A question for the ladies - Acid Reflux / GERD Message Board

binkyholder · 10-20-2007, 04:06 PM

I have found, a week before my period, my indigestion acts up.

There must be a link to hormones. Does anybody else think the same?

serenityls · 10-20-2007, 07:28 PM

I have the LPR all the time but the pressure and pain on the sternum I get during that time of the month. In fact it is the way this whole thing began for me. The pain in the sternum which I mentioned to the GYN during a visit. He did not think was hormone related but did send me for a sonogram and then to the Gastro dr. Soon after I started with all this reflux.

stimi3ak · 10-20-2007, 10:20 PM

YES! In fact it is now part of my premenstrual symptoms. Just like sore breasts, cramping and cravings this also indicates my period is about to start.

There will be pressure on my sternum and more shortness of breath. I will also awake more in the night due to reflux. Although I am taking Nexium it is not stopping the reflux for whatever reason. It is just neutralizing the acid.

I've heard this is very common among women and my ob-gyn confirmed it for me.

Ol'Line Rebel · 10-21-2007, 06:19 PM

I HIGHLY suspect alot of so-called GERD is really progesterone related. Progesterone is highest in the menstrual cycle when you ovulate right before period.

After struggling with this a year, I somehow heard about the possibility of hormones being related - probably to my alleged gastroparesis (GP), which was diagnosed 8 mos after the 1st GERD "attack".

I'd seen some sparse references to progesterone (prog) possibly debilitating the stomach, thus causing GP. I started to wonder about my birth-control pills, which I had taken for a year when the GERD hit suddenly. Then, after starting to self-research, my GE mentioned off-hand at an appt - right when I was leaving - that he was "starting to suspect my birth control". (I never made him explain that, which was long ago.)

I then asked my OB-GYN if I could switch to lower dosage BC, in hopes maybe it would help. I did, but while maybe my reflux itself reduced, I had long times of burning all over my gut. (SOoooo many GI problems that seem to cycle!) Meanwhile, I had read that further, it seemed prog may be involved in GP and even SPHINCTER problems because these problems are all common in PREGNANCY - when prog is higher than it ever is in menses! If you check around, you'll see there is reference to prog causing "failures" of the GI tract from the lower esophageal sphincter (LES) all through the whole intestines moving poorly.

I AM now pregnant, and almost immediately saw an increase in reflux (inner silent burping), to where I am burping almost constantly as if having an "attack" of GERD. (I suspect the "burp" is simply my LES failing intermittantly.) I'm 5 mos and it hasn't really subsided - the burping or the nausea or throat soreness, and definitely not the "gag reflex" (only during pregnancy, I hope) or the heartburn (never really had that with just GERD - got on PPIs too soon, I guess?).

Between the hormone references to GP specifically, pregnancy tie-ins generally to all the "nausea" and "heartburn" common with it, and even my GE doc quipping about my BC, and the apparent preponderence of GERD and GP problems for WOMEN, I highly suspect much might be related to the hormone prog.

Ol'Line Rebel · 10-21-2007, 06:20 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stimi3ak

Although I am taking Nexium it is not stopping the reflux for whatever reason. It is just neutralizing the acid.

PPIs don't stop actual refluxing. They only stop acid. That is why there is no true "cure", because nothing is actually fixing the real problem - bad sphincter, etc. They're only helping the symptoms.