Does anyone get yellow stools when on their period?

[Anxietyismytoxictrait]

I have health anxiety as you can see from
username. When I get my period I generally get an upset stomach the day it starts. I did this month.
The diarrhoea was quite yellow towards the end of the day and ever since I’ve felt a bit constipated and when I have gone the stools are pale yellow - either normal apart from that or softer than usual and a bit oily looking sorry for TMI.

I always have bowel changes on my period but haven’t noticed this before. Is it normal? Is it a wait and see if it goes back to normal? Could it be something I’ve eaten?

unsure whether to book an appointment with the doctor or not as I tend to freak out about everything health wise.

I get an upset tummy sometimes when I start too. It's not yellow but has a really distinctive smell that lingers for hours. It's awful.

sorry you suffer too it’s grim isn’t it! I’ve had this for two days now so I’m a bit weirded out by it (on top of the upset stomach)

Anyone else?

When I was younger, probably 17-23 age, I used to get a really horrific upset tummy around the first few days of my periods. Think raging diahorrea and awful flatulence for dayyysss.
I mentioned it to a male doctor and he told me it was ridiculous to assume bowels and uterus were connected and it was mere coincidence.
Wasn't until I brought it up years later with a female doctor that she said "oh yeah, of course - it's well known"
To be fair, my most recent gynaecologist has restored some of my faith in male medical professionals cos he's been fantastic but historically they've been a pile o shite.

I can't attest to the yellow stools though, if that persists you should get it checked out. Possibly aim to see a woman dr if you can!

Thanks I think I will have to as it’s been two days of it now!

I wonder if it could be yellow food from
the weekend? Seems unlikely it would still be going on and I’ve eaten a lot of other food since then. It was a sauce with mustard seed tumeric in it

I used to have water retention and constipation and when the period started I could almost feel the body sigh with relief and let liquid go to the bowels and I could 'go' again, so definitely all linked, but not a yellow stool.

(Aside. I once told a male doctor that iron tablets had fed my periods and made them even heavier. He looked at me a bit doubtfully and said he'd ask his haematologist friend next time he saw him. He was a nice man and I didn't say anything but now I'm bolder and it's all too late I would have suggested that he also have a word with a few women who'd been put on iron tablets for anaemia, too, and see what their experience was.)

Isn't yellowness to do with the amount of fat you've eaten and/or your liver?

Do you eat a lot of chocolate or junk at this time?

Hmm maybe it’s not period related then. I was hoping it was as I know it can be a red flag symptom for some really horrible diseases which is not helping my anxiety.

i know nobody can tell me over the internet but I was hoping others had experienced the same.

I don’t think it can be the yellow food I ate sunday as it was only a salad with a bright yellow sauce so surely that would have all ahem passed by now!

No more than usual really.

the only yellow foods I’ve eaten are omelette with cheese, I guess quite a fatty salad on Sunday with deli meats and cheeses and a mustard seed bright yellow sauce but I haven’t eaten loads of junk food.

i have had a bad diet recently though generally - takeaways etc just not this last week.

Not very likely to be yellow food.

Progesterone and prostaglandins can loosen your bowel. I tend to be pretty accurate in terms of the hours left before my period once this starts to get underway.

Yes the upset stomach hit like clockwork @Ormally
then the yellow kicked in the day after eating the yellow sauce.

i read that foods with yellow food colouring can cause the discolouration but seems like it should be back to normal now if that was the case.

my mind has jumped immediately to pancreatic cancer so I’ve got
myself in a bit of a panic.
I hate anxiety

Yellow suggests something around fat digestion not working as it should, but that could still be a by product of the blessed hormonal symphony (!!) that comes around so frequently. The liver seems to have to work a lot harder to process estrogen as well as anything that could give it a challenge, and this could be out of whack too - though in theory estrogen should be dropping at that point.

If it's not super watery yellow stools, and has substance, I might collect a small sample in a sterile container.

But my period can set off my bowel issues and I often get bouts of what ends up being repeated expulsions of yellow liquid.

Periods are so grim on many levels aren’t they.

im away at the moment so won’t go scooping up poo in Tupperware 😂 but will do it if it’s continuing when I’m home.

it’s only been a couple of days so I’m really hoping it just goes back to normal

@Ormally this is what I’m worrying about. I’m on day three of my period today and the yellow perisists.

not watery, but not quite normal yet. I’m hoping it’s just left over from the upset stomach and will right itself