When you’re trying to conceive, it’s understandable to hope that sudden bodily changes indicate that it’s finally happened. You may wonder, Is diarrhea a symptom of pregnancy? If you’re now hitting up the bathroom all the time. The answer isn’t so straightforward.
“Pregnancy can affect your bowel movements, but it’s also common to just get diarrhea for other reasons,” Christine Greves, MD, a board-certified ob-gyn at the Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies, tells SELF.
But your bathroom habits may clue you into the state of your G.I. tract and uterus. Let’s dive in.
What is diarrhea, exactly?
Diarrhea is basically poop hell. But more technically speaking, it’s defined as loose, watery bowel movements that occur three or more times in a day, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM). It usually lasts just a day or two, which is called acute diarrhea. (Diarrhea that lasts longer than a few days may signal a more serious problem, as can diarrhea lasting a few weeks, called chronic diarrhea1.)
Ever wonder what’s actually going on in your body to make your butt expel its contents so violently? There are a few different potential mechanisms, depending on the underlying cause (of which there are many, which we’ll get to). But generally speaking, diarrhea occurs when your digestive system fails to remove enough water from your stool, Rudolph Bedford, MD, a gastroenterologist at Providence Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, tells SELF. That commonly happens when stool moves too quickly through the digestive tract, as Merck Manuals explains, or when your stool is diluted by excess water secreted by the intestines.
Is diarrhea a symptom of early pregnancy?
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The answer is going to take a sec, so pull up a seat.
Your hormones fluctuate throughout your menstrual cycle, and you might know that these hormonal changes can make your poop real weird around the time of your period2. That’s largely thanks to a hormone that helps prep your body for pregnancy called progesterone.
Progesterone levels increase after ovulation, anticipating that the egg your ovaries just released will be fertilized, the NLM explains. If you don’t become pregnant, progesterone levels fall back down, and you get your period. If the egg is fertilized and you do become pregnant, your levels of progesterone will continue to rise, Mary Rosser, MD, PhD, an ob-gyn at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, tells SELF.
How does this early pregnancy progesterone surge affect poop? Progesterone helps relax the smooth muscles, like your uterus and intestines. While relaxed intestines might sound like a recipe for the loose, speedy bowel movements that characterize diarrhea, that isn’t what actually happens. In fact, without your G.I. muscles contracting as hard to move things along, food passage starts to slow down and bowel movements become sluggish, G. Thomas Ruiz, MD, an ob-gyn at Memorial Care Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California, tells SELF.
In other words, high levels of progesterone result in constipation, i.e., the exact opposite of diarrhea. Many people experience constipation in early pregnancy3, so diarrhea really isn’t an accurate sign of early pregnancy, Dr. Rosser says.
Total caveat alert: Some people have the opposite reaction. “While constipation is more common in early pregnancy, sometimes the hormonal changes in pregnancy impact people differently and result in diarrhea,” Dr. Greves says. What’s more, some people may be pregnant and crave foods that don’t agree with them, which can lead to diarrhea, Dr. Greves says. For instance, maybe you are lactose intolerant but can’t get enough cheese.
Of course, diarrhea can happen for other reasons completely unrelated to growing a baby. One super common cause is a stomach bug, which is caused by consuming food contaminated with parasites, bacteria, or viruses4, Dr. Rosser says. But numerous other things can lead to loose stool, including bacteria-contaminated food or water, viruses (like the flu or norovirus), parasites, certain medications (like antibiotics), and food intolerances, according to the NLM. (And sometimes, the cause is a mystery, but that’s typically NBD if it goes away after a couple days.)
Source: SELF
