Hellobee Boards

@bhbee: I'm really sorry you're not feeling well

I don't have experience with this specifically, so doubt this is that helpful, but I did get horrible stomach aches when I came off birth control, and to a lesser extent when I switched types of bcp. And read at the time that hormones can have a huge impact on gut flora. What helped me was eating naturally fermented foods like kimchi (it was worth how much it stunk up the house!) to try to get things to re-equilibrate, and it helped me feel back to normal fairly quickly.

I have a lot of bowel issues that began during my first pregnancy. I ended up being diagnosed with celiac disease about a year and a half after I had my first child. Initially they thought the change in my immune system was triggered by pregnancy, but then my brother was diagnosed so now the theory is it was triggered by a virus.
That said. I have to maintain a consistent routine. Typically I take a fiber supplement at night, drink some prune juice with my coffee in the morning, and then try to go for a walk. When I'm not pregnant, this will generally keep me regular. I also try to eat yogurt, drink kombucha, etc. with some consistency. During pregnancy I often have to add in stool softeners. My mistake is that once things are semi-normal or cleared out for a day or two I stop taking the stool softeners. It drives my husband (an MD) nuts, he says you really have to continue taking that kind of thing for a few weeks, and then slowly wean yourself off. Otherwise you will just get backed up again. He is always trying to get me to take milk of magnesia daily but I haven't done it yet.

Poops issues are really a bummer. I'm sorry.

My IBS actually got way better with my first pregnancy and has never gotten bad again- so weird how that happened but I’m not complaining! But when it was bad the biggest thing that helped me was Citrucel fiber- I did the powdered drink mix with water, every morning. Any other fiber supplement I tried made me gassy or just didn’t help. I believe it was fine for pregnancy but I can’t remember for sure.

I’m sure other things like the major diet changes mentioned above are better, but this is one easy change that made a big difference for me.

I had IBS before pregnancy and it was worse while pregnant. I took gas-x and miralax regularly while pregnant with the OK from my OB and they helped. I’m 5 weeks postpartum and definitely not back to normal unfortunately but I think getting better. Good luck-IBS symptoms suck but they can be managed!

High fiber diet! Fruits,veggies and water. Probiotics as well!

@bhbee: Pretty soon you'll be done with pregnancy hormones forever, hang in there!!!