Do you experience changes in your bowel movements before or during your period?
I like to call these different bowel movements ‘period poos’ (its definitely a technical term …)
Brace yourself for the science
A study in 2014 (1) showed that 73% of menstruating women experienced changes in their digestion and bowel movements before or during their period! (Think, diarrhoea, constipation and abdominal pain)
AND … these women who experience emotional symptoms with their period were more likely to experience more than one change in gastrointestinal function (for example, both abdominal pain and diarrhoea)
Why?
1. Prostaglandins 💩
This is a chemical that starts the contraction of the uterine muscles to start letting go of the period blood. Amazing - until you have too much and then these chemicals act on the smooth muscles of the intestine and kaboom diarrhoea
2. Progesterone 💩
Progesterone increases after ovulation, and it is suggested that for some people this can slow the movement of food through the bowel causing constipation.
Now from a TCM standpoint - we look at the LIVER 🫶
In Chinese medicine theory, the liver circulates qi and blood around the reproductive organs, controls the muscles and tendons (and much more!). If this liver qi is stagnant, we can lose regularity of our bowel movements 💩 (aka lose our shit!)
But the good news is - acupuncture and Chinese medicine can be used to help balance the dynamics of the menstrual cycle and help you feel better ! 🩸
References: (1) Bernstein, M.T., Graff, L.A., Avery, L. et al. Gastrointestinal symptoms before and during menses in healthy women. BMC Women’s Health 14, 14 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6874-14-14
Keywords: first time acupuncture, acupuncture, top tips, acupuncture Orange, acupuncture Orange NSW, Orange acupuncture, acupuncture in Orange, Cove acupuncture, period, menstrual cycle, period pain, PMS, PMDD, period poo
