Awful digestive issues - could peri cause this?

[JustlookingNotbuying]

I am 49 and for the last 4+ years I feel I have been getting more and more peri symptoms which are rapidly stacking up (daily overwhelming anxiety, depression, mood swings, dry skin, very low libido etc).
GP says that as I’m having regular periods I can not be in peri. My periods have been so very heavy (due to thickened lining and recurring polyps) that I had become very anaemic and needed an iron infusion and a uterine ablation this year but GP still won’t put this down to peri.
24 years ago I was diagnosed with IBS. During this time it’s been up and down and symptoms quite predictable (ie worse during stress, before period and when eating certain foods etc), so I was able to control it and it didn’t have a hugely negative impact on my life.
However, since the age of 45 my symptoms have become awful and daily.
I suffer awful nausea (like morning sickness) especially mid cycle, indigestion and acid, terribly gurgling, unhappy sounding guts, pain, gas up and down, diarrhoea and loose stool and just a general daily ‘off’ feeling within my guts. And despite doing ALL the recommendations for controlling IBS which always helped before, nothing is having much of an impact these days.
I had a clear gastroscope, colonoscopy and ct scan 3 years ago and this year a clear pill camera endoscopy.
Nothing I do or try is helping me. I am at the absolute end of my rope with this. With the peri AND gut issues life seems bloody miserable right now. I don’t know what to eat half the time as food in general seems to flare my issues. Food is no longer a joy to me.
Could this be related to my hormones or has it just come at the same time? Is it common for issues like IBS to flare up during Perimenopause?
I am getting nowhere fast with either my GP, gastroenterologist and gynaecologist.

www.newsonhealth.co.uk/

I would consider going private, sorry I can't offer any more help. My stepmum suffers from gluten intolerance and starts burping, yawning when she has eaten something that her body doesn't tolerate. She immediately takes charcoal for it which helps to some degree.

butterfly990 Thank you.

Have you had your gallbladder checked recently?

Oh my goodness are you me? I'm 49 ans having exactly the same issues. I've had bloods done and my stools checked but nothing at all.
I often feel sick and having awful issues with sulphur gas and my tummy. The only thing I've found that helps a bit is pepto bismol - not the easiest to get at the moment tho. Drop me a pm if you like 👍

Ipadannie Oh God Pepto was my saviour, you can not get hold of it for love nor money. I was so desperate that I even contacted the company. They said they are having supply/manufacturers issues and it ‘may’ become available in 2023, I could have wept! Thank you. I’m sorry you have the same, it’s no fun is it?

PAFMO I had a ct scan in 2019 and an ultrasound in June this year which didn’t flag anything up.

Have you considered or tried seeing an acupuncturist or other eastern medicine practitioner?

UnconscionableSnacking I have contacted a few local acupuncturists but sadly just can not afford it right now.

Have you looked at MCAS and histamine intolerance ?
This can be hormone related and is common in peri / menopause.
A low histamine diet has changed my life .

It could also be bile acid malabsorption, which is a very common cause of diarrhoea in women over 40. If your stools are of a yellow/greenish hue it could well be that. There is a specific test that can be done to check for it, but v few hospitals actually offer it and waiting lists are crazy. My gastroenterologist was happy to try the meds and if they worked - great. And they do! I'm slowly getting my life back.

Definitely tell GP exactly how badly this is affecting your life. For me I could barely leave the house on at least half the days of the week. It wasn't a life. And they strung me along for three years with the old 'It's IBS, lose weight, eat FODMAP' spiel. It wasn't that issue AT ALL.

He is wrong about regular periods not being peri. My periods became regular in peri.

unicormb I’ve been on a year long waiting list for a SeHCAT scan but apparently there is a shortage of the radioactive stuff they use in this test so God only knows how much longer the test is. I have a follow up appointment with my gastro next month so will ask him. It is like banging your head against the wall isn’t it. No one understands me and I feel they think I am exaggerating my symptoms but it is literally ruling and ruining my life right now.
KangarooKenny I really don’t know why some GP’s are still so out of touch.

How is your thyroid, OP? All those symptoms can be down to an underactive thyroid, especially the indigestion, which may not be well known as a thyroid problem.

Definitely ask for bile acid sequestrants to try. Colesevelam is the tablet one, and easiest to take. It won't hurt to try them. My gastro said the SEHCAT isn't worth waiting and being miserable for.

Medicine was like a magic bullet.

It’s something I’m wondering recently CrunchyCarrot, I do have quite a few thyroid symptoms. My grandad had an overactive thyroid and had an awful digestive system, mum is borderline and my dsis has under underactive thyroid and is currently being investigated for parathyroid issues. I’m not sure if thyroid problems run in families?
Thank you unicormb I will make a note of that and ask my gastro next month.

Have sent you a pm

@JustlookingNotbuying did they take coeliac biopsies?

MissSmiley I’ve had 2 blood tests for it then several biopsies were taken from the gastroscope and they came back clear.

Yes I was very ibs -ey but I couldn't work it out.

When I was really bad (triggered by iron tablets) and they checked gall bladder which was clear and Gp told me to look at FODMAPs and see if anything could be causing it. I'd already noticed onions were a trigger and at that point milk so I tried gluten and lactose free and avoided the other things that caused issues. (Eg dark meat on chicken, spaghetti bolognaise.)

I also switched to spatone x2 a day with 500 vitamin c as Gp wanted to test iron again after a break from tbe tablets.

Gurgling settled quickly and my iron went up better on spatone than the tablets. I returned to eating gluten and reduced milk switching to oat milk etc, however milk isn't an issue at all now.

Everything got better when I had my second child. Which made me query peri menopause. It started going downhill again when he was 9 months!

After ruling out FODMAPs though certain food would still cause loose stools and keep me awake in the early hours. I now know it was histamine intolerance. Hrt has helped but I do sometimes take anti histamines and avoid key foods. Having said that I was able to eat dark chicken meat the other day; I've just gone to a higher 100 patch.

I try to eat yogurt daily (skyr) and am taking Bimuno at the moment but used to take probiotics.

It's hard as the foods that as good for ibs can be bad for histamine 😬

WarriorN I have been looking into histamine intolerance recently and do have many symptoms. Funny you mention dark chicken meat as that really upsets me, if I have chicken thighs I feel so nauseous and the gurgling is awful after. I’m fine with hot chicken breast but cold chicken sets me off too. Do antihistamines ease the symptoms for you?
I will look into this a bit more, maybe it’s been this all alone?

I think they might, it's hard to tell. I didn't find out about it till actually on hrt. Hrt has helped even though they seem to say it doesn't so I don't think I'm
That bad. Also it's not all the histamine foods I react to. Left over meat I do, definitely and sometimes tomatoes. It was really noticeable when I ate some fresh lamb from the butcher in the summer that it didn't affect me at all. I eat a lot of dark chocolate and I don't think yogurt is an issue but haven't tried excluding recently

Gp has told me to take one daily for a month to see, more for post covid things, I hadn't mentioned the food thing as it's not so bad.

It's not an issue at night at the moment. Some stools can still be loose but I'm not woken up by stomach pain and gurgling

Louise Newson says to take two anti histamines.

Thank you WarriorN I think I will try an anti histamine for a while, which one do you take? I have an appointment end of Oct to discuss hrt.

I've had terrible digestive issues. Constipated, bloating, gassy, bubbling, nausea, diarrhoea, you name it, I've had it. Dr's said IBS. I believe it's hormones.. No scans or anything ever done. This has been going on since 2014 😕 I sometimes wish my insides could be removed!!

In Morrisons today, on back of loo door, was a poster about spotting bowel cancer symptoms early, see your dr! One is change in bowel habits. What a joke I thought 😡 I certainly don't think I have bowel cancer or I'd be 6ft under by now.

Sorry missed this op. I think there are some that may work better for this than others especially if it's MCAS, but I just take OTC ones. Cetrazine at night, was sometimes taking loradatine in the day but it did dry my eyes out at lot.

I don't know if some find the sleepy ones better?

Things I've read seem to say hrt doesn't help but I've found it does.