This is a simple fix, i would have to brace myself the pain was so bad sometimes, never passed out though, kinda wish i did, anyway do a couple of crunches and side stretches for like 5 mins before you have a bowel movement during your period, it takes away the cramps seriously took me a couple years to figure out this simple solution, sometimes i lean side to side whilst on the toilet and that rocking motion reduces the pain so much or eliminates it completely.(only do that if you forgot to do the crunches before you sat down to do your business.) i honestly thought i was the only one suffering from this.
I cannot believe you just described the whole tampon thing I thought I was CRAZY!!! I feel the exact same symptoms, it does feel like I'm pooping a razor blaze I have to hold back sometimes and I fall on the floor with sever pain!! I have had a laporoscopy and they found very little endometriosis on my bladder, a tiny bit on my ovary and they removed like a little cyst. I also have fertility problems, but the doc said it's not do to endo cause it was so little. He never did check my bowels though, or behind the uterus!! I bet that must be it. Did you get anymore testing done? I will go back to the doctor now that I know I'm not crazy and hopefully come back with more info.
Hi ladies! I am so glad that i am not alone!!! After saying that, i want to mention the one thing that i have found to help with this horrible pain. Like many of you, i have had these pains for a number of years (i am now 26 years old). While i cant seem to find a doctor who will do much to figure out the root of the problem, i did have one doctor who had suggested that the pain may be a reaction to too big of a drop in estrogen. I have been on birth control since i was about 17 for bad cramps, so i have only experienced the intestinal pain while on birth control pills. In order to try to lessen the drop off of estrogen, my doctor switched me from a 30mcg pill to a 20mcg pill. While i still have the pains (through my entire period!), i have found this to help lessen the severity of the pain. I have found LoEstrin, Mircette and Yaz to all be good options. Unfortunately, i too am still looking for a better solution to this problem, but for those of you out there who are not on BC or are on a higher estrogen pill, you may want to look into a low estrogen pill. Good luck to all of you! I hope that we can find a solution soon!!
At the moment I'm mainly working on adding fibre to my diet. My mum bought me some fibre capsules and I'm planning on taking these during the week I have my period to see if it helps any. Gonna post results when I have my next period in about 6 weeks.
This is what I do recommend ^. Go to your doctor and ask if they can put you on the three-pack cycle of birth control pills. At the moment I run three packs of the 21-pill without the week gap in between, which means I have one period every 9 weeks.
It's a great improvement on having one every month I tell you, and while it took a few months for my body to adjust at the moment I no longer have severe pains during the week where I'd normally be menstruating. If anyone's on the pill then it could be a good way forward.
As for which BC pills are best, I agree that low estrogen are probably better. I myself am on LoEstorin and it's the best of the three I've tried so far. While I'm aware that pills are different for every person, I'd warn women away from YASMIN - I've heard a lot about negative side effects, and in my case it made me nauseous for a whole week until I stopped taking it. Hope this helps some people, I myself am waiting to get a Laproscopy done because no medication has made any difference.
- L.
This is what I do recommend ^. Go to your doctor and ask if they can put you on the three-pack cycle of birth control pills. At the moment I run three packs of the 21-pill without the week gap in between, which means I have one period every 9 weeks.
It's a great improvement on having one every month I tell you, and while it took a few months for my body to adjust at the moment I no longer have severe pains during the week where I'd normally be menstruating. If anyone's on the pill then it could be a good way forward.
As for which BC pills are best, I agree that low estrogen are probably better. I myself am on LoEstorin and it's the best of the three I've tried so far. While I'm aware that pills are different for every person, I'd warn women away from YASMIN - I've heard a lot about negative side effects, and in my case it made me nauseous for a whole week until I stopped taking it. Hope this helps some people, I myself am waiting to get a Laproscopy done because no medication has made any difference.
- L.
Iti s actually getting worse the last two months when i have a bowel movement i can barely walkk for a few hours after. I cry bc i cant take the pain. Last night my left side was getting numb/tingly. My dr said to go to the er but they wont do anything bc I do have my period and it only happens then. My ob did an internal sono and ruled out endometriosis but what can this be. It is not normal. Even when my stool is soft it hurts. Passing gas now hurts too.
:$
I am so glad I found this, I was starting to think I was the only person in the world that has this problem. Mine has been the for the last year or so and the last two months also it has got worse, to the point of being frightened to leave the house incase I am doubled up in pain and someone thinks I am having a heart attack or something. I am going to take on board some of the comments re: diet and fitness and see how it goes, thanks ladies for your honest comments.
I am so glad I found this, I was starting to think I was the only person in the world that has this problem. Mine has been the for the last year or so and the last two months also it has got worse, to the point of being frightened to leave the house incase I am doubled up in pain and someone thinks I am having a heart attack or something. I am going to take on board some of the comments re: diet and fitness and see how it goes, thanks ladies for your honest comments.
I have all of these symptoms also. I have a laprascopic surgery scheduled on Tues, Feb 24th to see what the problem is. The doctors are guessing endometriosis. I will keep you all posted!
I HONESTLY THOUGHT I WAS THE ONLY ONE WHO FELT LIKE THIS DURING THE FIRST TWO DAYS OF MY PERIOD...IM a healthy 20yr old..ive been having these pains for the past two years.. and it only comes right before my period and/or during the first two days of my period..i haven't seen a doctor about it..but i really want to friend out if there is any way to reduce the pain..because its isnt the best feeling in the world!
Dear Ladies,
I too suffered the same thing and it has been going on for years now. Once in a while, I get pain with bowel during menstruation.
But just 3 days ago, on the third morning of my menses, I almost passed out. The pain was like labour pain. I burst out in cold sweat. My husband helped me to the toilet and the pain miraculously went away after my bowel. I wonder if it is the same with anyone of you.
Please share your experience. Thanks.
I too suffered the same thing and it has been going on for years now. Once in a while, I get pain with bowel during menstruation.
But just 3 days ago, on the third morning of my menses, I almost passed out. The pain was like labour pain. I burst out in cold sweat. My husband helped me to the toilet and the pain miraculously went away after my bowel. I wonder if it is the same with anyone of you.
Please share your experience. Thanks.
Wow! I am so glad I found this discussion! I thought I was a freak. I've been test for endometriosis...nope, not the answer. I came across something because of another health issue. I can not drink coffee with caffeine. I can drink decaf coffee and tea with caffeine though, go figure. This month I have a had a hectic schedule and needed my java. I am paying for it now. I hope this helps!
Hello fellow pain sufferers! I am 34 years old and have 2 children - the last by emergency c-section. I seem to have very similar symptoms to alot of people here - excruciating pain on the first day of period (I often have a morphine injection at the doctors just so as I can sleep through the worst!), extremely painful bowel movements, painful wees, farts and general discomfort in the lower right side of my abdomen. I often feel the need to poo when there is nothing to come - it hurts to sit down too!
It started only after my last birth (the c-section - I've often wondered if there is a connection!?!) and has continually worsened over the last 5 years. I have been for 2 scans - am now due for a camera to find what they think is endometriosis. To date they have found nothing - but the pain is so bad now I have only about 2 weeks off of it a month - if that!!
I will post the results to my laperoscopy - hopefully it will help any of you still wondering what on earth all the pain is for!!
It started only after my last birth (the c-section - I've often wondered if there is a connection!?!) and has continually worsened over the last 5 years. I have been for 2 scans - am now due for a camera to find what they think is endometriosis. To date they have found nothing - but the pain is so bad now I have only about 2 weeks off of it a month - if that!!
I will post the results to my laperoscopy - hopefully it will help any of you still wondering what on earth all the pain is for!!
I'm 24yrs old and have sufferered from horrendous cramps during menstruation for years! Over the last couple of years I have experienced painful bowel movements and gas, to the point where I'm almost passing out! I have been to see my doctor several times due to this, and have been sent away with different anti-inflammatorys to try; all of which have no effect what so ever! I have also been trying to get pregnant for 18 months wth no success. Both me and my partner have been tested (sperm and ovulation) both of which seem fine, so I'm starting to panic now! My mother suffers from endo, is it likely that I have endo too? This would explain my agony each month and the fact that I'm not pregnant yet!
I have just found this forum and like many of you on here cannot believe there are other women that have the exact same symptoms as me!
I am 23, I gave birth to my daughter 2 1/2 years ago and have only started with these symptoms since then.
When I get my period the first day I get sharp stabbing pains shoot up my bottom and vagina and have extremely painfull lower belly ache. The slightest movement sets this off. Pulling out a tampon is one of the worst pains I have felt, about on par with labour! Passing wind is horendous and going for a poo is too unbearable to think about during the first 2 days.
I have previously been on BC pills, have tried coming off them under doctors advice, have been back on them as the pain isn't quite as bad when I've been on them. Since I have had my baby my body just doesn't seem right. Surley periods alone can't cause this much pain, especially up my bottom?
I have had ultrasounds and smears done over the past couple of years and these have always come back normal.
I found out a couple of years ago I have intolerances to certain foods, like wheat, caffine and milk. I have been trying to stay off these foods as much as possible and have also recently been trying to eat more fruit, veg and just eat more healthily. I am under alot of stress at the moment as my husband has lost lots of work so I am having to work more. My job is very stressful, although it's just office based I work in a child abuse unit for the police.
I will go back to my doctor this week and see what they suggest. I am just fed up of having so much pain each month. Now I have some ammo that there are other women that have and are suffering from the same thing. I will let you know what they say.
If anyone has any ideas or what their doctors have said in the past please let us know.
I am 23, I gave birth to my daughter 2 1/2 years ago and have only started with these symptoms since then.
When I get my period the first day I get sharp stabbing pains shoot up my bottom and vagina and have extremely painfull lower belly ache. The slightest movement sets this off. Pulling out a tampon is one of the worst pains I have felt, about on par with labour! Passing wind is horendous and going for a poo is too unbearable to think about during the first 2 days.
I have previously been on BC pills, have tried coming off them under doctors advice, have been back on them as the pain isn't quite as bad when I've been on them. Since I have had my baby my body just doesn't seem right. Surley periods alone can't cause this much pain, especially up my bottom?
I have had ultrasounds and smears done over the past couple of years and these have always come back normal.
I found out a couple of years ago I have intolerances to certain foods, like wheat, caffine and milk. I have been trying to stay off these foods as much as possible and have also recently been trying to eat more fruit, veg and just eat more healthily. I am under alot of stress at the moment as my husband has lost lots of work so I am having to work more. My job is very stressful, although it's just office based I work in a child abuse unit for the police.
I will go back to my doctor this week and see what they suggest. I am just fed up of having so much pain each month. Now I have some ammo that there are other women that have and are suffering from the same thing. I will let you know what they say.
If anyone has any ideas or what their doctors have said in the past please let us know.
Hi Ladies, following my previous post a couple of days ago I have now been to the doctors. The doctor thought I might have endometreosis (sorry if I've spelt this worng) on my colon. She has put me on the combined pill and told me to go back and see her in 1 months time to see how I am doing. She will then examin me and refer me to a gynacologist if she thinks they can hep any further. Will kept you posted as to how I get on. If anyone has had a similar experience please let us know what the outcome was in the end.
Like many others, I am SO glad to have found this thread! Here is my story as briefly as possible, with a bit of background:
I am 31 and have never been pregnant. I started my period at 13 and had regular, 28 day, cycles that aired on the heavy side from the beginning. Bowel movements during menstruation were uncomfortable at worst from time to time, something that my sister and others I have spoken to say they experience as well. I remember having what turned out to be normal cramping before and during my very first period. ("Welcome to womanhood," my mom said.) Anyhoo...
All was normal and consistent from my very first period until one night when I was about 27. During intercourse with my boyfriend, suddenly I felt as if he had hit something inside of me and was absolutely jolted by a stabbing, intense uterine pain. I had never experienced any pain or discomfort associated with intercourse or tampon use before this incident. The pain was so bad that we stopped immediately. I laid there in intense pain for a few minutes, literally writhing and grimacing trying to bear it. I stood up a few minutes later and took a few steps, went white, broke into a cold, clammy sweat and sat right back down on the floor because I could feel myself passing out. It took me a few minutes to gather myself before I could get up, get some water and get back to bed. The rest of the night was filled with tears and miserable pain that slowly seemed to migrate from my reproductive organs down to my bowels, resulting in an extreme amount of pain associated with sitting and having bowel movements. I also could not stand up straight for at least 2 days. The entire ordeal lasted for 5 days. I have never felt anything more painful in my life and even had to miss work as a result.
From beginning to end, the pain follows a distinct evolution that has been exactly the same all of the handfull of times this has happened to me. The pain starts in reproductive organs then migrates to the bowels causing excrutiating bowel movements, extreme pain when sitting in a normal position, and a feeling of pressure, bloating and fullness in the lower abdomen as if filled with gas, though this never seems to be the case. My abdomen is also extremely sensitive to any physical pressure during this time. The bowel pain peaks and then begins to subside somewhat. Then slowly, the pain continues to migrate upward into my stomach where it morphs into a feeling much like the cramping of food poisoning, if you have ever experienced that. I have described it as feeling like someone has their hand in my stomach and is intermittently gripping very tightly and releasing. At this point the stomach and bowel pain continue to slowly diminish and then the episode is over, usually over the course of 3-7 days.
There are several aspects about these episodes that are very confusing to me. First is that I am uncertain of the cause. Twice it has been obviously caused by the feeling of something being "hit" during intercourse. However, after the first episode that began during intercourse, the second one began AFTER my very next period. It started with cramping that felt like PRE-menstural cramps but intensified into the evolution of symptoms described above. I had a couple of unbearable periods following the "post-period incident" that involved my usual menstural cramps escalating into this unusual pain cycle. For a couple of years, I would inconsistently go through this, seemingly with no rhyme or reason to the cause. The final time this happened to me, to my shock and horror, the pain lasted AN ENTIRE MONTH! All symptoms were the same except this time around I was a slave to these excrutiating bowel movements that would come on suddenly and urgently, making work and public outings very stressful indeed. It was at this time that I starting exploring the possibilty that this might be IBS. But after a month, it went away and has never returned, so my search for answers kind of fell by the wayside. However, within the past year, I have noticed that tampon insertion/removal has become (bearably) uncomfortable in a way that seems to be a nod to all this previous horror. It had never been a problem for me before aside from when this pain event was ocurring. This got me wondering and I ended up back on the internet searching for elusive answers once again.
My biggest frustration over all of this is the lack of answers. I am hearing the same frustration coming from many people in this thread. I did end up seeing 3 doctors when I was 27, all within the one year or so that this repeatedly happened. Not one of them could find anything wrong and two of them dismissed what I was experiencing as normal. No one on earth will ever convince me that this kind of tremendous, incapacitating, out-of-the-blue pain is normal. I cross my fingers that it won't happen again, but I always have the nagging feeling that something is very wrong and is being missed, and the fear that it could recur at any time. Thank you all for your stories...it's nice to get some validation. I hope my story may give the same kind of clues and insight to others that I feel I am finding here for myself. I will post anything I may learn in the future in regards to this issue and hope others will do the same!
I am 31 and have never been pregnant. I started my period at 13 and had regular, 28 day, cycles that aired on the heavy side from the beginning. Bowel movements during menstruation were uncomfortable at worst from time to time, something that my sister and others I have spoken to say they experience as well. I remember having what turned out to be normal cramping before and during my very first period. ("Welcome to womanhood," my mom said.) Anyhoo...
All was normal and consistent from my very first period until one night when I was about 27. During intercourse with my boyfriend, suddenly I felt as if he had hit something inside of me and was absolutely jolted by a stabbing, intense uterine pain. I had never experienced any pain or discomfort associated with intercourse or tampon use before this incident. The pain was so bad that we stopped immediately. I laid there in intense pain for a few minutes, literally writhing and grimacing trying to bear it. I stood up a few minutes later and took a few steps, went white, broke into a cold, clammy sweat and sat right back down on the floor because I could feel myself passing out. It took me a few minutes to gather myself before I could get up, get some water and get back to bed. The rest of the night was filled with tears and miserable pain that slowly seemed to migrate from my reproductive organs down to my bowels, resulting in an extreme amount of pain associated with sitting and having bowel movements. I also could not stand up straight for at least 2 days. The entire ordeal lasted for 5 days. I have never felt anything more painful in my life and even had to miss work as a result.
From beginning to end, the pain follows a distinct evolution that has been exactly the same all of the handfull of times this has happened to me. The pain starts in reproductive organs then migrates to the bowels causing excrutiating bowel movements, extreme pain when sitting in a normal position, and a feeling of pressure, bloating and fullness in the lower abdomen as if filled with gas, though this never seems to be the case. My abdomen is also extremely sensitive to any physical pressure during this time. The bowel pain peaks and then begins to subside somewhat. Then slowly, the pain continues to migrate upward into my stomach where it morphs into a feeling much like the cramping of food poisoning, if you have ever experienced that. I have described it as feeling like someone has their hand in my stomach and is intermittently gripping very tightly and releasing. At this point the stomach and bowel pain continue to slowly diminish and then the episode is over, usually over the course of 3-7 days.
There are several aspects about these episodes that are very confusing to me. First is that I am uncertain of the cause. Twice it has been obviously caused by the feeling of something being "hit" during intercourse. However, after the first episode that began during intercourse, the second one began AFTER my very next period. It started with cramping that felt like PRE-menstural cramps but intensified into the evolution of symptoms described above. I had a couple of unbearable periods following the "post-period incident" that involved my usual menstural cramps escalating into this unusual pain cycle. For a couple of years, I would inconsistently go through this, seemingly with no rhyme or reason to the cause. The final time this happened to me, to my shock and horror, the pain lasted AN ENTIRE MONTH! All symptoms were the same except this time around I was a slave to these excrutiating bowel movements that would come on suddenly and urgently, making work and public outings very stressful indeed. It was at this time that I starting exploring the possibilty that this might be IBS. But after a month, it went away and has never returned, so my search for answers kind of fell by the wayside. However, within the past year, I have noticed that tampon insertion/removal has become (bearably) uncomfortable in a way that seems to be a nod to all this previous horror. It had never been a problem for me before aside from when this pain event was ocurring. This got me wondering and I ended up back on the internet searching for elusive answers once again.
My biggest frustration over all of this is the lack of answers. I am hearing the same frustration coming from many people in this thread. I did end up seeing 3 doctors when I was 27, all within the one year or so that this repeatedly happened. Not one of them could find anything wrong and two of them dismissed what I was experiencing as normal. No one on earth will ever convince me that this kind of tremendous, incapacitating, out-of-the-blue pain is normal. I cross my fingers that it won't happen again, but I always have the nagging feeling that something is very wrong and is being missed, and the fear that it could recur at any time. Thank you all for your stories...it's nice to get some validation. I hope my story may give the same kind of clues and insight to others that I feel I am finding here for myself. I will post anything I may learn in the future in regards to this issue and hope others will do the same!