The six things that happen before & after a period

Somewhere along the way, most of us were taught one simplified story about periods: you bleed, you might get cramps, and that’s about it. Nobody mentioned the diarrhoea. Nobody explained the sudden, deep urge to reorganise your entire kitchen three days before bleeding. Nobody warned us that constipation could show up right after the period ends, almost like a strange parting gift.

If any of this sounds familiar, you’re not broken, and you’re not imagining it. Your cycle affects far more of your body than just your uterus. Let’s go through what’s actually happening, one symptom at a time.

This blog covers the physical changes that one might be able to notice and also I have mentioned the emotional responses for each.

1. Period Diarrhoea – Yes, It’s a Real Thing

In the days just before or during your period, your body releases prostaglandins , a hormone-like compounds that help your uterus contract and shed its lining. Periods is an inflammatory response.  The problem is, prostaglandins don’t politely stay in the uterus. They also affect the smooth muscle of your intestines, which can speed up digestion and lead to loose stools or diarrhoea right alongside your cramps. If this gets worsened, time to work on inflammation – think foods like turmeric, ginger etc

This is genuinely common, not a sign that something is wrong with your gut specifically. Warm, simple, easily digestible food in the days around your period think khichdi, warm soups, well-cooked vegetables  tends to be gentler on a digestive system already working overtime.

Emotional aspect – Anxiety of unresolved issues in the past cycle which needs to be processed but if your body is stuck in flight-fright the hiked nervous system will respond in such a way that irritates the gut lining more frequently.

 2. PMS Mood Swings – And the Nutritional Piece Nobody Mentions

The mood swings before your period are real, hormonally driven, and not ‘just in your head’ –  fluctuating estrogen and progesterone directly affect neurotransmitters like serotonin. But there’s a nutritional layer to this that often gets overlooked.

Blood sugar swings, low magnesium, and low B6 levels can all intensify PMS mood symptoms. Skipping meals, relying heavily on sugar and caffeine in the days before your period, or simply being under-fed and under-rested can turn a manageable mood dip into something far harder to function through.

• Magnesium-rich foods (leafy greens, nuts, seeds, dark chocolate) can genuinely help ease irritability and anxiety
• Steady blood sugar – regular meals, less reliance on sugar highs – reduces the intensity of mood swings
• B6-rich foods (bananas, chickpeas, fish) support neurotransmitter balance during this phase

PMS is a phase  already asks a lot of you, by bridging the gap, you will be able to manage it a bit better.

Emotional aspect – PMS is an umbrella term for all the unresolved emotional responses of the body. The anger, the anxiety, the fear, inability to let go, unable to accept the changes in life. The longer you have suppressed the intensity can vary from person to person.

3. Bloating – Why Your Body Holds Water Before and During Your Period

Bloating around your period happens for a genuinely physiological reason: hormonal shifts, particularly a drop in progesterone, cause your body to retain more water and sodium than usual. Your gut also slows down slightly in the luteal phase, which can add to the feeling of fullness and heaviness.

This isn’t about ‘eating too much’ or anything you did wrong. It’s a temporary, hormone-driven shift that typically resolves within a few days of your period starting. Reducing very salty foods, staying well-hydrated (counterintuitively, more water helps reduce water retention, not less), and gentle movement like walking can all ease the discomfort.

Emotional aspect – Inability to accept situations in life. Something that is happening in your life that you find it difficulty to process and accept the reality.

4. Post-Period Constipation – The Symptom Nobody Talks About

If diarrhoea shows up before or during your period, many women notice the opposite swing right after  a few days of sluggish, harder-to-pass digestion once the bleed ends. This happens as prostaglandin levels drop and your hormones begin shifting back toward the follicular phase, where your gut’s rhythm essentially needs to reset.

Warm water first thing in the morning, fibre-rich foods (without overdoing raw, hard-to-digest vegetables right away), and gentle movement can help your digestion find its rhythm again over those first few days post-bleed.

Emotional aspect – You might be finding hard to let go of something that happened in the past cycle.

5. The Nesting Phase – That Sudden Urge to Reorganise Everything

In the days leading up to your period, many women describe an unexpected, almost intense urge to clean, organise, declutter, or ‘get everything in order’. This isn’t random  it tends to show up in the late luteal phase, when your body is preparing for the more inward, restful energy of menstruation.

Some researchers connect this to an evolutionary nesting instinct similar to what shows up before childbirth, on a much smaller hormonal scale. Whatever the exact mechanism, many women find this phase is actually a useful time to handle small organisational tasks not because you ‘should’, but because your body genuinely seems to like prepping the space before you rest.

Rather than fighting this urge or feeling confused by it, it can help to simply expect it each month, and use the energy productively rather than being surprised by it every single cycle. One small tip, is to work on the spaces without frustration of cleaning it , however the PMS intensity will decide that.

Emotional Aspect – I am going to rest for a while, I need to prepare the space to rest well before I enter the hibernation period.

6. Irritability After Your Period – Why It Doesn’t Always End When the Bleeding Does

Many women expect irritability to disappear the moment their period starts, or shortly after. For some, it lingers a few days into the follicular phase instead, which can feel confusing shouldn’t I feel better by now?

A few things are usually happening at once, your body may still be recovering from blood loss (especially if your flow was heavy, which can affect iron levels and energy), sleep may have been disrupted during the bleed itself, and hormone levels are still in the process of rising back up rather than instantly stabilising.

If irritability consistently lingers well into your follicular phase, it’s worth checking ferritin (iron stores) specifically, not just haemoglobin low iron from heavier periods is a common, often-missed contributor to this exact pattern.

Putting It All Together

None of these six symptoms are separate, unrelated problems. They’re all part of one connected story  your hormones rising and falling across the month, and your gut, mood, energy, and even your urge to clean the house, all responding to that same rhythm in their own way.

Understanding this doesn’t make every symptom disappear. But it does mean you can stop treating each one as a mysterious, isolated inconvenience, and start recognising them as predictable parts of a pattern  one you can actually prepare for and support, month after month.

🌿  Want to go deeper?

Sivi’s pre-recorded session on Cycle Symptoms, Decoded walks through the hormonal and nutritional story behind each of these symptoms  with practical, food-first ways to feel more supported through every phase. Available now in the Wellness Library.

Link – Reclaim the cycle – https://wellnesswithsivi.com/product/reclaim-the-cycle/

Thank you for staying up till the end, I ll meet you soon with another one soon

Much Love, Healing & Power 

Sivi