Change in bowel habits?

[IBlameTheDog]

Sorry for tmi question but has anyone experienced very loose bowels as part of the gift of menopause?

I've read up on it and apparently low oestrogen can cause muscles to relax and food to pass through too quickly so it's not unheard of - but I've never had any of my friends suffer the same?

I'm on HRT and when it works (first few weeks of upping the dose) symptoms go away and bowels back to normal. Then it wears off and I feel rubbish again (severe head pressure) and loose bowels.

I'm using patches (50) and wondering if they'll up it to 75?

Also not sure which absorbs best - patches or gel. I've been told to stick on fat parts but I'm only really fat on my stomach and worry it's too close to my uterus!

My biggest issue with perimenopause is that of loose bowels. Always loose, yellow stool, lots of digestive upset, wind, cramps etc.

I started HRT a week ago (2 pumps of Oestrogel to start with) and this week I’ve had much better stools (back to being dark and properly formed) but I don’t feel great on the HRT, I’m headachey and my joints are aching. I’m also a bit lightheaded and jittery. Seem to have swapped one problem for others 🤯

@Themostimportant It's a nightmare isn't it? I do think your headaches etc might settle down after a while though. I felt really sick at first but it's not as bad as it was.

I was on 25 to start with and that did nothing. Upped to 50, felt great for a couple of weeks and now back to how I was.

There are sooo many symptoms but you tend to only hear about hot flushes, insomnia and brain fog!

The upset stomach has been a feature for the past 5 years (I’m 51 now). Insomnia also started becoming a problem along with fatigue, low mood, anxiety so I decided to look at HRT.

I started it a week ago and saw an almost immediate ‘settling’ of my bowels, I don’t have so much cramping or shaking / anxiety and subsequent urgency.

I started taking it on day 1 of my period though so proof of the pudding will be around ovulation and the run up to my period though as my gut tends to go haywire from that point in my cycle onwards.

Actually the complete opposite, very slow transit of food and constipation as in not going for a poop very often, particularly when I having irregular periods.

HRT didn't improve it or make it worse, but it's better since the periods stopped earlier this year 🙂 Bloated still sometimes and still get trapped wind sometimes.

Peri very different for everyone isn't it just?

I'm post meno now, around 16 months since last period.

The last 12 months have been the worst of my 50 years! I've felt so, so poorly almost every day.

Sort of drunk/hungover/dizzy but also like my head is being constantly squeezed. It's just awful. And with poorly tum most days it's been horrific! I've never suffered with my hormones ever. No PMT, nothing while I was pregnant or post birth but meno has wiped me out.

In the words of my GP, it's brutal.

I've only just noticed the correlation between bowels and head though. I've definitely started feeling rough again and I'm back to having to go to the loo the second I start moving about in the morning. I had no idea it was a hormonal thing 🤷‍♀️

Well that didn’t last long. Back to yellow ‘peanut butter’ today. Yet again triggered by leaving the house to go shopping. I’m fine sat in the house, as soon as I go somewhere I need the loo and often quite urgently and repeatedly.

@SuperBlondie28 I have the same issue as you; really slow digestive transit despite eating lots of fibre in my diet.
I'm not on HRT and at 53 I've decided it's time to go and talk to someone at my surgery about it.
It's really annoying now.

@IBlameTheDog I'm just getting started with peri symptoms (I'm 40) but in the last 6 months I've also had the awful head migraine followed by yellow loose stools. There's a pattern to it for me - fairly normal bowels first thing, then an hour after breakfast an awful tight head, nausea, my stomach swells up and I have to undo trousers/roll down leggings. Then 2 or 3 trips to the loo, yellow stools, sweating. Then I feel better for most of the day, although sometimes it happens after lunch again.
I've been trying to keep a food diary, there's no obvious trigger but too much bread definitely makes it the worst. I've also stopped caffeine and have mostly stopped drinking, which helps a bit. Small meals are better than big ones.

@wejammin
sorry you’re suffering too, it’s bloody awful isn’t it?
Can I ask, do you get an actual headache or just the feeling that something is squeezing your head?

Ive noticed that my tinnitus, general head congestion and loose bowels all come as a package deal.

I had two full weeks recently of feeling like my old self, first time since February, and am now feeling as bad as ever. I’ve upped my HRT from 50 to 75 to see if it helps. No luck so far.

It starts off as pressure, like elastic bands all over my head, then jaw pain (I think I'm tensing my jaw maybe), sinus pressure, and then a dull deep headache and I can't concentrate on my computer screen, can't look at my phone, because my eyes feel so heavy and out of focus.

@wejammin

That's exactly how I describe it - like wearing a hat that's too small, or I've got a band around my head.

I wondered if it could be anxiety but I think it's more likely to be menopause.

Mine doesn't always lead to a headache like you but is still bloody miserable. I've barely had a drink all year - I spend my life feeling slightly hungover so don't want to make it worse!

Hope you get sorted soon 🤞🏻

Thank you for asking this.
I’m 44 and just getting symptoms of perimenopause.
I feel like I’m getting cramps and diarrhoea regularly to the point of dehydration with shaking and muscle cramps. It keeps me awake at night which compounds the exhaustion I generally feel and the brain fog.
Today after 3 nights of this, I’ve taken a day off work because I’m just so tired and sore.
I’ve not been diagnosed yet, but my own reading makes me think this is what it is. I’m also getting regular migraines and my sex drive has dropped off a cliff. Generally feel grumpy and awful.
Please tell me it passes.

@NarcoosseeLover

Ouch. Sounds very much like it. I think low levels of oestrogen cause the muscles in your intestines to relax a bit so food passes through too quickly. It's a bloody nightmare and I'm much worse if I eat pasta for some reason

The band around my head is my worst symptom by far. There is just no relief from it.

Have you thought about HRT? It does seem to help me. Then after a few weeks it seems to come back. Hoping to get patches upped again this week to 75.

I hadn’t thought about HRT. I tend to avoid the GP to spare my travel insurance. We go away a lot and I wonder whether pending tests could void it or raise it.
I tend to manage things quite well normally, but this past weekend has been awful. Not sure if it’s a bug, or just perimenopause upping its game. I seem to be getting symptoms more frequently and for longer periods of time though, so I might just have to bite the bullet sooner rather than later.
Thank you for replying.

superblondie Yes, I'm in this camp too. Positive to hear it eases off once periods stop and mine can't be too long in stopping now (she hopes).

Ladies - any change in bowel habit lasting more than a couple of weeks needs reporting to your GP. I failed to do this and blamed it on my HRT, and now wish I'd gone earlier. My diarrhoea turned out to be caused by a bowel issue that needs operating on.

I recall 2 ex work colleagues of mine when they were in their 50s (I was early 40s) telling me my bowel habits would change in perimenopause/menopause.

If you have IBS it gets worse apparently and I find even now at 53 and in menopause it’s loose stools most mornings, but I am on HRT. Colpermin or peppermint oil tablets helped on days when I had a bad stomach.

Luckily it’s calmed down a bit now but I did have some nasty diarrhoea accidents, mostly at home.

I was like you and tried natural supplements which helped to some degree but as @IBlameTheDog says HRT has helped me much more. I won’t say perimenopause or menopause are easy at all because in my and my friends’ experience they’re not.

I reported mine 10 years.. All they did was told me, I couldn't have constipation as my poops weren't hard. I tried to explain it was very infrequent and that was the issue! Nothing done.

Another gave me laxatives. Not the answer either.

Another asked for a sample to test for blood, there wasn't any so nothing after that.

Not once have been offered a scan or camera up the rear to see if any blockages physically!

I had another GP appointment this week. She said it's likely tension headaches and holding tension in the body can lead to poor digestion. She's upped my beta blocker dosage and suggested that I try to reduce my stress levels. I have a very high stress job and 3 children, 1 is disabled. I'm not sure how to just reduce my stress. She's seeing me again in a month.
I asked about perimenopause and she said I'm too young (40).

Op,@IBlameTheDog I’ve just found this thread whilst searching once again to see if it’s just me.
Ive noticed that my tinnitus, general head congestion and loose bowels all come as a package deal.
I can relate to this 100% and it’s worse around ovulation time, but it’s all the bowel/stomach issues that have me most worried. At what point do we stop blaming peri/meno and seek an appointment to check the bowel stuff? I had to come off HRT, need to find some other solutions, but I feel like the tight band around my head feeling stops me thinking clearly about it, if you see what I mean 😫

I hear you. It's absolutely horrendous. I'm in the midst of learning a new role at work and it's so, so hard. My head just feels too heavy for my body some days.

I've started with a steroid nasal spray again and am taking fexafenadine every day. My HRT has been upped to 75 and I don't know if it's one of those things or a mixture of all three but I haven't felt quite so awful for about 3 weeks. Bowels back to normal too so I'm sure it's all connected.

I read that low oestrogen makes your muscles (digestive system) too relaxed which makes your food pass through you too quickly. And I've read that the head pressure is as a result of fluctuating hormones making the blood vessels in your head dilate and [whatever the opposite of dilate is!] which is what causes the pressure.

I don't know if it could be down to anxiety tbh, which I know is a menopause symptom. I've been listening to a lot of podcasts and TikToks that give anti anxiety help.

I really hope you start to get some relief. I feel like I've been robbed of a year of my life. At its worst I was convinced I must be dying as it couldn't be possible to feel so poorly for so long and not have something seriously wrong with me. It's been utterly relentless.

I realise this is a slightly old thread, but just wondering how you're doing now @IBlameTheDog and whether your bowels stayed settled after upping your HRT dose?

For a few years I've had bowel issues around the time of my period, then since January this year I started having issues around every other day. I did have a year and a half of having it a few times each month back in 2021.

I've been to the GP and I've been referred to a gastroenterologist because I've lost a lot of weight. The gastro doesn't think it sounds like cancer, but I'm still getting some tests done. She thinks IBS.

My last period was early February sometime and this is the longest I've ever gone without one, so I'm thinking maybe this is the start of my menopause, and maybe the reappearance of my bowel issues is connected to that.

I don't have the traditional symptoms of night sweats, but do feel increased anxiety sometimes and am very tearful some days. I'm just starting to consider HRT but mainly for the bowel issues so am doing my research to see if it's helped others with bowel problems.

@ChampagneTrousers

sorry to hear you’re enduring this too - it’s a bloody nightmare!

I did get the HRT upped to 75 and it did help, for quite a while. Bowles back to normal, all good. Then I started with urinary issues and was prescribed estradiol. All good again. Then I had a period (first one in 18 months) and am now waiting for urgent scan on Thursday for post meno bleeding. Bowels not great again but not sure if it’s stress to be honest?

if it’s not one bloody thing it’s another!!

what I will say is that I’m convinced that the original bowel problem was all hormone related.

Ugh, sorry to hear you've had other issues popping up! My SIL had this recently (post meno bleeding) and had the urgent scan and everything was fine, also same with my neighbour. Fingers crossed it'll be the same for you.

Great to hear that the HRT dose helped with the bowel issues.

I was pleased to find this thread, I feel less alone and more sure that hormones could be the cause for me. Obviously, I'll continue my investigations under the GP and I might pay to see a dietician too and see if I can work out any food triggers. But I can keep HRT as an option for me to try as well. It all makes me feel a bit more hopeful.

I hope your scan is clear and your bowels settle back down very soon.