to the girls: Menstrual period and UC

i would say that since you had a heavy period for over a month and then no period that you could have polycystic ovarian syndrome. You really should contact your gyno because a period that lasts that long is never normal. I have a friend that would experience 5-7 week long periods and then go for months without one. She had PCOS and eventually other things started to go wrong and she had to have surgery. I don't want to scare you or anything, but definitely talk to you gyno about it.

As far as flaring with your period, i kinda get that. for probably 5 years now I've experience diarrhea as PMS symptom that always lessens after my period is over. Since being diagnosed with UC it hasn't changed, but it always makes me go, oh no am i flaring? but then i remember that i've had D with my period for much longer than I've had UC. It could be something like that or maybe cramping of the uterus making you colon a little upset as well. Since you still are on pred, i wouldn't think you'd need to up the dose right away. If your period lasts more than a week call the gyno and get checked out and ask if there could be any link with UC and a longer period or a flare. Or call your GI and ask that before going to the gyno, but either way, if your period starts getting really long again, see your gyno, it just shouldn't be that long.

I did go to the obgyn when I had that period that lasted a month and she did an ultrasound and exam and everything and found nothing. I have even had my yearly exam done at my family doctor and all was okay so I am hoping that things are still good. I have written off the irregular period to this UC and kinda put it on the back burner until I started to flare and then my period came. So, I am not really concerned with my period as I am whether it is contributing to this flare that I am having. By the way, when I went to the obgyn, she suggested, perhaps, having my uterus burned.............that didn't sound like much fun. She said that it usually stops the cycle all together. That is tempting now........especially if this flare is associated with me starting my period. I just know that controlling this UC every day is tough enough that if my period is going to make it worse then I would be more than happy to eliminate it. I am 40 yrs old and have 3 children so no more child-bearing for me anyways.

thanks so much for your posts.

Tabitha-
When you do get a period, though, do you flare? I have had 3 things going on prior to the flare: I went down to 5mg a couple days before along with I got a cold and then a few days after the flare started.......I got my period. I am just trying to figure out (ha, ha - like we can figure it out) whether it was the 5mg on prednisone or the cold I got (that I am almost over with) or my period. Who knows, maybe it was all three that triggered it. I just want it to go away.

If I can get through this "flare" without having to increase my prednisone................it would be a 1st and a miracle because I have never had a small flare. I have a small flare that gets totally out of control - so out of control that either I increase my prednisone or end up in the hospital. But, I do think that my UC has gotten less severe over the past 1 1/2 (since diagnosed) so hopefully I can do it this time. I will definately celebrate big if my body will do it this time because then I may finally be able to get off this prednisone. I am finally feeling the moon face go away so it would really hurt my feelings to have to go back up....................it feels like such a set back to taper and taper and then go back up to just start all over again.

thanks

During my period I would have increased symptoms, but I wouldn't call them "flares" because a flare to me is full blown out of remission d and all that lovely crap (no pun intended ). Its definitely a common problem with UCers. My primary dr ended up putting me on birth control to control my hormones and that was in 10th grade and I'm a freshman in college now and haven't had much of a problem since. I do tend to get horrible gas cramps though...
I hope things start to turn around for you! :)

Thanks Sherry - that procedure is what they spoke to me about also so it is good to hear from someone that had it done. It does sound like no fun but to be rid of all the drama that a period potentially seems to bring with this UC may be a solution for me also.

thanks to everyone for all of your posts

Around the time I was diagnosed with UC I read an article concerning women's weight & its effect on menstruation. No longer remember the author or publication it appeared in, but do recall that it gave 100 lbs as a kind of threshold-- for puberty in girls AND for irregularity of periods/cessation in females experiencing rapid weight loss. There were references to World War II-era female concentration camp survivors who had attributed cessation of their periods during incarceration to drugs they thought the Germans put into whatever slop they were fed. Post-war analysis by medical experts attributed the cessation of periods to weight loss & concommitent loss of nutrients. This makes sense, too, for patients with chronic GI ailments. / Old Hat (nearly 30 yrs with left-sided UC; currently on 3 Colazal daily for maintenance of remission)