Hormones and Your Gut

Navigating your gut health symptoms can be tricky when it feels like there’s no direct trigger. What about your cycle? Have you tracked changes in your digestion along with your menstrual cycle?

Estrogen and progesterone can have impacts on digestion blah blah

Here is a brief overview

Source: Clue App

Let’s start with the menstrual cycle. Day 1 corresponds to the first day of your period and at this time, hormones are at their lowest (estrogen, progesterone and two hormones from your brain luteinizing hormone [LH] and follicle stimulating hormone [FSH]). During this follicular phase, FSH triggers a dominate follicle in the ovary to grow which will eventually start releasing estrogen.

Once estrogen is high enough, it will trigger LH to spike, causing that dominate follicle to release its egg. Tada! Ovulation. That ovarian follicle now turns into a new organ (so cool) called the corpus luteum and will release progesterone. Progesterone rises during the luteal phase and when it is not fertilized with sperm, the uterine lining will shed….aka your period…and the whole cycle starts again.

Hormones & Digestion

These hormones can shift our digestion process too.

One example is progesterone

• as progesterone climbs in the second half of our cycle (the weeks between ovulation and the start of our period) it can slow digestion down

• do you feel more bloated and a bit more constipated before your period? progesterone could be why!

Another example is inflammatory changes

• prostaglandins are hormone-like lipids that function to shed the lining during the bleed

• these can also contribute to pain, cramping and looser stools

Are these changes normal?

A little bit can be, yes. However, always speak with your health care team if you experience a lot of pain, bloating, heavy periods and/or loose stools. Anything that prevents you from doing our daily activities or that is getting worse may not be normal for you.

Also try tracking your cycle! Do you notice any of the changes listed above?

Here are some great cycle tracking apps and devices:

• Clue app

• Natural Cycles

• Flo

• Or your phone, apple or Garmin watch