There’s a secret almost every clinician I know shares…
It shouldn’t be but it is… especially because most women are so in-tune with their bodies.
Spoiler alert, it’s all about your ovaries.
More specifically it’s about how your female hormones change your digestive system.
As you probably know, no matter what you do, your hormones are going to change once you enter your 40’s.
Let me repeat that --
No matter what you, take do or eat -- your ovaries are beginning to shut down in your 40’s. Medicine calls this perimenopause, a time in which your hormones are sputtering to a stop. The process can start up to 10 years before actual menopause.
Some days your ovaries will pump out normal amounts of estrogen and progesterone… and other days they quit altogether. Only to return again 2 days later.
And then one day… they just shut down… no more cycles.
I Heard it All the Time…
- “Gut wise things started to go downhill when I turned 46.”
- “I never had a problem until I turned 48”
- “Things have been a struggle since 52”
Each woman is different but I’ve heard it all. You can insert any number between 40 and 55 and it’s happened.
You were going through life and then suddenly in this time range things like:
- Heaviness after eating
- Bloating and gas
- Burping
- Constipation or diarrhea
- IBS and IBD
All manner of GI issues startup.
I call this “Menopause Stomach”
Why?
It is all about the gut-hormone connection. See estrogen and progesterone
play important roles in digestion and especially in the stomach.
There are studies that show that during pregnancy almost zero stomach ulcers happen and many clinical reports of magical gut relief.
(In pregnancy, women’s hormones surge to higher levels, or back to baseline if they’ve suffered PCOS, Endometriosis, Fibroids during their early years).
Also, there are studies showing
estrogen is protective against ulcers and cancers.
And then this
UK study showing menopausal replacement hormones protect against GI cancer.
Even more interesting is that “
HRT after menopause was shown to be protective of disease activity in women with IBD, making them less likely to experience a flare of their disease.”
Also, HRT after menopause in a
Sweden study showed decreased risk of esophageal, gastric, and esophageal squamous cell cancers.
(
Note: if you google this you’ll see one study linking higher GERD with hormone replacement -- however, the UK study above is better designed and shows no difference in GERD rates)
In other words, as you age into perimenopause, when your hormones become erratic and risks of all types of gut issues go up.
These Estrogen Studies Mimic Stomach Acid Studies
If we look at the other way, stomach acid studies show the older we get the less we make.
Remember the landmark Mayo Clinic study looked at 3,746 people who had their stomachs pumped and analyzed. It found that 58.8% of women and 50.1% of men over 60 had low stomach acid.
Why are more women affected than men at 50?
My theory is that it’s your lowered estrogen and progesterone.
Quick TL/DR Menopause Stomach Recap
- The Secret: Most clinicians know many women will begin complaining of gut issues in between 45-55 (perimenopause time)
- Studies show Estrogen and Progesterone directly influence the GI system and are protective against gut issues
- After Menopause - when progesterone is gone and estrogen is at its lowest point - if we give replacement hormones there's a protection against GI cancers, IBD, Ulcers, and more.
- Stomach acid studies show acid levels decline as we age starting at 35 and by the time we get to 60 it’s 58.1% of women are deficient
Okay, so What to Do About It?
Well, one big step that may fix your stomach issues is to try cyclic bio-identical hormone replacement.
It’s outside of the scope of this message, but Wiley Protocol is one of he most common and longest practiced (20+ years). It makes the most sense biologically and physiologically speaking.
But, just starting the Wiley protocol doesn’t mean your stomach acid and GI tract will fix itself.
Digestive Theory of Aging
I believe Dr. Jonathan Wright coined the term “Digestive Theory of Aging”. But I really like it and it makes so much sense in the context of nature.
Our 20yr old bodies look and function way differently than at 30, 40 and then 50.
The same “Aging” is happening to your stomach.
After 20, 30 years of eating, digesting, pesticides, heavy metals, alcohol, and stress… It's just more sluggish -- less efficient.
And as the years go on of the stomach producing less acid that means, less amino acids, B12, minerals are being absorbed. Slowly your body is being starved of the critical nutrients needed to repair itself and look good.
Look, there’s lots of theories on aging.
But, here’s what I know… if I stop watering a tree. It will slowly dry up from the inside out… shrivel up… hang on as long as it can.
But without the nutrients it needs to live -- it dies -- from the inside out.
Same, is true for us. If we slowly starve ourselves of the essential nutrients needed to repair, fix DNA, build muscles, skin, and bones, feed mitochondria, our brains… they shrivel up and die.