Question for menstruating people

Do your symtoms flare before/during your period? I know that "period poops" are a thing even for women without UC, but do you ever have rectal bleeding before/during your period?

I mostly feel like I'm in remission, except at the end of the month I have some pain on my left side, weirder bm, and even rectal bleeding. I've finally started to realize that it seems to coincide with other menstral cycle symtpoms (it tooks some time to recognize becuase I switched from oral bc to an IUD. I don't get periods on either, but with the IUD I now have PMS but without the more obvious and confirmatory period).

I've stopped panicking every 4 weeks that I'm starting to flare and that my drugs aren't working anymore. I'm pretty confident that these symptoms have to do with my menstral cycle, but I wonder if there is anything I can do about it. I'm planning to go back on to oral birth control in hope it will help.

Anyone else encounter this? Thanks!

Hello! I was on oral contraception for seven years in my twenties but haven't been for about 12 years now. My UC symptoms began around the time I stopped hormonal birth control.

I was also flare-free during my pregnancies and while I breastfed babies, as far as I can recall.

I don't get UC flares with bleeding or mucous, but I do get looser period poops around the time of menstruation. For about a year I was getting left-side pain mid-cycle (like at ovulation time), which is another hormonal shift moment in the cycle. This went on for nearly a year before I slid into a proper bad flare. Since starting Entyvio last March, I haven't been getting the left side pain with my cycle, but I DO have increased SI joint pain at both the middle and end of my cycle for a few days. My rheumatologist says this is fairly common.

Just anecdotally, it seems like a deeper remission means the UC flare symptoms don't happen with the cycle shifts, but I'd be interested to hear others' experiences.

I also wish there were more research on women's hormonal cycles and their relationships to inflammation and autoimmune disease. Was just talking with a friend last night about how sorely lacking these studies are, compared to other bodily issues.

I always flared before and during my period before I got on Inflectra. Now it doesn’t happen

I have found that the Humira I'm on totally eliminated my normally severe cramps. I do still get the occasional bad cramp around the heaviest flow day, but CBD helps slow down the cramping a lot. Caveat is that the dose required for calming the cramping can be a bit psychoactive. For some that's a plus, others not so much.