Females: Period Problems with IBD???

I have been having some very strange periods & this last one is really really bad. It has lasted about twice as long as usual & it is super heavy with huge clots. I was having a lot of problems concerning this IBD a couple weeks ago & don't know if my problem is just a female problem or if it's related to the IBD.... I would love any thoughts from females concerning their cycles...

I called my doc about it & she said to take Motrin. When I questioned her about taking ibuprofen because the GI said not to, she said just a couple times won't matter. It's already really heavy, so I don't want the flow to get heavier, so I am not sure if this is what I should do. She said if it doesn't let up tomorrow, to go to urgent care or the ER. Is that really necessary?

I couldn't vote because mine vary from month to month...but for the most part I would guess mine are med-heavy....as we age our periods tend to change also.

:)

I am with you huckleberry. I usually have one every month for 3-4 days. This one has been nine days. I hate running off to the urgent care, but I would get it checked out if only for peace of mind. I notice mine aren't heavier, but I have a lot more pain for a few days before and during. That has been for the last twelve years with having CD. I don't know if this helps, but if you are at all concerned I would be seen. I'll be thinking of you. One more thing, watch the motrin, you don't want to upset your CD even more.

Kgirlie

I have been going through a pad & super tmpon every 2 hours, so I should be fine. It slows at night, but is constant throughout the day.

I didn't want to, I was really nervous about taking the ibuprofen, but I did anyway because this is getting out of hand. I hope it slows....

Hi, I  have problems with my period, sometimes awfull pain, specially  on my second day i cannot even get up from my bed. A few times i had candidiase just a few days before my period.

Currently on Imuran 100mg, fish oil, vitamin B, folic acid and homeopathic treatment.

I'm pretty sure the Ibuprophen is only for the pain........it won't slow down your period, if anything, it will increase the flow.

Yes, I've had the same weird symptoms..... sometimes early, sometimes very late, twice I skipped it altogether and very clotty. My gyno said it was premenopause so that's what I had been thinking. Several years ago I had a procedure to check the lining of my uterus and they told me because my body wasn't making enough of ... oh, I forget whether it was estrogen or progesterone... I was getting a built up of tissue, hence the clotting.

I'm at the right age for menopause, but if you're younger, I'd go to my gyno first. Maybe if you describe your symptoms, they could work you in right away. Anyway, good luck and let us know what you decide to do.

 I havent been diagnosed with ibd yet, there still going through test. i started going thru menopause at the age of 32(im 46 now). from the time i started having periods at age 15 they were very heavy, painfull and lasted any where from 7-10 days. the cramping would be so bad i would have to go to the er and get a shot. im pretty sure that i had at least a mild to moderate form of crohns then since no one else in my family ever experianced any of this(oh yea i didnt go over 100 lbs untill after high scool and everyone else was overweight(some concidered morbidly obese). from what ive been reading it has something to do woth prostaglandins. it has also been noted that bowl movement increases around menestraton, i firmly believe there is a link since ive stoped having periods(10 years ago) and dont suffer nearly as bad ad before. im looking into finding a female gi since i think they have more compassion and insite as t how discouriging it is when you have symptoms that could have been related but most of the time dismissed. . hoping ang praying that the come out either a more drfinitive test or procedure to diag  this. it really is crappy.  on thing im gratfull for is mine is not so severe that i cannot funtion. i can go to work and muddle thu it enough to collect my paycheck. thank god.

People with Crohns are advised against ibuprophen because it can cause you to bleed more, not less! Your doc probably thought for the short term it may help with pain, but not the bleeding. How old are you? Is it possible that you are having an early miscarriage? If not that, then maybe its a hormone imbalance. You will get anemic, and will need to be seen if this continues.

yeah but please b careful w/the ibuprofen and aleeve as gumby is right. But my cramps get so bad some times i have to pop at least one aleeve to get relief...tylenol doesnt always work

I know about the ibuprofen. I did question my doctor about it when she told me to take it because the GI said NONE, but she said a couple wouldn't hurt me. I wasn't having period cramps, just the normal all the time IBD cramps I have been having so it wasn't for the pain that I took them. Although I though it would make it heavier, it did work & it slowed down that Saturday & had stopped by Sunday!! : ) So, if I have to, next time I will use ibuprofen again since my pcp said it was okay to take once in a while.

It is a bummer that it seems that not only do we have to deal with difficult to talk about bowel problems, but that our female problems are getting worse, too. I have a couple ovarian cysts they are watching that began with all these problems. Wondering if that isn't related to this whole IBD mess, too....?

Huckleberrie, I don't know if ovarian cysts are related or not. I had huge problems with them in my early 20's. I saw pcps every month for over a year. I was only about 20 when I started going in for the pain that I had been receiving since I was 12 or 13. Dad could not afford insurance. I remember leaving school with such bad cramping, going home and sleeping for the rest of the day. I missed so much school that my dad started thinking I was just using it as an excuse to skip school. After I would wake up, I would feel good enought to function, so it did look like I was faking, but I wasn't. Finally he stoped coming to get me because our office was on the 3rd floor and he couldn't get up the steps. Lucky for us, my dad's sister-in-law worked there and talked to someone so I was allowed to go home with a note that Dad had to sign once I got there. When I started working a full time job, I had insurance so I went in. For over a year, they told me the pain was in my head. I even had had a few ultrasounds. Later, I found out that tiny cysts had been showing up, but they assumed they were not big enough to be causing the pain I was telling them about. I talked to my aunt about it because I had started doubling over from the pain at work and she had been noticing it. (We worked right across the table from each other.) She told me that my great grandmother had died from ovarian cancer and asked if I had told them this. I didn't know it before she had told me, so I went in that week again with the pain. The Dr. told me again that it was all in my head and to come back in a few days or next week and let him know if the pain went away. He had his hand on the door knob, just begining to turn it when I said, "Does it matter that my great grandmother died from ovarian cancer?" He spun around, pulled out the bottom drawer to the examining table to get me a gown and said, I'll have a nurse come in and talk to you to set up another ultrasound while I go down the hall to make an appointment with a surgen if something shows up. I think that was on either a Tuesday or a Wednesday. I had an ultrasound done on Thursday, and Friday morning I went in for surgery, they removed a benign tumor the size of a fist from my left ovary. BUT IT WAS ALL IN MY HEAD! My Dad later apologized to me for doubting me. The doctors never did. In fact the surgen left me with a scar that goes from my bellybutton to my...Genitals. Years later when I had my son, my OB/GYN was visibly irate that they had "butchered" me. That is what my OB/GYN told me. He apologized many times that anyone in his profession would do something so horrible to such a young person. After my son was born, and he was again apologizing for the scar even though he had NOTHING to do with it, he said that he pulled an 8 pound baby out of a 3 or 4 inch hole, they should have been able to pull that tumor out in an inch or less. My son is 6. It still bothers my OB/GYN. Sorry this is so long. I get carried away. I still get the cramps before my period, but after the surgery, I had no problems until I was diagnosed with Crohn's.