Gut Health and the Menstrual Cycle

By Traci Howell

 

The gut can impact our hormones! The gut helps your body function at the highest capacity that it can. When the gut is out of alignment, this can affect your menstrual cycle. It can even affect your PMS symptoms.

The gut is filled with a lot of bacteria and little microorganisms that cannot be seen by the human eye. These are called the microbiome. These tiny organisms help our gut process everything. There are trillions of bacteria, fungi, and viruses that help your health within the gut. The status of your microbiome is helped by the types of food we eat. So, if the balance of the microbiome in our guts is imbalanced, it can cause hormonal imbalances.

If our gut is not functioning properly, a lot of the nutrients we need to have a symptom-free cycle can be lost. Important nutrients such as the B vitamins or Magnesium our body needs, especially during our menstrual cycle.

What makes things worse when our gut is not working properly is it can become inflamed. This inflammation issue is also known as Leaky Gut Syndrome. This is when the lining of the digestive tract breaks down allowing food into your body. Leaky Gut Syndrome can result in painful periods, acne, or disorders like endometriosis.

When your gut is not flourishing and is dealing with inflammation all the time, it can cause weight gain, bloating, and sugar cravings. The reason for this is that yeast, like candida, thrives when the good microbiome is gone. What is bad is that candida will cause you to crave and eat sugar, so that it will not die. All the extra sugar that your body is trying to get you to eat harms your menstrual cycle and can result in heavy periods, absent periods, spotting, or cramping.

 

HORMONES START MESSING WITH YOUR GUT A WEEK BEFORE YOUR PERIOD

 

A week before your period, your body begins to create more progesterone. Progesterone is known to relax the colon which slows down how the intestines will digest your food. This is one of the reasons many people can feel bloating or get constipated before their period.

While progesterone gets higher, there is a dip in the estrogen just before your period begins. This dip in estrogen slows down your digestion even more. So, your body is getting a double whammy of hormones that are causing issues for your gut.

However, there are a lot of people who do not become constipated during their cycle. Instead, they must deal with diarrhea. This is not uncommon since the shifting estrogen levels can cause spasms within your digestive tract.

Every person is different. So, how your digestive tract and gut react to the increase and decrease of hormones, especially during your menstrual cycle, is different for everyone.

 

HOW DOES THE MENSTRUAL CYCLE INCREASE THE CHANCES OF YOUR GUT MICROBIOME GETTING MESSED UP?

 

During your period, your body produces more estrogen in the body. Your ovaries create estrogen that goes through your bloodstream and down to your liver. It is at this point when your estrogen is deactivated and sent into your intestines where the microbes are. The estrogen is then broken down by enzymes so it can leave your body. However, if the microbiome is not functioning correctly, be it from stress, diet, medical conditions, or any other reason, your estrogen returns into the body. This can create a hormonal balance.

If estrogen is returned to the body, your body must store extra levels of it. This will most likely cause you to have more symptoms that can be considered PMS. Extra estrogen can cause heavier periods, painful periods, mood swings, bloating, water retention, and more. The increase and decrease of estrogen levels impact the digestive tract which can explain why you may get diarrhea or constipated during your period.

 

HOW TO COMBAT GUT ISSUES DURING YOUR MENSTRUAL CYCLE

 

There are a lot of ways you can combat the rise in estrogen for your body so you do not have as many PMS issues. By increasing your water and fiber intake, you can help facilitate a better digestive tract. Caffeine can wreak havoc on your microbiota, so staying away from caffeine, especially during your period, can assist with PMS symptoms.

Your period can be a stressful time. Especially if you have a lot of side effects during it. However, stress can be one of the main causes of PMS. Stress directly upsets the microbiome in your gut. A great way to try to prevent stress is through exercising, meditating, laying out in the sun, or doing something that is relaxing to you.

A great thing to help your gut, especially during your period is a probiotic. Probiotics have been proven to help support a healthy gut microbiome. Probiotics can also help with gut inflammation which will help with bloating or water retention.

There are also several amazing natural products that are available to help combat gut issues as well as menstrual cycle issues. Some of these include Dragon Time or Life 9.