Birth Control Pill and IBS

Hello everyone,

It's so refreshing to read about other women that suffer from stomach issues and are figuring out its related to birth control. Most doctors laugh at me when I suggest my stomach issues worsen from the pill. I'm 32 and have suffered from what the doctors said was Lactose intolerant, IBS and Colitis.

It started when I was 13 when my doctor put me on the pill for my heavy periods. Every time I complained about my stomach issues, they would tell me it's something new. I spent my days worried I was going to be having to run to the bathroom. Never knowing what foods where going to set me off and upset my system. As I got older, the pain was getting worse and at one point I could not even keep up with the med's the doctors had me on. After seeing many doctors, gastro's and natural paths, I figured out it was birth control. I went off the pill about 2 years ago now and felt amazing. It was like a new world. Not being sick and being able to eat what I want without worrying.javascript:emoticon('XD');

I am now in a serious relationship and went back to trying hormones. I started with Nuvo ring and within one week, I could feel all my symptoms coming back. Next my doctor tried me on Micronor. She claimed this might work for me. After 8 days of being on this new pill, I am back to square one. On day 6, I sat there thinking "I can't believe I felt like this for so many years.....SICK". There is something to be said for quality of life. Until someone experiences the pain and the running to the bathroom all the time. They really have no idea how bad it is! Not fun! So my last option is a Diaphragm and the Copper IUD. I got the Diaphragm and am going to give it a try.

Still reading about the Copper IUD. So far the heavy periods and cramps don't interest me!! Anyone tried the Copper IUD?

ckr32

ive been on the pill for 8m and ibs symptoms started i went off the pill 4 days ago and they gotten even worse for the people it helped did this happen to you before it got better

After four years of taking the pill (Yasmin and Yaz) having a weak stomach and getting sick/gastro really easily, i stopped taking the pill. Its been 12months now and I havnt had a case of gastro or anything.. which is how I used to be. I also have much less flatulance, which i didnt really notice that much until now, and now i think maybe that wasnt normal. I had some pretty bad detox effects coming off the pill, and in some ways I wish i could still take it, but I was sick of being sick all the time and was desperate to be healthly again. If your going to come off it I would recommend doing things to cleanse your system to detox quicker. See a natural health practioner, or do things like drink water with lemon, eat foods high in fibre, foods like chia seeds are good for fibre to detox and boost your levels of omegas 3 & 6.

Hi, I have Endometrioses as well. Just starting to tke Yasmin, just to relieve me of my symtoms for a couple of months. I have tried many things in the past. What works the best, and I will get back to it from now on,(when I get in the habit again I will stop the pill) is a combination of the right foods and energy medicine (get enough rest, find out how to maintain your own energy).

It's not only what you Don't eat ( no dairy, coffee etc) but very important : what you DO eat. You need a diet which is hormone regulating. There's plenty of food out there that helps with reducing estrogen, for example brocoli. I found a website which i very helpful and they offer a programme to help you be relieved of any endo symptoms. Look for Flo living. Otherwise there's plenty of information to be found on the web.



And by the way, have been taking Yasmin for two days, and I have IBS symtoms!

i think it has to do with the hormones in ur digestive tract

Hi, I have IBS which developed while i was on the pill but i was also taking some antibiotics for a bacteria in my stomach, so its not clear was caused it. So i came off the pill and some of my symptoms have improved though i still have IBS. But i have terrible period pains, like really bad. I cry and bawl when i have my period and have to get a strong injection from the hospital. But i never had such bad pains when i was on the pill. My period was predictable, less painful and more pleasant though there was some clotting. I dont know what to do. I want to consider going back on the pill for my period pain but i dont want my IBS to get worse. I have been to the doctors but noone seems to know what to do and i have to go on a trip and will be expecting my period around the same time. I dont know what to do, it is so troubling. I dont want to have to be in such bad period pain when i am on the plane or something and will have to be crying. 

My IBS is different to alot of people. I have alot of food intolerances. Cant eat so many things but when i avoid these foods i am ok. But the cramping is horrible when i do get it. The diarrhea is painful. Cant eat many fruits because i also get pain in my stomach lining. (Mild gastritis). Cant eat tomatoes, onion, garlic, ketchup, chocolate, coffee, soft drinks, tea, oranges, apples, prunes, nuts, kfc etc....

 

Somebody please help me. Tell me what to do. Tell me if its safe to go back on the pill for my period pain.

Get to your doctor soon. Over the counter meds will not help you. My daughter was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis and ulcers and my 2nd daughter has yet to be diagnosed but has been through dozens of tests with similar symptoms that you are having. The only thing they have in common that I could determine was birth control (which both of them have always been highly sensitive to).

I am 20 years old and start taking yasmine when I was 17. About a year and a half ago i started having very mild IBS symptoms, I was able to deal with it through cutting out dairy and taking probiotics. About 3 months ago I switch BCP and started taking tri cyclelone  and thats when my symptoms got worst.  For the past month had a serious flare up in symptoms, i have tried different supplements and have even gone gluten free on top of my already dairy free diet, and i still have symptoms. I am going to the doctors this week to ask about my options but after reading this discussion I am sure i will be going off BCP. 

I have just come across this feed and found it highly interesting especially after recent events myself.  I have been on the pill for nearly 20 years and suffered with ibs for 10 years.  The past 18 months have been the worse.  I have ended up in A&E about 5 times due to the immense abdominal pain I have been experiencing.  After a LOT of tests, MRI's, cameras etc, it has been concluded that it is my ibs causing the severe cramps and spasms in my stomach all related to my ibs.  I have recently been experiencing symptons which suggest I should stop the pill and last week when at the doctors was told that if you suffer from ibs you should not take the pill.  The reason being is that it is something that is taken orally, and therefore goes through your digestive system, so when you already suffer from a chronic condition i.e. ibs you shouldnt take anything orally as anything will affect the ibs.  I have now come off of the pill and am hoping for my severe ibs symptons to decrease.  Watch this space.

I have also recently started a powerhooping class.  Its a weighted hula hoop that is bumpy on the part that hoolas around your body.  The intructor is an ibs sufferer and has been for 10 years, being crippled with pain.  Since powerhooping her symptons have dramtically reduced to the point where she doesnt even notice her ibs anymore.  The reason, the powerhoop has the bumpy bits inside the hoop that you are hulaing and it massages all your tummy, breaking down any excess gas, keeping your tummy movement and therefore not causing you to be bunged up.  I am hoping the same happens for me, again watch this space.

Forums like these are very very useful to help fellow ibs suffers.  Its not a life threatening illness but it does affect every day of our lives and I find it a very embarrassing condition to suffer from as the effects are totally out of your control.

I will come back here in 2 months and let you all know how not taking the pill and a different form has exercise has/hasn't helped.

xxx

Hi. I can completely relate to your situation. I am 24 and was also on the pill since 16. I've gained about 20 pounds within 2 months of being on the pill and over the past several years my digestive system has increasing become an issue... to the point it was nearly unbearable. This included severe constipation, gas, severe abdominal pain and bloating. I lost the 20 pounds about as fast as I gained it by cutting my calorie intake to the point it was unhealthy and excerising even more than I was initally. And for some reason, I don't know why I never related the pill to the weight gain; maybe because it was kind of a gradual process. I found that after eating more (usually on the weekends), come Monday morning I had such severe abdominal pain/bloating it was unbearable. I was put on prescription laxatives for years and I started having trouble eating certain things. It seemed like my stomach/digestive system was becoming sensative to everything. As the years went by I continued to eat less and less to keep any kind of weight off.... it was miserable. I've undergone all kinds of tests and went to all kinds of doctors but no one could answer my question... until I answered it myself. After being on the pill for 7.5 years, I found that my last option would be to try getting off the pill. I was always so hesitant because of the obvious. Once I was out of graduate school I decided I was finally in a posiiton to try. Within days I noticed a difference! No cramping, bloating, or discomfort! I has no idea that birth control could ever cause digestive problems. I've been off the pill for over 2.5 months and feel great. My chiropracter told me that getting off the pill was the best thing I could have done... he never wanted to tell me to get off the pill because it's not his place to tell his patients what to do and in a round-about way I understood that he doesn't want to the be influence that leads to unplanned pregnancies. He said he wished all the women that walk through his door could hear my story... Birth control is foreign to your body and its not suppose to be there, (although I do support its cause) so of course its going to disrupt the normal functioning of your body. My chiropracter went on to tell me about all of its repercussions. He says that it may take 6 months to a year to get my system back to its natural functioning and eat normally.

Just to share my experience: I am 24 and started birth control when I was 20. The first year was great on the low dose pill Aviane (generic for Allesse). I had normal cycles, VERY light flow and hardly any cramping during my period. I didn't even gain weight, if anything I lost weight. Then things started getting progressively worse. My period began getting more and more heavy each month, the cramps got worse and worse and I developed a weird, embarassing stabbing pain in my rectum that came and went with my cycle. (Now, it is more persistent, basically hurting around the clock.) Also, I developed a dermoid ovarian cyst last summer, which was surgically removed this past December by my new gyno. I had hoped I had some endometriosis tissue growing near or around my rectum or small intestine that would explain the rectal pain, but my gyno found nothing. I have been seeing a GI specialist since last September who comes highly recommended and even he has no idea why my rectum hurts this bad and why it happens more so during my period. I recently switched bc pills from Aviane to Apri and now to a generic for Seasonique because of the horrible periods I have had post-surgery and this pill (Seasonique) seems to aggravate my bowel immediately after swallowing it. I fully believe the cause of my pain and IBS symptoms is the birth control pill. Before I started taking bc, I was happy, healthy, active and pain-free besides my awful menstrual cramps and heavy flow. But I would rather deal with that than experience the excruciating pain I feel in my rectum every day, which started only a year after I began birth control. Thinking about stopping BC completely, living naturally and controlling my PCOS and PMDD with exercise, a good diet and good friends to support me.

I am researching to find if there is a link between IBS and the contraceptive pill as mine sparked around the same time I started taking it. So stumbling across your post gives me hope!
I have a question - when you say yours was certainly caused by the pill, does this mean you have come off it and no longer have IBS symptoms?

Thank you so much!