# PMS & IBS...help!



## cakes1 (Dec 5, 2003)

Hi all, The last four days I have had cramps,brain fog and nausea. The first 3 days I was C and today the D is setting in. I am sure that my period should be starting any day (I can't remember exactly when I had it last) Seems the older I get the worse it gets and I am popping tylenol like crazy so I can keep going on with life but it doesn't seem to help much. Today was especially bad.Does anyone else have any these symptoms the week before? If so, what do you take to help?I get so exhausted from dealing with IBS symptoms all the time, seems like every week I am counting the days till the weekend so I can just be at home. Then when the weekend comes my symptoms are full blown.







Can anyone help?


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## DebraD (May 7, 2003)

Hi MarriedMom,My symptoms too become worse around my period - I can't determine when as my period is so irregular these days. Right now it has been 45 days since my last period and I have been experiencing pms/ibs symptoms for at least 2 1/2 weeks. I know how you feel and sympathize with you. I too try to rush the week, so I can be at home on the weekend. I don't have any answers, sorry, but I do have a shoulder to lean on. Feel better soon.Debra.


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## mega (Dec 17, 2003)

Hey MMI just wrote this in reply to your post to me lol, but definitely IBS is worse before your period. My gastroendorologist(he is excellent, the current president of the Canadian Medical Association), said they have linked progestrone and IBS...you produce more before your period (those hormones that make you crazy) and it makes your IBS worse.Not that helps, for me it is a sign my period is coming. I usually start Immodium/pepto right away as soon as I know I am due to try to head it off. That sometimes helps.Calcium taken regularly leading up to your period helps reduce PMS. I wonder if you took some calcium supplements (or two tums, 100% calcium) every day leading up to your period, and reduced the PMS, the IBS would ease up as a result.Worth a try? Hang in there.Meg


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## DebraD (May 7, 2003)

Meg, I take calcium everyday and it doesn't seem to help my pms at all. Hope it works for you. Glad to hear your doctor admits that ibs becomes worse with pms. None of my doctors will admit to it. Sometimes I just think that they think we are all crazy!!Good Luck to you!!Debra.


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## cakes1 (Dec 5, 2003)

Thanks Deb and Meg,It finally started, which always seems to relieve the IBS symptoms a little... I can eat now anyway! Funny though, I used to always be starving the week before but the last few months it is the opposite, I can't eat. GREAT BEING A WOMAN, isn't it?I am going to the doctor - apparently there is a laser surgery you can have done to stop your periods... I am asking about that one!Thanks for the info on calcium.. does it tend to make you constipated?


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## DebraD (May 7, 2003)

MarriedMom, some people say the calcium makes them constipated. Nothing makes me constipated, unfortunately. It seems to be different for everyone. There's no harm in trying. Good Luck.Debra.


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## domangue (Dec 18, 2003)

I'm on the Depo-Provera shot. It has relieved all of my monthly period cramps, as I no longer have periods, which of course helps ward off more frequent attacks.


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## Renee V. (Jan 4, 2004)

I have long noticed a possible relation in timing between IBS symptoms and the onset and occurrence of the monthly cycle (during and mid-cycle). A few months ago I tried going on the "pill" to see if it helped the IBS symptoms. I only stayed on it one month and quit. It seemed to do nothing appreciable at helping during that one month, which may not have been long enough to tell anything. I didn't like being on it, so I stopped after one month. The next month I had bleeding for 3 weeks straight and ended up taking progesterone for a week to stop it. Ever since then I have had worse (and different) GI symptoms before and during monthly. Now I have nausea (and dyspepsia?) for days before and on and off during (maybe like "morning sickness" nausea???). I don't know what brought that on (the "pill" or progesterone) or what will fix it (going back on the pill?). IBS symptoms can be disabling, but I think I hate the nausea worse (it makes me nervous and fearful to be "out" anywhere, including at work). I'm especially interested in anyone else who experiences queasiness as well as the standard IBS symptoms. I live on dramamine.


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## cakes1 (Dec 5, 2003)

Hi Renee,I feel for you! There aren't too many days that go by where I don't feel nauseated at some point. It is awful







I can't give you any answers regarding the pill, as I haven't been on it for years. (but if I remember correctly, the reason I went off of it was because it made me feel so crappy)For me when the when a major attack of nausea hits (usually at night) I will eat soda crackers (just as with morning sickness) and drink a decaf tea along with tylenol and antacid. I also find that propping myself up on the couch I can usually get pretty comfy - half sitting up because if I try to lay flat my head will spin. I also find that going outside for some fresh air and taking some DEEP breaths helps. Also watching tv or doing something to help take my mind off it, if I just lay there I just think about it and it gets worse.Hope this helps to ease it a little.Thanks for posting this because I was contemplating going on the pill again to see if that helped my symptoms, maybe I will pass! I hope you feel better soon.


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## Renee V. (Jan 4, 2004)

Thanks for your comments. I do much the same as you. Saltines help. Celestial Seasonings Tummy Mint Tea helps quite a bit. I definitely like going outside to take my mind off of it, but that isn't always possible. But my drug of choice is definitely dramamine - that gets me through many a night and sometimes even day at work! I don't like having to take it so freuqently though. I forgot to include the fact that during the 3 weeks of non-stop bleeding I never felt better!! It wasn't until I took the progesterone for one week that I started having the nausea around my monthly. I have always periodically had queasiness with all of my stomach problems, but I hadn't ever had it in relation to my monthly before that. I kind of suspect it was the progesterone that did it and not the pill itself. I don't know for sure though.


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## chrisborawski (May 30, 2003)

I GET SO C, JUST A WEEK BEFORE MY PERIOD STARTS. I GET SO BLOATED AND MY STOMACH STICKS OUT SO FAR THAT I CAN'T ZIP MY PANTS. I ALWAYS HAVE C AND BLOATING, BUT ABOUT FIVE DAYS BEFORE MY PEORIOD I BLOAT AND C SO BAD!!!!!!!WHEN I FINALLY START MY PERIOD, I CAN THEN HAVE A BM AND PASS GAS AND THAT HELPS. I LOOK FORWARD TO BEING ON MY PERIOD ( NOT THE WEEK BEFORE) BECAUSE THIS IS ONLY TIME MY STOMACH GOES DOWN FOR A FEW DAYS. I CAN PASS GAS WHEN I AM ON IT.I ALSO GET SICK TO MY STOMACH ON A REGULAR BASIS JUST BEFORE I FINALLY HAVE A BM. ONCE I FINALLY GO, THE SICK FEELING GOES AWAY ALSO.


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