Another Menopause Side Effect? Digestive and GI Issues

glamour.com:

she is on the verge of tears of rage or both. She is also, as it turns out, gassy. That’s because, among other indignities, the and menopausal period brings with it a . “Acid reflux, constipation, diarrhea, bloating, and gassiness can all be very common,” says Renita White, MD, an ob-gyn and advisor to The Honey Pot Co.While the knee-jerk reaction is to blame hormones for everything happening to our bodies and psyches during these , here, the connection isn’t quite so clear-cut.

It’s confirmed in the scientific data that constipation is simply more prevalent with age regardless of gender, but in terms of the effects of female hormones specifically, the results are mixed.

Some studies show decreasing estrogen being correlated with increased constipation, says Daniela Turley, a New York-based medical herbalist, but then when women are given estrogen they also can become more constipated. “One thought is that declining ovarian hormones (estrogen and progesterone) can contribute to increased visceral hypersensitivity, so pain perception in different parts of the GI tract can have a lower threshold as a result of these ,” says Mythili Pathipati, MD, a gastroenterology fellow at Mass General Hospital and a clinical advisor for Ayble, a personalized app that provides relief for GI symptoms.“Hormones can also alter the motility of the GI tract and can contribute to altered bowel habits.” Turley points to a 2018 study of perimenopausal women for additional clarity which found that gastric disturbances were linked to a different hormone: cortisol. “Constipation may be due to the changes in stress perception and stress hormones, rather than a direct influence of ,” says Turley, adding that several studies point to stress and the.