Bowel Spasms
All about Bowel Spasms
Bowel spasms are a common symptom in those with Irritable Bowel Syndrome or with Ulcerative Colitis. However, because bowel spasms are common symptoms of many different kinds of intestinal problems, you should make an appointment with a physician if you experience them more than once or twice in a year’s time, or if when you do experience them, the pain is particularly severe or long lasting.
A bowel spasm feels like an intense undulating cramp in the lower part of your stomach. This rising and falling pain may be so intense, in fact, that it immobilizes the sufferer. You should never ignore any pain that takes you out of commission. It is your body’s way of saying, “Get me some help!”
Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) is a somewhat mysterious condition. Physicians assign this diagnosis to patients who have bowel symptoms, such as spasms, but whose medical tests show no physical abnormalities. Aside from bowel spasms, IBS presents as a prolonged change in bowel activity—typically either as recurring diarrhea or as prolonged constipation. In some cases, diarrhea and constipation alternate from one experience to another. In order for a physician to diagnose IBS, the patient must suffer these symptoms three months out of the year, although they need not be consecutive weeks.
The current theory is that IBS arises from a psychological condition that affects the bowels. Evidence for this comes from the high number of IBS sufferers who also suffer from depression and anxiety.
For this reason, treatments for IBS focus less on “curing” the actual bowels than on removing the possible causes. Patients learn relaxation techniques, to watch their diets and to take medication for their psychological symptoms. Physicians believe that IBS may actually turn out to have multiple causes that further studies will continue to tease apart as the science improves.
Ulcerative Colitis
Another somewhat mysterious condition characterized by bowel spasms is ulcerative colitis. In fact, patients and physicians will often confuse IBD and ulcerative colitis because the symptoms are so similar to one another. The patient suffering from ulcerative colitis typically complains of diarrhea and abdominal pain just as those with IBD. However, the ulcerative colitis sufferer will typically also see blood mixed with his or her stool. This is often the tip off that distinguishes ulcerative colon from IBD.
Ulcerative colon is a much more serious condition than IBD. Untreated ulcerative colon can lead to much more serious conditions, such as the formation of more ulcers on the colon. There is no standard agreement on the causes of ulcerative colitis but the high incidence of such diseases within families suggests that there is at least a genetic factor to the condition. Physicians treat ulcerative colitis with anti-inflammatory medications, immunosuppressive therapies and other kinds of biological therapies. In some severe cases, physicians “cure” ulcerative colitis through surgical removal of a section of the large intestine.
Other Conditions
Bowel spasms, however, is also a symptom of various other kinds of more straightforward medical conditions. Bowel spasms are common, for example, when a patient has some kind of a bowel obstruction. Typically, when such an obstruction is in the small intestine, patients experience pain and spasms that seem to turn on and off. The patient will throw up before he or she starts noticing constipation. When the obstruction is in the large intestine, the patient has constipation and vomiting in a much closer space of time.
Anyone who experiences bowel spasms should seek a consultation with a medical specialist as soon as possible. You need not live with intestinal pain and discomfort. Early detection is always the best course of action when it comes to medical problems.