kateandlisaWhat Can You Do to Avoid Stomach Upset at Different Times in Your Cycle?
Cyclical gut changes can happen due to the hormone fluctuations that occur. If your symptoms are more than just noticing some mild changes it could be something to look into.
Your natural hormone fluctuation throughout the month can affect your gut, potential symptoms and bowel movements.
- Your cycle day 1 is the first day of your period (full bleed not spotting). Before your period inflammatory compounds called prostaglandins are released to help shed the uterine lining. Prostaglandins can also affect your GI tract muscles since your uterus is nearby. This contraction can result in looser stools or diarrhea on or around your period.
- After your period your estrogen levels start to rise. You may experience more regular bowel movements during this phase since prostaglandins aren’t on the rise and progesterone hasn’t kicked in yet. Typically you feel pretty good during the follicular phase with the rise in estrogen and increasing energy levels.
- While you may feel pretty good around ovulation – estrogen peaks, energy is up, right after you ovulate your corpus luteum starts releasing progesterone. While progesterone is needed for healthy fertility, it also has anti-anxiety benefits due to it’s connect with GABA (your natural relaxation mood chemical). This can also have some relaxing effects on the GI tract muscles and slow things down resulting in some mid-cycle constipation.
- In the second half of your luteal phase your estrogen and progesterone start to drop and this can provide some constipation relief. As you approach your next period prostaglandins are released again and the cycle goes on.
If you are experiencing cyclical symptoms around ovulation and the week before your period, we can look at estrogen levels since they peak at this time also while looking to see if you are producing enough progesterone to balance out the estrogen. High estrogen, poor estrogen metabolism or not enough progesterone to balance estrogen can be hormonal reasons behind your symptoms.
Also, going over foundations, if thrown off, can affect your symptoms like:
- How is your stress?
- How are you sleeping?
- Do you need digestive support?
- Are you incorporating enough movement? Too much movement?
- Are you eating enough?
Let’s schedule an introductory call to see what we can support to eliminate your period symptoms. You can schedule your complimentary call here!
