Sick to death of my awful bowels. Ruining my life.

[Rhetorical]

Morning all, I’m 52 and suffered from what the doctor has said is IBS since I was about 46, things went awry around the time my hormones probably started fluctuating. Here we are 6 years later and I’m still menstruating, still having horrible bowel issues.

When I was about 49/50 I visited the GP and she suggested HRT, even though I was still menstruating as I was having some other menopausal symptoms. I started on a low dose, one pump of gel and a progesterone tablet. After a week I felt so anxious, wired, jittery I stopped. I tried again and same thing happened. I also had diarrhoea at times, worse around ovulation.

I’ve tried on and off for two years to persevere but usually give up the oestrogen after a week, I feel rotten on it. I have kept taking the progesterone daily though as that seems to help me feel calm and has no negative effect on my stomach. As time has gone on the meno symptoms (fatigue, brain fog) have got worse and I’m think surely I need oestrogen by now.
I asked for low dose patches to hopefully deliver a steady dose. GP agreed and last week I started on a 25mg patch. First 3 days i slept well, no adverse effect, I really thought I’d cracked it. Fresh patch on yesterday morning and within an hour I could feel my lower stomach start bloating. It felt like I was being inflated with a pump! Went out to dinner with my husband last night and within 30 minutes I had the most awful pains and really bad diarrhoea, the pain is very low just above my pubic bone and feels like period pain but deeper. When I feel that I just have seconds to get to the loo and it’s full of yellow bile. It usually happens after a meal.

I ripped the patch off in frustration and went to sleep with a very sore lower stomach. Woken this morning after a poor night sleep feeling like I’ve been in a car crash, so much pain all over in my joints. My stomach feels like it’s been kicked and it’s gurgling and gassy.

I’m at a loss, I’m convinced my IBS is hormonal, I can’t cope with extra oestrogen but at the same time I need it for my other symptoms.

Any ideas please?

In your shoes, the first thing I would do is to go onto a low oxalate diet and dump stored oxalate. That is what cured my gut issues.

Sally K Norton is the oxalate guru.

What investigations have you had for the bowel problems?

So many other gut conditions get instantly called IBS by GPs. There could be other things. with your other symptoms- have you had your b12 levels checked recently? Low b12 is quite common (from what I’ve read) with gut conditions as you might not be absorbing everything you need.

Have they done any tests to explore your ‘IBS’ or just assumed that what it is? Full bloods coelics screening, stool test for calprotectin, blood and infections.

I don’t want to frighten you OP but whenever I see these threads I always suggest the same out of paranoia and an abundance of caution… my advice to any woman who starts with bowel issues and bloating so easily is to have their CA125 levels checked simply as a precaution to rule out Ovarian cancer.

My DM had bad ‘IBS’ which turned out to not be the case, albeit too late. Yours is most probably linked to your treatment as you say but just be aware of the signs. Hope you get it sorted soon OP.

I had dreadful IBS for years.
low FODMAP diet helped immediately.
taking kefir everyday day “cured” it.

you do need more investigation as to what is going on, but taking a good quality kefir daily may help in the meantime. Start with a small portion & build up.

What do you eat / drink? How are your stress levels? Do you sleep well usually?

You poor thing. Try Enterosgel - worked wonders for me, and the fact that it did work when nothing else did prompted my gastro consultant to approve a Sehcat test. Was then diagnosed with bile acid malabsorption. No cure but management includes Colesevelam tablets (bile sequestrants) plus I use Enterosgel daily. After 30 years of awful problems it's now really well controlled.

Might be something else of course (endometriosis affecting bowels?) but just a thought. The gel is expensive but literally enables me to live a normal life. I also take high quality probiotics every day which help a lot. 💐💐

I have adenomyosis and I am convinced it causes me bowel problems. Have you looked into that as it could be a possibility? I agree with @Nutmuncher- it’s worth ruling out womb/other issues

I agree low oxalate diet and then low carb.

I don’t even fart anymore!

Bless you. Same. Menopause trashed my bowels. They were already on shaky ground and now the problems rule my life.
I've had two vaginal ovarian scans over a decade so there doesn't appear to be anything sinister going on there. A colonoscopy a decade ago and a recent MRI and stool check.

I want to change my office admin job soon but it's impossible as a new employer would not tolerate me having all these problems.

Yes to having a stomach that feels like it's being inflated with a pump.

Have you been tested for Lyme disease? I got it 3/4 years ago and my digestive system has been wrecked since. Not as bad as you but certainly not had a normal poo for years now!

I agree with @RobinEllacotStrike that diet impacts gut health as much as hormones. Both play a role, but to dismiss your symptoms as hormonal IBS is not ok. Try a FODMAP elimination diet, add fermented foods like Kefir, and if that doesn’t help go back to your GP and ask for bowel investigations, not HRT, because what you describe is not normal and shouldn’t be ignored.

Actually this. The carnivore diet is amazing for gut issues.

Have you been checked for coeliac disease?CA 125 levels ?

Thanks all, I’ve had 2 transvaginal ultrasounds over the past two or so years, one when starting HRT to check my womb lining thickness and another to check my ovaries when I was getting a lot of right sided low pain (which I now think might have been bowels). Gynaecological stuff seems to be ok.
I never seem to pass a decent poop once a day any more. I now go two or three times with urgency first thing, first once will be formed the rest is like peanut butter and that will continue all day, every time I eat or drink within half hour I start to get a lot of wind and then I’ll need to poop. Does my head in.

A typical days food for me is a piece of sourdough with fat free cottage cheese for breakfast, lunch a wholemeal pitta with ham and a packet of lentil crisps (had to cut out the salad as I’d be literally doubled over with wind) afternoon cuppa with a biscuit. I’m very careful about what I eat in work as it can result in an afternoon on the toilet so I eat the same thing every day.
Tea is always a meal of a traditional kind, fish potatoes and veg, bolognaise or chilli with wholemeal rice, a beef stew made in the slow cooker, this meal I try and get as much veg as possible to make up for the fact I’m not able to eat it in work. Cauliflower, parsnips will create a ton of wind and sometimes I’m then breaking wind all evening. The cycle of following morning urgency with then restart and if I’ve eaten a lot of veg I’ll sometimes be needing to be especially close to a loo.

I often take half or a whole immodium instant if things are really bad. This morning for instance, we’ve run out of sourdough so I’ve just eaten seeded toast with fat free cottage cheese and my guts are popping and gurgling like mad, I also burp constantly.

i take a vitamin d supplement and NMN every day.

GP did all the tests about 4 years ago, I’ve had two routine bowel fit tests. Everything is normal. Id like to request a colonoscopy next. I wonder if it’s gallbladder or pancreas related, the poop is always yellowy, like it’s full of bile.

I think you need a gastro referal. This isn’t normal and is having a huge impact on your life.

I should mention that previous ultrasounds have described my uterus as ‘bulky’. I do have heavy periods. Adenomyosis maybe

Fodmap diet helped me. Onion and garlic were causing the majority of my bloating. I’d cut them out altogether whilst you get proper investigations.

Sorry to hear about your mum.

It's far better to have a pelvic scan than the blood tests.
The C125 test is notoriously inaccurate.
Even in women with advanced ovarian cancer it only picks it up in 8 out of 10 women.
And a high reading can show all kinds of things that are not cancer.

@Rhetorical Have you had a stool test, blood tests, tests for endometriosis, coeliac disease?

Have you tried the FODMAP diet? Your GP could refer you to an NHS dietician to do this.

Sorry my post crossed with yours.

Look up FODMAP and see the website of Marianne Williams- expert on this this. (Not a quack- works within NHS etc)

www.wisediet.co.uk/

“A typical days food for me is a piece of sourdough with fat free cottage cheese for breakfast, lunch a wholemeal pitta with ham and a packet of lentil crisps (had to cut out the salad as I’d be literally doubled over with wind) afternoon cuppa with a biscuit. I’m very careful about what I eat in work as it can result in an afternoon on the toilet so I eat the same thing every day.
Tea is always a meal of a traditional kind, fish potatoes and veg, bolognaise or chilli with wholemeal rice, a beef stew made in the slow cooker, this meal I try and get as much veg as possible to make up for the fact I’m not able to eat it in work. Cauliflower, parsnips will create a ton of wind and sometimes I’m then breaking wind all evening.”

there’s a lot of bread & starches in this list, and if you haven’t been tested for coeliac yet I’d ask your GP for that.

https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/carb-tolerance

https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/benefits/ibs

Have you tried cutting out lentils? They create literal havoc for me, whereas the rest of the time I’m symptom free. I love them, but they’re extreme in their effect.

In the same boat. Had ibs symptoms since I had dd nearly 19 years ago. Was absolutely fine beforehand. I'm now on 4 immodium a day to stop me going to the loo 12 times a day. Had a fit test and ca125. They both showed inflammation and blood so had a colonoscopy a fortnight ago. All clear, showed absolutely nothing.
I couldn't eat most of the foods you do. I'm trying to be as dairy free as I can. Cottage cheese would be an absolute no no and would leave me in pain.
I'm giving fodmap a go but if no joy I'm off back to the docs.
Keep a food diary for a week, go back to the doc and ask for tests. Start ruling things out.

I know my diet is carb heavy, I’m gaining weight and water like mad too. I did low carb about 10 years ago and lost 2.5 stone. My bowels were perfect. I tried it again a few years ago and after a few days my stomach was in bits.
there is diverticulosis right through my family on one side and gallbladder issues on the other side. I’ve had a gallbladder ultrasound- clear.

I need a colonoscopy I think. Ive had various bloods done over the last few years, all fine apart from one or two showing high platelets but GP wasn’t concerned, said it could be due to a virus.

I’ll try cutting out bread and potatoes, try again to lower the carbs and sugars. See if that helps