Hi all,I am really trying to understand how the pain I/we feel is actually caused. I would describe my pain as being - left sided, anywhere from ribs down to pelvis area, can be frontal, on the side or my back. Dull, achey, prickly, burning, sometimes stabby crampy - that is pretty much the 'normal' for me...So how is this pain actually caused? Am I correct in thinking that whole the large intestine is hollow it is not permanantly blown open and circular so to speak? So it can flattern inself as such if not? Does this mean that when waste is being moved along the expanding/streatching of the intestine is what causes the pain, also when gas is fassing through, getting traped? Is it that the nerves just freak out sometimes when this process is happening? Also I guess that sometimes the muscles in the wall cramp or spasum. Can this cramping/spasum allways be felt as pain of that type, or can this be felt as I describe above if the cramping/spasum is not intense, so it creates a 'sensation' of pain that is interprated as above?I know this is a bit waffely and spelling is a bit off but wanted to get it down while it was in my mind...Thanks for any input here..
Just trying to understand
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Not sure if the whole colon works the same way as the rectum, but they do manometry (balloon they can fill and empty) in the rectum and I know how that works.Basically the colon isn't a wide open tube. When they do a colonoscopy they fill it up with gas so it is spread out enough for the camera to be able to see everything.It moves things along with a coordinated squeezing and relaxing. I'm not sure there is a spasm that is different in nature from the normal squeezing other than maybe it is when it is at the wrong time and place.Normally we don't feel the filling and emptying of either the rectum or as stuff moves along. Now once the rectum is full enough it should send a "gotta go" signal and if you keep filling it past that point it will send a pain signal to the brain. So healthy people can feel pain from the colon/rectum.Now how much of the pain is because the squeeze relax isn't coordinated or just because it activates I don't think anyone knows, but times when the colon is more active at moving things a long IBSers often report more pain. I could see if part A is clamped down when it should be relaxed and part B tries to squish stuff into it that could be an issue in addition to just when the colon is forced wide from gas or stool (compared to when that section is empty).IBSers sometimes don't move gas as well as normal people so may get more distension of the colon from the gas as it might accumulate in one area rather than being more evenly distributed.How much any of these sensations you should not feel are felt and what quality they have seems to vary a lot between people. Some people feel every little thing, and some feel only a few, and even the same amount of colon doing something could generate anything from a mild to a severe pain signal. Most of that depends on how over-sensitive the nerves are and how your brain reacts/interacts with those signals. Some people find distraction works, so if you keep the brain a bit busy the signals from the gut can't interrupt that, so that is an example of it kinda also depends what the brain does with it when the signal gets there.
this is kind of how i picture it in my mind. so you could get a whole section/long area of the intestine that is effected, as i tend to feel my pain down most of the left side, so it could be that that whole section is a bit out of whack. i just find it all so frustraiting as there is no real explination i guess... i get parinoid etc about what it could be....
The entire colon can be affected.. in random spots.... and at random times.... I hear your frustration and I know I have felt that as well. But I eventually found for myself... "trying to figure it out" slowed down my search for info on how to manage my symptoms... so I gave up trying to figure out IBS or why I had it etc... and spent the time learning how to manage my symptoms instead.
Hi BQ,I here what you are saying to trying to look into it too much - I am still to have a good look into the hypno side of things as discussed in another thread, but I hope to get the chance to really sit down and look into that at some point if needs be. I guess I get most parinoid because I dont know how/why the pain is caused, which then leads my mind to think of other reasons outside of that of this, and then the cycle can repeat and I get more anxiety etc. *sigh*
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Some people have only part of the colon sending the inappropriate pain signals, others have several parts or even the whole thing.Depends on where in the system the inappropriate signals are coming from.
Can you have pain even if you have no real need for a bm? Sorry if its a silly questions, but sometimes my pain can be constant or on off for hours before a have a bm. I had 2 this morning, 1st soft and partly formed, 2nd loose and mushy. But no need to go since but pain came back on late morning... I am now getting a little bit of gas so may be building up for another bm in the next hour or so I guess..Ta
During my very first colonoscopy I was wide awake even with a sedative shot. I saw my colon spasm!. Since the doctor realized I was awake he showed it to me on the TV monitor. Every time he sould get close to touching the colon wall it would spasm violently.Like any other muscle spasm, say a charlie horse or whatever, when a muscle spasm it causes a lot of pain. I believe that is where some of the severe pain comes from. Of course there is other pain caused by bloating and gas and all of the other symptoms that go along with IBS.
Sure. Or one can have pain.. and not have a BM for hours or days later... or one can have an urgent need for a BM immediately...Just the way IBS is hon.
ANY & ALL stool consistencies are to be expected even within the same BM session.Ippo.. really... relax the pain is "normal" for IBS. Some of us are very viscerally hypersensitive. Again that is just part of IBS. Truly there is no need for paranoia or fear. For me the more tense I got>>> the worse my pain became. So maybe get yourself busy doing something and try moving your thoughts away from your gut for awhile. It helps..
hi bq,thanks for your reply... i know i need to try and not stress, but with these problems i now have some anxiety probs which flare up every bow and then, i have just 'spilled' my feelings and upset to my fiancee about the pain issue and the constant feeling each morning of thinking 'i wonder how today will be..'...here is hoping for a better day tomorrow...thanks again.
Well I found I did much better in ALL ways the less I thought about my IBS. I learned I was much better off just accepting I had it... finding ways to manage the symptoms via trial & error and applying those techniques and just >>>> moving on through my day. For ex: Have D... get out of the bathroom .. get busy doing something or go back to what I was doing. No thinking about IBS or how much of a hassle it is.... NO thoughts like that. Just literally keep right on going on with my day. My gut was like an attention seeking spoiled child.... and the less attention I paid to it.... the better I felt. You might want to try that way of dealing with yours.
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