IBSD and contraceptive methods

[Barby_1991]

Ok so I've been on quite a few different contraceptives now and anytime I've discussed them with a doctor I've been told that there is no known link between artificial hormones and an increase in ibs symptoms but that doesn't seem to be my experience. Does anyone have any opinions on this?

[Hidden]

I posted on here only a few weeks ago, that after doing a lengthy Google search, I found out that hormones can indeed affect the bowel.

In my case, I'd been using a topical progesterone cream for post-menopausal night sweats (which worked really well) for about 8 years and all my digestive probs started about 6 months afterwards, but I hadn't previously associated the two.

Apparently, progesterone affects 'gut motility' and inhibits the bowel so that it can't perform properly. It takes between 3 and 6 months to get artificial hormones out of the body so, I stopped using it at once and, 4 months down the line, I find myself about 80% symptom-free and improving daily.

Perhaps you might ask your doctor for a referral to an endocrinologist who will be much better-informed.

Best wishes

Cat

[Barby_1991 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for your reply. I was originally on the depo-provera injections and my symptoms started about 6 months after that but I didn't put the two together. I was then put on nexaplanon and my symptoms were horrendous but every doctor said there was no link. So I just wondered if anyone else had experienced anything similar.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Hi there Pagan1, I didn't realise that hormones could also affect IBS. I have also been using a topical progesterone cream for post-menopausal night sweats and hot flushes which has also worked well for me.

After reading your post I am also going to stop using the cream and see what happens, will of course give it 3 to 6 months to see if there is any effect.

So glad I looked at your post above.

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Well, I most sincerely hope you get a result eventually.

As far as I'm concerned, however unpleasant sweats and flushes are, they're infinitely preferable to not having a clue as to what your bowel is going to do from one minute to the next!

I found that after 3 - 4 weeks of non-use of the progesterone, I started to get a few days together when my bowel problems went away, then they'd come back again and so on. Apparently, this is because the cream stores itself in fatty body tissues and releases in fits and starts, over a period of several months.

I wish you'd keep me posted as to how you get on.

Best wishes,

Cat

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Thank you Cat and will certainly stop using it and agree that I would much rather have hot flushes and unpleasant sweats than have tummy issues. There are times, like all of us on here, that I can feel quite ill with IBS but I don't actually feel ill with hot flushes and sweats.

Flipping shame though that I only received another order a few weeks ago so have loads left. I will probably just bite the bullet and give it away to someone that doesn't have IBS and just stop now.

All the very best

Alicia

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

I think I'd hang on to that cream, Alicia, until you find out if you get any improvement by not using it - you'll kick yourself if you give it away and things remain the same.

I've got a couple of tubes lurking in a drawer somewhere too, but I'm not going to tempt fate by getting rid of them just yet!

[Hidden in reply to Hidden]

Hi Cat, after I had replied on this forum I decided I would stop using it but keep it just in case. You know what it's like, in the spur of the moment you think of one thing, you walk away and re-think so hence deciding I was going to keep it.

[A_IBS]

My NHS Gastro specialist said that there is a link (as I'd suspected).

[Hidden in reply to A_IBS]

It's funny isn't it, it's not until someone mentions something on this site that you can find out that what is working on one condition makes another worse!!

Thank you for sharing

[Aimez_1]

I am 33 with ibs and have been having awful night sweats. Was taken of the pill microgynon 30 in order to have blood tests. In the back of my mind i wondered if the pill was not helping as been on it about 13 years. Ironically my ibs had been settled for about a year and it has come back worse since stopping the pill! Night sweats have gone sort of and need more blood test for liver and thyroid.

[Hidden in reply to Aimez_1]

I wonder if there is something in the pill that has a calming affect on the tummy - I suppose that is possible?

[Aimez_1]

Well my post contradicts itself in a way as had ibs a few years before so not like it began a couple of months ago when I stopped taking it. Depends on the pill the side affects. I have only noticed other side affects now I have stopped taking it as my body is more normal ish!

[Hidden]

Hormones and Enzymes are everything we are as everything starts/comes from them.

They control everything we do