19/08/2026
Women get diagnosed with IBS at almost twice the rate of men, and it is not because women complain more. Hormones genuinely move the gut. Progesterone slows things down in the second half of the cycle, and the hormone drop right before a period triggers cramping, bloating, and diarrhea through prostaglandins, the same chemicals responsible for period cramps in the first place. And sometimes it isn’t IBS at all. Endometriosis causes gut symptoms in the vast majority of people who have it, and it gets mistaken for IBS constantly, with an average diagnostic delay of several years or more. If the women in your life keep saying their stomach hurts, there is almost always a real, explainable reason behind it. Has a doctor ever actually explained this to you, or is this the first time you’re hearing it?