Have you pooped today?
Ok. I have to share this with you..... Talk about a potentially extremely embarrassing situation turned into a great conversation.
As most of you know in my day job, when I'm not writing books and coaching women I am a massage therapist. I have been doing this for decades, and love that I have built pretty open conversations with a lot of my clients. Had I not, this day would have been weird and super embarrassing.
My client came in and explained to me that she was experiencing “weird crampy pain” that she thought was in her ab muscles. She explained that it came on the other day about an hour after the new workout program, and that she did do the abs bonus. So straight faced she looked at me and asked. “Did I pull an ab?”
Knowing that the likelihood of “pulling an ab” from the workout she did was pretty low, I paused a second to think through potential ailments.
“Have you pooped yet?”
It came out of my mouth before I could stop it. Now to clarify here, I have been a mom for 19 years. So this statement is my go to at home every. Single. Time. The boys have complained about a sore tummy. BECAUSE if you know high energy kids at all, you know they FORGET to stop and poop sometimes. But I digress,,,,
She looked at me sideways and started to laugh,,,,, she’s a mom too!
“Ah, nope I haven’t actually.” She responded through her laughter.
Turns out she hadn’t had a “good poop” in a couple days. She was feeling extra bloated and sore and noted that her period was about 3 days away too. She remarked that she never used to have any issues with her periods, but in the last 6 months they were getting “weird and coming with symptoms that didn’t make sense”.
Welcome to perimenopausal changes my dear!
This potentially embarrassing situation actually opened up the conversation to chat about the numerous amounts of seemingly benign symptoms that are actually telling you your body needs some support as is heads into this transitional phase of life.
Turned out that she was not getting enough fibre at all. She had stopped eating fruits because she had heard they can cause diabetes (false) and definitely didn’t get any grains or seeds that would help push things along.
I helped her get some basic knowledge to start shifting her painful pms constipation and keep things moving for her whole cycle. We talked about how it’s completely normal for digestion to slow as you move into menstruation but that doesn’t mean that it has to stop completely, especially if you have to tools and knowledge to help support your body.
Moral of the story? It’s ok to have these weird conversations. That’s what I am here for! If I don’t have the answers I will dig in and look for some. Over on my FREE Facebook group and Podcast I talk about all this and more. It’s why I WROTE A BOOK - The 28 Day Strategy Cookbook. I’m working to open up the conversation around perimenopausal changes in a way that helps You feel EMPOWERED and ENCOURAGED.
If you are ready to create health, grab a copy of my book here, then head over to the Facebook group join the conversation.
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