Talking about bowel health still makes people extremely uncomfortable, even those with bowel-related medical problems.
Glamour reports people would rather discuss STDs than Irritable Bowel Syndrome with their doctors, even though IBS is more commonplace than STDs in the United States. After all, the bowel disorder affects approximately 35 million Americans.
To help destigmatize talking about bowel health, every April is IBS awareness month. That’s why last month, television star Wendy Williams teamed up with the American Urological Association’s Toilet Talk campaign to advocate for more open discussions about our bowel health.
For more insight on how IBS affects reproductive health, HelloFlo talked to Dr. Jonathan Rosenberg, a board certified gastroenterologist of the Illinois Gastroenterology Group. While there isn’t a cure yet for this bowel disorder, his work focuses on improving his patients’s overall quality of life with IBS treatments, such as Linzess for constipation and Viberzi for diarrhea.
“IBS means the music playing, but the volume is cranked up,” explains Dr. Rosenberg in a phone interview. “[Patients] are embarrassed to talk about bowel issues. When you touch upon sexual and reproductive questions, it’s potentially even more embarrassing to talk to their partner, family, or even their healthcare provider.”
While he says IBS does affect reproductive health, there is a lack of knowledge as to why that is. However, a third of women with IBS report having chronic pelvic pain, according to the International Foundation for Functional Gastrointestinal Disorders. Some of that pelvic pain, Dr. Rosenberg says, could come from sexual intercourse.
Many patients also report sexual disfunction. However, this is less of a physiological issue and more of a psychological issue. People with IBS aren’t any less sanitary than those without it, but those with IBS can be more concerned and preoccupied with their bodies than those without in the bedroom.
When we talk about anal sex, for instance, it’s less about the intercourse and more about the mental state someone with IBS has during it. “Decreased sexual drive is more related to the symptoms of IBS, whether it be constipation or diarrhea, the music is playing ,” he adds. “If you can’t enjoy your evening, whatever that planned activity might be, you’re not going to be able to enjoy it.”
Again, because there’s such a lack of scientific research on IBS, there is also little evidence supporting or denying that birth control improves nor worsens IBS-related symptoms. The same goes for whether menstruation affects IBS symptoms, although many (myself included) have personal stories that speak to how periods exacerbate pelvic pain.
That’s why, to my surprise, IBS actually doesn’t have as big of an impact on reproductive health as I once expected. Again, the side-effects are often mostly psychological. As the expert mentioned, he strives to improve the lives of those with IBS. Patients go from worrying about snagging the aisle seat at a movie theater to having to be far less proactive in their everyday lives, once they begin effective drug treatments.
However, the constant anxiety of having to race to the bathroom is still very real and completely valid. The anxiety also won’t go away immediately, even after pursuing doctor-mediated treatments, but it will definitely get better over time. For example, Dr. Rosenberg mentions that the two medications, Linzess and Viberzi, can take up to just a week to begin working.
Although there are few studies out there about IBS and reproductive health, there are many opportunities for the medical industry to take. As IBS becomes less socially stigmatized, more research can be done to better address how bowel health intersects with sexual health.
Cover image courtesy of Michaela Early.
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