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Mary Courtney shared with us her own observations on the effects of the
menstrual cycle on her own gut motility, cramps etc.
 
As some of you may know, we have been looking at the urinary peptide
profiles of people with autism for some time now but, as in all
experiments, we sometimes get "false positives" from amongst the normal
population. It seems that in some women there is an increase in material
at certain times of the month and we suspect that peptide material is
leaking through the gut wall in greater than normal quantities at this time.
 
Our results would not (yet) stand up to critical analysis but the trends are
pretty clear.
 
Basically, our model would support that proposed by your GI specialist
except that we would add that the hormones, as well as affecting gut
motility could also affect gut permeability. These peptides might, in
their turn, cause other effects in the body. Of course, if foods liable
to produce these suspicious peptides (eg gluten containers) are avoided
the problems would be minimised.
 
We will be looking at this in greater detail over the next few months and
it is possible that the story may collapse when we do. Perhaps I should
not use this forum for such speculation but I thought it might be of
interest. It would be interesting to know whether women who have gone
gluten free have observed any reduction in PMT symptoms.
 
Paul Shattock