Many patients in our community have raised an interesting question: Does your menstrual cycle impact pancreatitis symptoms? 🤔💙
We're curious about the potential connection too. While research on this topic is limited, we believe it deserves more attention. Share your experiences in the comments if you've noticed that your period and pancreatitis flares seem to come hand-in-hand. 👇
Also, please visit our page and complete the poll on this topic too. Thank you!
My flares of Pancreatitis were definitely linked to my menstrual cycle and hormone changes.I had been experiencing heavy periods and severe pain after the birth of my first child , which they tried to solve with stopping my menstrual cycle with contraceptive injections. When on the injections my digestive issues also reduced, each time I came off they got worse as my cycle began again.
At first, I had my gall bladder removed because of constant inflammation and infections despite me apparently not being the right " type" for this issue. I was 7st 3 , 5 ft 8 at the time , under 40 , brunette, and had only had two children , I assume now that the need for continued menstrual suspension and injections may have been a contributing factor to my problem.
I was basically , pleading for a hysterectomy by age 38 because if how unwell my menstrual cycle made me and how it effected my digestive system and caused such severe pancreatic pain. Both my Mother and Aunt had full hysterectomies early at age 39 and 42. But the gynaecologists were resistant, only willing to look at their side of the story , not taking note of what my monthly cycle was doing to the rest of my body and they do not like to do hysterectomies before age 45 because of risks like osteoporosis.
Even after the gall bladder surgery , I had to experience this ongoing issue and monthly bouts of pancreatitis which systematically began a few days before my period , hit a peak in the first four days of menstruation, then continued until a few days after the period ended. As my periods were lasting for as much as 14 days per month you can imagine what sort of state I was in.
I eventually went to the GP on one of these monthly emergencies and she was horrified . I was green , sweating , appeared bruised and of course also had the pancreatic pain and diarrhea, and as my IBS is linked to constipation the causes were obvious. She sent me to a new gynaecologist.
This gynaecologist listened when I said , I didn't want any more children , I was already on daily medication so I wasn't going to be irresponsible about taking a daily HRT tablet , and most importantly, I didn't want to lose any more body parts because of people's reluctance to remove the one part of my body that seemed to be causing so much trouble to the rest of it. She agreed and I had a full hysterectomy ( uterus and ovaries) a month later.
Yes , I still have chronic pancreatitis, it seems to be a family thing related to other illnesses but unlike when I had a menstrual cycle I get flares three to four times a year which I can quite easily bring back under control , rather than having 12/13 bouts a year which were outside my control before my hysterectomy.
So , long story short , if you ask me does the menstrual cycle effect pancreatitis my answer is a big , fat YES.
Thank you for your detailed reply - very interesting.
I had terrible problems with periods and have been on hormone pills, and more recently injections, for most of my life so I am not certain because I used to get so many problems all at once!
I did notice I would get what I now know is steatorrhea each month and crippling pain so it's probable but I can't be definitive.
📣 Discussion Topic: What pancreatitis issue is most important to you and why?📣 Discussion Topic: Do you share your pancreatitis diagnosis with others?📣 Discussion Topic: What other conditions do you have as a result of chronic pancreatitis?📣 Discussion Topic: If you had to visualize your pancreatitis in a picture, what would it look like?📣 Discussion Topic: How can others best support you? (with your symptoms, mental health, treatments, etc.)
