Gastrointestinal Distress

Women that are experiencing menopause had reported gastrointestinal distress that is causing depressing symptoms such as bloating, indigestion and flatulence. The gastrointestinal distress symptoms can be painful and also make women feeling uncomfortable in their social life.

When it comes to menopause, hormonal changes can be associated to the symptoms whether directly or indirectly. Gastrointestinal distress is no exception. Estrogen is a gastrointestinal stimulant and its erratic production levels during menopause may cause distress to your bowels.

In addition to estrogen imbalance, your liver is often overworked due to overproduction of some hormones (LH and FSH in particular) during menopause. Since the liver needs to break down and recycle these hormones, its capacity to help the digestive functions becoming less efficient. High dosage of progesterone hormone can also cause bloating so if you are on progesterone therapy, assess its suitability and dosage.

If you feel that you have gastrointestinal distress, try to establish a regular eating times as well as regular times to ease yourself in the toilet. It may help your digestive systems to develop a routine so that it produces the right amount of digestive gas at the right time. Light rhythmic exercise, especially walking can smoothen the peristalsis action in the intestine and relieves digestive gas.

Bloating is one common type of gastrointestinal distress. It can happen when the bacteria that live in the intestines are producing excess intestinal gas leaving the feeling of full stomach or bloating even though you have not eaten anything. Reduce your high sugar content food consumption as it can promote the growth of bacteria in your intestines.

Another type of gastrointestinal distress is indigestion. The most common reason is lactose (milk sugar) intolerance due to lack of the intestinal enzyme lactase. If the intolerance is causing the indigestion, eliminating milk, milk solids, whey, casein and lactose containing food from your diet may help. This is usually temporary and keeping your digestive system free from lactose will give it time to recover.

Eating right with plenty of vegetables and omega-3 rich foods helps not only to the digestive system but also to the overall health.

Try to eat yogurt to relieve you from gastrointestinal distress. It is rich with lactobacillus bacteria that are useful organisms to your gastrointestinal tract. Go for soft foods such as soups and sauces to lighten your bowels burden. Soy milk is recommended not only does it helps in balancing your estrogen levels and relieving menopause symptoms, it does not contain lactose and can be used as a substitute during indigestion period.

Herbs can also be used to give relief to gastrointestinal distress. Herbal tea such as dandelion and garden sage can ease the pain as well as promoting good digestive health. Dong quai, black cohosh, motherwort are also beneficial to the digestion system and provide relief to many other menopause symptoms at the same time.

In all cases, you should always refer to your doctor to get professional advice. It is always the best practice to engage your doctor in getting the right treatment.