Trying for a baby is quite a rollercoaster, especially when you suspect that you’ve finally conceived. Checking up for symptoms online and endlessly scrolling through the internet looking for signs of pregnancy might leave you enervated.
With all kinds of emotions racing through your veins, you might question every symptom you experience. It’s all right, we’ve all been there. Everything out of the ordinary might stir up some scary emotions if you’re suspecting you’re pregnant. Wondering what is normal or what is not might leave you with many emotions to process.
What about experiencing diarrhea? Is it normal? Should you be worried? Simply put, diarrhea is one of the common early signs you might experience during your first trimester. You might even experience constipation or cramping once again due to the changing progesterone levels that occur during a normal menstrual cycle after implantation. Though not as common, some women notice signs of implantation such as bleeding, cramping nausea, bloating, sore breasts, headaches, mood swings, and possible changes in body temperature.
While it’s common for women to link every unusual experience to their pregnancy, let’s deep dive and see if diarrhea really is a sign of pregnancy.
Is Diarrhea In Pregnancy A Frequent Complaint?
Loose bowel movements might scare you, but worry not! They are a common symptom of early pregnancy, and most women experience it during their first trimester. Pregnancy symptoms might keep you on your toes with all those mood swings and backache, and you might find yourself surfing the internet whenever something strange pops up. No, you’re not going crazy, and yes, we’ve all been there.
Diarrhea is quite a frequent complaint among pregnant women but isn’t always because of your hormones. Diarrhea during the first few weeks of pregnancy might be due to underlying indigestion or a medical condition. If you have been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease or IBS, you might be familiar with the usual, but if it seems things are a bit off and suspect a pregnancy, consult a doctor as soon as possible.
Other reasons why your tummy might be a little upset include gastroenteritis or food poisoning. Keep a look out for cramps, fever, or abdominal pain, and in case you feel unwell, consult a professional.
Why Does Diarrhea Occur in Early Pregnancy?
With that out of the way, you might be thinking about what really causes this havoc. You’re already stressed out about the new life ahead, and with all emotions running high, it isn’t easy to avoid anything that comes out of the blue.
Simply put, it’s all the hormonal changes that might be adding up to these loose stools. Pregnancy hormones such as Beta-hCG and progesterone levels peak during pregnancy and might lead to digestive malfunction.
Moms-to-be or expectant mothers might experience diarrhea due to many other reasons, so look into those before jumping to conclusions. Otherwise, you might be experiencing diarrhea due to your diet or hormonal changes.
These hormonal changes might end up slowing down or speeding up your digestive system, resulting in hard or loose stools. Moreover, you might experience diarrhea especially if you’ve started taking additional supplements to support your little baby. Those prenatal vitamins and dietary modifications can make diarrhea worse.
Though diarrhea is one of the common symptoms that women experience especially in the first trimester of pregnancy, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re pregnant. If you’re suspecting that might be pregnant, try getting a pregnancy test. That’s the only way to know for sure.
Does Diarrhea Indicate Pregnancy Implantation?
Trying to get pregnant takes a lot of ups and downs, but with all those bundles of emotions knocking on your door, you might be concerned about how to know if you are pregnant. A pregnancy test might help you with that, but if you’re experiencing diarrhea, you might be concerned if this is a sign of pregnancy.
Although it’s common for pregnant women to experience diarrhea during the first and second trimesters, the question is if diarrhea is a sign of pregnancy implantation.
Implantation occurs after the first few days of conception. After the sperm fertilizes the egg, an embryo is formed. This embryo divides and forms a ball of cells that implant into the uterine wall.
This implantation requires many hormonal changes, and this hormonal drift might affect other systems of your body. The first one is the digestive system, resulting in those unpleasant watery stools. But this isn’t always the case. Thanks to these hormonal changes you might even experience constipation, nausea, and vomiting. Many women experience diarrhea during the third trimester of pregnancy, which could potentially be an indicator of labor.
Should I Get a Pregnancy Test If I Have Diarrhea?
Getting a pregnancy test done only because of diarrhea might seem like a stretch, but if you’re experiencing other symptoms, try getting a test.
If you’ve missed your date and have been experiencing some signs of pregnancy, getting a pregnancy kit won’t do any harm. Headaches, mood changes, and frequent urination might be a sign for you to get a kit if you’re suspecting a pregnancy.
Nevertheless, while people do consider diarrhea a sign of pregnancy, it could be due to a variety of reasons. You might be experiencing it because of a stomach virus or IBS. If you have already been diagnosed with a health condition, you might be experiencing an episode. Celiac disease might be the cause of those loose stools and an upset stomach might result in additional bloating.
Can Diarrhea Indicate Miscarriage?
As an expectant mom-to-be, ignoring every symptom that comes your way isn’t easy. You might be worried about your little one’s health every time something unusual strikes, even diarrhea.
The good news is diarrhea doesn’t really indicate miscarriage, as it might occur in the first few months of pregnancy due to the hormonal changes in your body. In simple terms, it’s hardly ever the case that diarrhea during pregnancy might end up in a miscarriage. Diarrhea during early pregnancy has nothing to do with your baby.
It could simply be last night’s taco or hamburger with a stomach bug that caused this poopy havoc, miscarriage on the other hand is rarely the reason. But it is common for women to experience diarrhea after a miscarriage due to the dropping progesterone levels. It is whilst a miscarriage that your body’s digestive tract tries to adapt to the progesterone levels dropping, which might result in loose stools.
Is Diarrhea a Sign of PMS?
Premenstrual syndrome or PMS might have you crying in the corner of your room, or craving ice cream in the middle of the night, but there’s one more thing you might not be expecting. Diarrhea is a common sign of pre-menstrual syndrome.
Change in bowel movements is a common complaint that women experience just before their periods, along with headache, joint pain, and bloating.
Can Diarrhea During Pregnancy Be Harmful to the Baby?
Generally speaking, there’s no direct way diarrhea would affect your little angel, but there’s a slight chance of it affecting their health if not controlled.
Diarrhea in severe cases, causes dehydration and might lower your blood pressure, which in turn affects the perfusion of the baby. But this isn’t the case if you have some infrequent episodes of watery stools. On the other hand, if you’ve been experiencing severe watery stools, you might have stomach flu or gastroenteritis that needs to be treated as soon as possible.
Can Diarrhea During Pregnancy Be Harmful to the Mother?
As severe dehydration usually results from heavy bulky watery stools, this might end up affecting your blood pressure, leaving you fatigued and drowsy. Replenishing those electrolytes might be a good way for you to get your spark back.
Consult a healthcare provider if you experience other symptoms as well, such as fever, malaise, or vomiting. This might be a sign of bacterial or viral gastroenteritis that could lead to more complications if not treated properly.
What Are The Reliable Signs Of Pregnancy Implantation?
Now we know that diarrhea might not be a sign of pregnancy, but this might leave you wondering what the reliable signs of pregnancy are. To keep things simple, here are a few possible signs that you may encounter when the embryo implants into your uterine wall.
Spotting
One-fourth of women experience slight bleeding during the first trimester of pregnancy, and this might stem from implantation around this time. Mind you, this is not full-blown actual bleeding but is just mild spotting that could be pink or brown, in contrast to the bright red color of menstrual bleeding.
If this bleeding is associated with extreme cramps that don’t go away and low blood pressure, immediately seek a healthcare provider to rule out any abnormality.
Such mild spotting might occur once or last for a few days, but won’t require a pad or tampon.
Sore Breasts
Crying like a banshee whenever something slightly touches your breasts? Breast tenderness is a common pregnancy symptom. The peaking levels of hCG, estrogen, and progesterone might leave your breasts sore.
You might experience such soreness even before your periods, the pain might seem exaggerated in early pregnancy.
Abdominal Cramps And Bloating
As the fertilized embryo implants into the uterine wall, your body’s hormonal axis shifts, and this surge might result in cramping. This isn’t too extreme for most women, resembling the cramps at the start of their period.
The rising tide of progesterone affects the functionality of your digestive symptom, slowing it down might make you bloat. But this necessarily means you’re pregnant, as you might experience similar bloating once your period is near, thanks to the same hormones.
Nausea
This infamous symptom is something you might be expecting if you’re suspecting to be pregnant. But what causes morning sickness in early pregnancy? Well, you guessed it right, it’s the hormones at it again! The surging progesterone levels make you feel nauseous and unwell.
Discharge
Cervical mucus changes quite commonly during the time of implantation. If you’re someone who is planning to conceive, monitoring its consistency and color might give you the upper hand in understanding what’s going on down there.
To make things easier, here’s how your mucus changes during your cycle. Well, around the time of ovulation, your cervical mucus might become transparent and stretchy, but once conception has occurred and the embryo is implanted, it becomes whitish and turns thicker.
Headaches And Change In Mood
Though it might not be exactly what you expected, those raging hormones might cause you headaches after implantation. These hormonal surges leave you with mixed emotions. You might find yourself crying one minute and laughing the next!
Change in Body Temperature
Implantation dip as we like to call it, is when your basal body temperature decreases as soon as the fertilized egg implants. If you’ve been trying to conceive, you might be already tracking your basal body temperature, so open up those logbooks to see if there’s a change.
Final Thoughts
Having a baby might be a big dream for some women, but pregnancy sure does bring along many unwanted extras. Along with dealing with those crying sessions and midnight cravings, you might also experience diarrhea during early pregnancy. These changes in bowel movements might be due to stomach issues, food poisoning, or gastroenteritis, but some women also experience it as their body’s response to implantation. Many women experience it secondary to food intolerances during pregnancy.
Diarrhea or constipation during implantation is not a sign but one of the signs you might experience either just before periods or when the fertilized egg breaches your uterine wall. This might be due to the surging and collapsing progesterone levels, that affect your digestive system. Consult a doctor if you experience anything more than just a few episodes. Severe diarrhea might affect your baby and lower your blood pressure altogether. Try to keep your blood pressure in the normal range and replenish those electrolytes as per the doctor’s recommendation.
