Food intolerance or anxiety issue?

[neepsntatties]

Just wondering what people think this could be. I suffer from regular bouts of bad tummy cramps and headaches. They happen in periods, so I will get it for a few days then I might not have it for a period of time.

I also tend to be quite anxious at times. I wondered if the anxiety could be causing the tummy/head pains or if it is something I am eating that my body doesn't like. I haven't noticed any trigger foods.

Anxiety can cause stomach cramps. Are you taking a contraceptive pill? Mine used to give me a migraine every month, I could set my watch by it.

No, but dd is only 8 weeks so I did wonder if sleep deprivation could cause headaches.

Absolutely neeps! And with such a young baby of course you'll feel anxious aswell - about everything. And your body is still recovering from the birth. It's a horrid time for a new mum health wise. If you don't feel better soon go and see your GP. I do sympathise and know how you feel

Thanks, I have my check up soon so I will mention it then.

Have you tried plotting these episodes on a calendar. I spent years trying to figure out what foods were causing my tummy cramps. I visited all sorts of "experts" and had allergy testing done by multiple doctors in multiple countries. One allergy doctor finally suggested that I didn't have allergies, but rather irritable bowel. This was actually part of the mystery solved. The other part was solved when I started plotting the timing of my episodes. It turns out that they were always happening on the thursday or friday before my period (period always started on a monday/tuesday, because I was on the pill). And it didn't matter what I ate.

Unlike MaryJane, I found that the pill helped with it all (I was much worse when I had the Mirena coil instead of the pill). In fact, increasing the dosage just slightly of the pill helped enormously. The pill also helped with other things that were hormonally related (bladder leakage, headaches, depression, bad hair days).

No but that's a good idea. I had wondered about IBS too. Are you able to treat it now you know?

Actually now that I know, I haven't really had to treat it. I have it under control with the hormones and the few episodes that I do have, I just ride them out, now that I know what they are. It was much scarier when I thought I was having an allergic reaction to a food, because I was worried that I would go into anaphylactic shock. And then the worry made everything worse and I would have an asthma attack which made the IBS worse and the whole thing became a much bigger deal than it needed to be. Nowadays, I just make sure I am near a toilet in the few days leading up to my period and when I have an episode I just relax and it is over much more quickly than before. And I have also been taking my pill for 3 months at a time without a break in between (as suggested by my OBGYN) and that's helped too.
Good luck. It has been a huge enlightenment for me to get this under control. I hope you manage to as well.