Okay this is my first post but I have read so many here and it has been such a comfort. This community rocks and I thank dearest and you all because this time in a woman's life can be strange and difficult to say the least. I wish my mother had this knowledge in her day...

Anyway I am 2 years post and sometimes in middle of the night I wake up with a hot flash (not sweats, just very warm/hot) then before I know it I have to go to the bathroom (not to pee if you get my drift) which seems weird! I have not seen any other post about this so I am curious if anyone has experienced such. I don't usually feel panic or anxiety when this happens but I do have many attacks from time to time that come along with the hot flashes which can give me diarrhea - I was thinking my body (or mind) might associate the hot flashes with the anxiety and well I don't really know?? My sister has never heard anyone else who has this happen either....anybody else out there?

Thansk to all!

CB

Yes I do get this, not all the time, but when it's a really bad hotflash, I have to run to the biffy, I had one on Sunday while I was rushing around.

yes I have this issue as well. I have not had a "normal" bowel movement for many years. I have experienced loose bowels for aprox 5yrs now and it
seems to be getting worse lately with these "night excursions". I also experience extremely loud stomach/intestinal gurgling throughout the day and
night....I do feel pretty anxious and worried all day long about all the symptoms I experience and my lack of a real life at the present time...so it is a
viscous circle...round and round I go....even though I'm 5yrs postmeno

be well

yes .. sometimes. . I get the heart palpatations, then diaphram pain ,, disphoria ,, panic .. the runs .. it all seems to come together ,, its just swell.

Oh this is great!! Not that you all have it happen too but just to know it's not just me....and you made me laugh, good job..."its just swell", ta didgens....and Queen Bee is that a phot oof your cottage!? My, my.......

was that really you writing this?!!!......I mean this is me to a 'T'!!!...I too have suffered with loose BM's for almost 5 years am post by 2 years.

I do believe that these bowel/stomach issues are making us sick....depressed and anxious......I wish I knew what the answer was, I have been trying to find out for 5 years!!!

Caz

Bizarre how much this sounds like me right now. I'm waiting for some blood work to come back from the doctor actually. I went at the beginning of the week because I was so anxious about the gurgling and noise my intestines were making. I have had the scopes done not too long ago, so things "should" be OK but the sensation and sounds are still there.

I have my annual physical coming up next week, mammogram and ultra sound of my abdomen too. The big challenge always is to control my panic at this time of year (check up time).

Take care everyone and breathe deep!

Yup, count me in too!! Always follows the very worst of hot flashes/anxiety, and I do think it's something to do with the anxiety --- the same way you might get the runs when you're really stressed and anxious about something "real". You're not alone!!

~Z

I don't really have the hot flashes anymore....over 2 years post, but I still have issues with loose BM's......this morning they were very loose....just whooshed out!!!! (sorry if its TMI!)....could be contributed to me drinking a couple of glasses of red wine last night, which I have not done in a couple of weeks.

So despite no more hot spells, I still can't get the BM's back to anywhere near normal......it is indeed frustrating.....but am now trying a stricter diet of no gluten/dairy in any form and careful with the caffeine/wine/sugar consumption too....I am determined to get this resolved albeit 5 years on!

I just want to put my two cents in here. Several years ago I thought that I was having hot flashes followed by the loose bowels. It turned out that I was becoming dairy intolerant. A year and a half ago I started waking up in the middle of the night with cramping and loose bowels. Because I had already experienced the dairy thing I started paying attention to what I ate when it happened. Turns out that I can't tolerate Gluten (wheat, rye, barley) or Soy. I'm just saying this so you will consider it being a food issue. As our bodies age sometimes they start rejecting some things that were always ok before.

Caz-art,

Do you have extreme bloating and pain in your small intestine area after you ingest gluten? Does you poo float in the toilet and look greasy with a really fowl smell? Talk about tmi. Those are some of the signs I had with gluten intolerance. It would also give me aches and pains in my back.

With soy I would have these awful smelling burps in the evening and bloating and would wake up with cramping and the Big D about 4 in the morning.

Hope this info helps you determine some things and I hope you are feeling better real soon. Another issue to think about if the food elimination doesn't work is Giardia or some other little parasite type thing.

low estrogen is known to affect the entire digestive system. Mine has improved greatly since changing my diet, starting bio identicals and using pro biotics.
Jacks

I'm 3 years post menopausal and get some of the same symptoms too. The usual sign is a bout of nausea will start up which is then followed by loose BM's, sometimes hours later, sometimes quicker. Doesn't happen very often fortunately. Hot flashes don't seem to correlate with my episodes. Even though I'm slightly lactose intolerant, dairy doesn't bother me too much if I keep what I eat to a minimum. Gluten is NOT at all problematic for me. I have found that high fat or greasy foods throw my system for a loop. Caffeine, VERRRRRRY BAD in too high of a dose for sure! I'm not on any hormones at present, but I use probiotics regularly.

I was 28 when I was diagnosed with gluten intolerance (Celiacs disease), and had those same symptoms. Seemed my stomach gurgled all the time. Had bloating, awful gas pains that radiated from the front around the sides, and the runs. Ugh. Within days of not eating gluten, I felt better. But it had created an ulcer in my stomach that the doctor said could take up to a year to heal. It did, and I am pretty strict about not eating gluten. The hard part is that wheat is in so many products. You'd be amazed. Many processed TV dinners have it, even the Lean Cuisines and Healthy Choices ones that have no pasta or gravy. It's in soy sauce. It's used to thicken everything. That's why I still cook a lot from scratch and avoid fast food. Italian restaurants are really tough for me to find something to eat - everything is either on pasta or breaded! Although Maggianos, an Italian chain, has wheat-free pasta. You just have to ask.

A simple blood test will tell if you have Celiacs. And if you do have it, you want to know not only so you will feel better, but because when you are eating gluten, it irritates the lining of your stomach and you are not absorbing the nutrients in your food. I was very tired and anemic before I was diagnosed.

WriterMom