IBS and menopause -- anyone else?
#41006 - 01/26/04 01:35 PM
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Pixna
Reged: 01/23/04
Posts: 32
Loc: Pennsylvania
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I am currently going through menopause and it's like having chronic PMS, only worse. In fact, I've been having periods (well, what's left of them) about every three weeks. I had uterine polyp surgery several months ago and my doc thought that might stop the bleeding, but it hasn't. So, my iron count is low and I'm ultra-exhausted from it. I feel fairly certain that I'll be in full-fledged menopause (no bleeding at all) by the end of the year. However, with these perpetual hormonal fluxes, my IBS is exacerbated even more. Is anyone else going through this? I'm not really looking for advice -- just a little support to know I'm not alone. 
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Oh you poor thing! How awful! Yes, I get my worst IBS attacks at specific times of the month, so I can imagine what this is doing to you. Thank goodness it won't last forever. Just hang in there, one day at a time.
BTW, I'm actually thinking of having my periods medically suppressed. My cousin's doctor gave her something because she was getting really sick once a month also.
Thanks for sharing and (((((((((((((BIG HUG))))))))))))).
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Laura
Keep it simple!
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Well, Pixna, I'm not sure if I can be of much help to you. But I CAN be some support.
I have been menopausal for 21 years now. I had surgery when I was 38. It threw me into an ultra-severe menopause, far worse than anything I was prepared for. My hormones have been so out of control, at one point I was very close to suicide and thankfully realized I needed help. My doctor gave it to me in the form of anti-depressants and MORE hormones! I was on the patch, the pill, the shots, estrogen, progesterone, testosterone (yep, even that).
Hormones do wild and crazy things to us, and I would not be surprised if it also affected our IBS. However, having said that, I believe they're two issues that need to be addressed separately. Your doctor should be able to help you with those hormones; if not, he should refer you to a good OBGYN. Your doctor should also be able to refer you to a GI who (hopefully) can help you with the IBS (although this latter issue is up for debate!). My GI didn't help me at all; thankfully, my regular doc is on the ball -- who, by the way, is also helping me with my hormones.
I hope this is of some help -- or at least support -- for you. At least you know you're not alone.
Bev
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<img src="http://home.comcast.net/~letsrow/smily3481.gif">Bevvy
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Hi Pixna,
Take a look at all the articles in the research library section under gender Library This link will show you the articles and you can pick an choose from there.
Like you, I had severe constant bleeding, more like 3 week long periods out of every month. I hate to tell you how I stopped that but will anyway. One was ProGest, a low dose progesterone rub on cream, the other was an herb; Barberry.
The barberry helped the most with the excess bleeding until I finally quit for good. I only used it when things were going on longer than they should. It took about 2 days to kick in. (You may want to do a search on that herb.) The ProGest helped with mood swings as it will most with PMS as well. Now I'm on hormones that have been made only at a compounding pharmacy according to my blood levels that I get checked every 3 months. Have you had a good hormonal blood workup? That can tell a good doc a lot.
Kandee
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I work in an office, where 7 out of 8 women are pre or are going thru menopause. Thank God, we are not all hags the same day!!!!!!!!!!!:) The men look at us like they are afrid, VERY AFRAID, as they think we have lost our minds....... Seriously, it is not any fun at all, feeling old and fat and miserable. We are all up and down, with hormones that make us feel tired, dizzy headed, cloudy headed, sore, emotional, (we all have our bawl baby days). Some of us are getting ready to go thru the empty nest, and do not like their husbands, now that they know they are stuck with them!! My last son moved out before Christmas, and my husband and I are getting along better, actually. No more guitar playing in the middle of the night from the 21 yr. old... I take 1/2 zoloft, for the IBS, but my OBGYN said it was also good for the big change. I don't think that it has really effected by IBS that much, so far, but I'm 49, and have a ways to go. Hang in there with all of us other crazy women. I just get up each morning and start over. What else can you do!?!?!? EAT CHOCOLATE AND SMILE:):):):):):):):):):):)
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Everything somehow always works out for the best.
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I have been undergoing fertility treatment for the past 2 1/2 years and so have had very erratic hormone levels due to fertility drugs and also being a pCOS sufferer.
So I can most definately relate to how it affects your IBS.
The only advice I can give other than waiting it out is that I find that at a time like this it is even more important to be extra careful with all of your IBS management strategies - soluble fiber supps, exercise, sleep, relaxation, diet etc.
I hope things settle down for you soon.
Also, I believe there are some good articles in the research library about hormones and IBS. It's a while since I read them but I'm sure that's where they are.
Kerrie 
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What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.
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Kerry! Hi! how have you been doing? How aare you feeling? Its been a while since you've been on the boards, nice too see you back!! Sue
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I have enough trouble dealing with ONE -- ME!  Isn't that weight gain thing a real bugger?! I swear if I just THINK about food I gain another pound. I wonder whose cruel joke this is -- hormonal hell PLUS a metabolism on "stop." Chocolate definitely is a help. I wish I could eat hard chocolate (it makes my IBS go crazy and it's also so addictive!), but the fat-free cocoa powder and syrup will have to do for now. Could someone please pass the low-fat, cocoa-based, egg-free brownies to me??!!
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Thanks, Kandee! I appreciate the link to the library of related articles. Yes, I've had some good blood workups recently. I prefer to avoid taking hormones, if I can. Chocolate is my hormone of choice at the moment. I'm glad you found something that works for you, even if you have to get checked every three months. Prior to my surgery I was bleeding for about two weeks and starting a new period a week after the first one ended. So, the surgery definitely helped some. I think I'm just having a slow transition from perimenopause to menopause.
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Marjo, you made me LOL about the men in the office!
By the way, twice now I've gotten cortisone shots for bursitis or tendonitis and both times they threw my periods WAY off track for about three months -- heavy bleeding and/or breakthrough bleeding when I wasn't due, no period at all when I was due, and no way to know for certain if I was PMS or just NUTS!! Someone at my gym had the same thing happen to her. And neither of our (male) doctors warned us about it. The first time I thought I was starting menopause!
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Laura
Keep it simple!
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Ah, yes
.I think chocolate was my hormone of choice pre-adolescence, post adolescence, child bearing years, perimenopause, menopause and post menopause. And when they put me in the "home" and I exist only on pills and pudding, that d* pudding better be chocolate!!!
I agree with you on staying away from HRT if you can. I don't intend to be on these hormones long, and in fact I'm thinking of going off of them soon, even though I haven't been on them even a year.
Just keep the Bayberry herb in mind if you have long term bleeding. It's safe and really does do the trick!
Best of luck to you!!!
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Hi Pixna,
I hope I'm not jumping in too soon here, but your situation is pretty much like what I'm going through. For the last 12 years I've had problems with bleeding irregularly and most of those years were almost non-stop. I became bed-ridden for years and my daughter had to care for me, until I finally got medical insurance (another story not worth going into). My visit showed uterine polyps and they were removed but the bleeding didn't stop for me either. It wasn't until my doctor decided to try something new that was working for other women, shots of Depo-Provera (a birth control shot) they discovered given every 3 months was helping women like ourselves with this problem. I've been taking the shots now for 3 years. I still bleed, but it's just spotting and far apart from each other which is now livable. I have been told that this treatment has helped many women stop the bleeding and move into full menopause so that we can get over it much more quickly.
Just thought it might be of some encouragement for you to know there are others out here that have this problem too and how I've been handling it
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EYEBSER2,
I have never heard of the Barberry being used for this, or in cream form. I, for one, am very interested in this and will also do some research on it. I use to take 2 Yam Root capsules twice a day for years and that took care of both the bleeding and my moodiness until it no longer was strong enough to keep up with the ongoing changes in my body. Though I'm personally on Depo-Provera shots now for this maybe the Barberry cream could be an alternative treatment until menopause is in full swing and the bleeding isn't the problem any more. Thank you for sharing this info with us. Can this be bought in a health food store, and where did you apply it, on your abdomen?
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