This is one for the ladies! As we all know our time of the month can cause more hassle than it’s worth, what with the cramps and hormones to name a few. I conducted a poll to see if it was just me that found I suffered a lot since my ileostomy (I got sick before my menstrual cycle started so I know no different with my Ulcerative Colitis and didn’t find it got worse after my jpouch surgery) I broadened the result options as I wanted to see if having an auto immune disease or having something else affected it too.
Like I said I was sick before my menstrual cycle started so I don’t know if mine were occasionally worsened because of having Inflammatory Bowel Disease or not, but I know having a sterilisation after Baby Button was born it has become something I actually fear. My cycle has shortened and changes every month, it has become heavier and lasts longer to be truthful I feel wiped out and not just fatigued but exhausted just adjusting my general position feels like I have just ran a marathon. The sterilisation along with having two c-sections is apparently normal for wrecking havoc on your reproductive organs. To be honest I have been sterilised so I won’t be having more children so I think it is fairly rude of my body to put me through this every month.
These are just some of the symptoms that have either worsened or appeared since either having a disease or the surgery:
- higher volume of output
- cramps can become worse
- pressure in “barbie butt”
- nappy rash like soreness around “barbie butt”
- achy legs
- skin break outs
- becoming irregular – either coming more often or less often
- becoming more hormonal
So the question I asked was in “The IBD and Ostomy Support Blogs” Facebook group was “Do you suffer with your time of the month?”
The options that gained no results were as follows:
- no other
- no colostomy
- no urostomy
- yes urostomy
- no ulcerative colitis
This poll was also published in the ‘Double Bagger Ostomy Support Group’ on Facebook by Rachel who blogs at rocking2stomas and she noted that quite a few members with urostomies may have had to have their uterus removed especially if they had a pelvic exenteration due to cancer. However not everybody will have it removed as there are other reasons ostomates may have two stoma’s. The results for the same poll as above are 10 per cent no 10 per cent yes and 79% N/A
This was quite interesting as not everyone who has had surgery or IBD has been affected, yet overwhelmingly most of the women who answered and have an ileostomy said they do suffer. It seems to be an intestine based issue that aggravates our time of the month and maybe that those who have urostomies don’t always have their uterus’s which ultimately means the no longer have a menstrual cycle. In my humble non medical opinion believes it is due to scar tissue that has formed either from IBD or surgery adhesion’s enhance the cramps we already suffer with. Do you suffer or not suffer with your time of the month?
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