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We need to start talking about period poop
Period poop is one of those things that nobody talks about a lot, but many people experience. My anecdotal experience confirms this: mention “period poop” to a group of menstruating people and you will hear a variety of stories, complaints, jokes and questions. But now, for the first time, science has corroborated my guess that period poop is a supercommon phenomenon, although little reported. A total of 37% of people report having diarrhea during the period, according to findings recently released from a study of 6,141 participants by Apple, Harvard School of Public Health TH Chan and NIEHS. Unfortunately, there is a lack of research on menstrual symptoms, especially the lesser known ones, such as diarrhea. If you search on PubMed, a website that aggregates scientific research articles, for the word “menstruation”, you will get about 8,000 results between 2001 and 2018. Search in the same period for the terms “cardiovascular”, “prostate cancer” or “Dysfunction erectile “and you will see 900,000, 120,000 and 16,000 results, respectively, notes a researcher at Harvard University involved in the study. In fact, we don’t know much about what a typical period symptom is and what a red flag is, which can make it more difficult for people to get help for problems that are interfering in their lives. It may seem a little silly, but it is super important to know how common menstrual stools and other symptoms are. “I think we’ve all experienced, at times, that doctors may not immediately understand what you’re saying. This study gives us another tool in our toolbox to be able to say, ‘This is real, so let’s talk about it,’ ”said Sumbul Desai, MD, Apple’s VP of Health. “The more evidence we have as doctors to make decisions about clinical conditions and clinical actions, I think the better. And so, the more we can contribute evidence to this space, the better it will be for everyone ”. This is the impetus for the Apple Women’s Health Study. The forecast is that it will last for 10 years; the researchers will analyze the data collected from Apple’s Cycle Tracking app in an attempt to better understand the menstrual cycle. (Participants explicitly opted for the study and can choose what data they want to share, from cycle tracking to fitness and sleep tracking.) The diarrhea statistic was released as part of an initial snapshot of the study’s first set of findings . It’s a double benefit: data like this can allow people to talk to their doctor about menstrual period symptoms and can also help doctors treat these symptoms more seriously, which in turn will help people find relief more quickly. If you know how common menstrual poop is, you are more likely to mention it to your doctor during a checkup. And if your doctor understands that this is common, he will know better its causes and how it can be treated. To be worthwhile, see why menstrual poop happens: during the menstrual period, the body produces compounds called prostaglandins, which cause uterine contractions. Your digestive organs are close to the uterus, so these contractions can make you “go” more often. In an article in The New York Times, Jen Gunter, MD, OB / GYN, said that taking a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory such as ibuprofen just before menstruation can reduce diarrhea; the drugs block the production of prostaglandins. Further, data from the Apple Women’s Health Study can also help doctors better understand symptoms that are correlated with conditions like PCOS and endometriosis. Women with endo, for example, are often not diagnosed for 10 years or more, in part because doctors dismiss warning signs as standard period problems. The researchers involved in the study are eager to see what other information they get from their research. And while the recently released findings are very early, they hope that this year will offer some extremely interesting insights. “Women around the world have been experiencing unprecedented stressors in their lives: physical, economic, mental, whatever they want,” notes Michelle Williams, ScD, Dean of Faculty of the Harvard School of Public Health TH Chan, in reference to the pandemic . “The real value of a longitudinal study like the one we are carrying out is that we are able to characterize that moment in time in these biological and behavioral forms. So it is fortuitous that, over time, we will be able to do instant analysis and look collectively at times like now and, hopefully, three or four or five years from now, when those same environmental stressors are not exactly the same level, and see how our biology has changed. ” Like what you’re seeing? How about a little more kindness R29, right here? How to have a period SexTalking store with Cherie Hoeger, founder of SaaltPantone’s Period Color Really Miss The Mark