope this has brought you guys, folks, people, all the things, all the genders, hope and inspiration and some uplifting energy because there are amazing providers out there. And to that end, where can listeners learn more about you and the work that you’re doing.

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (36:47)

So we have a website, pelvicrehabilitation.com, gives a great overview of how we can help endopatiens, so I definitely recommend checking that out. We also have Instagram page as well, at pelvicrehabilitation.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (37:01)

What are your handles on Instagram? We will put them in the show notes, but for some people listening, they may wanna just look you up now.

Dr. Marjorie Maye Mamsaang, MD (37:11)

So for pelvic rehabilitation, it’s just their Instagram is pelvic rehabilitation. That’s actually made by our marketing group, but it has a lot of good information there and like resources and useful tips too. My Instagram handle, it’s personal, so it’s not all, sometimes it’s just a picture of a nice cup of coffee or the sunrise. It’s not all educational, certainly not, but my Instagram handle is marjorie.maye.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (37:32)

Hehehe.

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (37:32)

Thank you.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (37:42)

All right. Thank you so much for joining me today. I really appreciate all the expertise and particularly the compassionate care that you’re bringing to women. Thank you for being here. Dr. Marjorie Mamsaang and Dr. Sandhu Restaino Did I get it right? Okay. Checking myself.

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (38:05)

Thank you so much. I appreciate you.

Dr. Ginger Garner PT, DPT (38:09)

Big gratitude to you guys. Thanks for all the amazing work you’re doing. Keep it up.

Dr. Marjorie Maye Mamsaang, MD (38:16)

Thank you again for having us.

Dr. Sandra Sandhu-Restaino, MD (38:16)

Thank you. Appreciate it.