Spasms!!! (Question)
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Yes this can happen, antispasmatics don't cure the problem they can just help it. They can also stop working sometimes for some people, bentyl completely stop working for me when I use to take it. I read somewhere a long time ago why this happens but can't seem to find it now, your doctor may know why that is.I don't think that happens as much though with Levsin.This is also another reason to learn relaxation techniques that can calm the spasms down, breathing, meditation, etc.. because they effect the nervous system and relax the gut which is a muscle also, even if you don't feel your IBS is stress related the real culprit in part is emotions. Although there are many triggers to IBS.
o you still suffer from spasms
Flux,You asked how would anyone know they were having a spasm, I simply stated that they may know that they are having a spasm as they may experience pain. As I am sure you are aware of, the tight muscle contraction that you get when the muscle goes into spasm can also lead to intense pain when the nerve signals get triggered, so therefore a person may know they are having a spasm by the pain. Don't you agree ?Iain
No, because you haven't defined what a spasm is or how having pain automatically leads one to conclude there is a "spasm" present. What if you take the pain away? Then how do you know?
This makes a lot more sense because you are ascribing a spasm to a particular sensation that is not pain. Do others perceive a spasm as a tightening sensation?
As odd as it may sound Flux, sometimes you can kind of tell, sometimes there is like the feeling of flickering sensation if that makes any sense, but there are some feelings that you do get that indicate spasms or just major contractions, sometimes its even a pulling sensation, but there are a lot of sensations really. One of course that was happening to me were all out charlie horse feelings that really felt like mmy side was locked in a charlie horse, like the ones I would get in my legs playing soccer, same kind of feeling only way more painful.I do agree that sensations in the area are really hard to explainn or describe to others, even though some are common to a lot of IBSers it is just so hard to compare as everyones pain and feeling is interpretated differently.I gotta tell you though I can feel it sometimes jumping around down there and this sometimes proceeds the pain, sometimes I felt it also and had no pain. I can also tell you if I feel it come on and I go into HT mode that I feel the muscles calm down and relax, basically nipping the pain in the bud before it happens to get worse. I agree is all hard to explain and sometimes are persceptions are not always accurate to the big picture too, only trying to convey my experiences with it.
Flux,You are correct, I had not defined what a spasm is, and as such I could not give logical credance to my arguments as such. My definistion for spasm as taken from my Chambers Medical Dictionary is :-A sudden, violent, involuntary contraction of a muscle or a group of muscles, attended by pain and interference with function, producing involuntary movement and distortion. So as you can see from my working definition I was always ascribing pain to the spasm. I do concede that other med dictionary definitions do NOT go as far as to mention pain, but rather stop at stating a sudden, violent contraction of a muscle. And yes you are correct, if you take the pain away then it would be hard to know if you are having a spasm.You also quote 'that you are ascribing a spasm to a particular sensation that is not pain' when talking about the 'tightening feeling' but is not the tighteneing just a pain of minimal intensity, becuase how would you know it is tightening otherwise ?Look, I do not want to get into a war of words over this, its just not worth it. I was merely trying to say that from personal experience I know when I am having a spasm I feel pain (I cannot knowingly recognise when I am having a painless spasm as I can not physically see the muscle tightening).Shall we leave it here flux ?Iain
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·ncottle,how often do you take your antispasmodics?it's important to take them regularly and to get the right dosage for yourself.
I take Spasmonal as my antispasmodic, and when I am suffereing from the worst painful spasms I have to take the full dosage, then after a few weeks or so I tail them off (always afraid that if I stop them dead I will get the pain back - probably an irrational fear really). If I feel an attack coming on I start to take them at full dose and it usually does the trick of stopping the painful spasms within 24 hours. I have sort of got use to the events and feelings coming on leading up to an attack so now can usually down the pills without too much pain being experienced. However I find that Spasmonal leaves me quite constipated so do not like being on them permanently.Iain
I've been on Donnatal for 8 months and have just recently started having bad attacks in the morning. I've increased my dosage to 3 times a day. These attacks can last for up to 2 hours. I find that taking Pepto Bismol, reclining in a recliner, and taking a nap with a heating pad on my gut helps.
Would you be surprised if I said these things don�t sound like IBS?There is a difference between pain and somatic sensations (meaning someone else could feel them, although there are pure sensations like itching that also count) because they use different nerve pathways back to the brain. And the latter suggest there is something physically happening abnormal inside gut.. Simply run and up the stairs for several flights and you can feel your heart beating through your chest. This is not pain, for example and it correlates very well to what the heart is actually doing.This difference is significant because a large part of what we think is going on in IBS is visceral hypersensitivity, which implies nothing abnormal is happening with the gut's motor behavior.
I'm not sure how the tigtening sensation is conveyed exactly. I am not so sure it is via pain pathways.
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