Why do I get bloated on my period?

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Period bloating is hormonal water retention plus a slowed gut. In the week before your period, progesterone and estrogen shifts make your body hold onto sodium and water - hence the tight jeans, puffy fingers, and scale jump of one to three pounds that vanishes when bleeding starts. The Office on Women's Health lists bloating among the most common premenstrual symptoms, and the same hormones slow intestinal movement, so constipation and gas pile on. It feels like fat; it is fluid, and it is temporary.

What helps, with evidence behind it: cut salt in the premenstrual week - less sodium means less water held - stay hydrated anyway, keep moving even lightly, since exercise reduces fluid retention and cramps, and go easy on the foods that ferment. Some find relief with limiting caffeine and alcohol in that week, which also ease breast tenderness and mood symptoms. Magnesium and calcium have some supportive evidence for PMS symptoms overall.

When bloating is not the period: bloating that persists all month, arrives with pain, or comes with weight loss, appetite loss, or a change in bowel habits deserves a doctor visit - ovarian conditions can masquerade as cycle bloat, and persistent-not-cyclical is the pattern that separates them.

Pymander is a free AI doctor, 24/7 by text. Describe where you are in your cycle and the symptoms, and it can help you tell hormonal bloat from something else.

Why do I get bloated on my period?

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