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Please explain UC cramping

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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 2/8/2012 2:25 PM (GMT 0)
A lot of folks say they experience severe and painful cramping with their UC, but I'm not sure I understand what that means exactly. Sometimes, when I'm sitting on the toilet, I'll get what might be an involuntary contraction (kind of like bearing down) which brings on an emptying of the bowels. Is this what's meant by cramping? Because for me, this even feels good somehow - it's a relief. Granted, it usually makes my eyes water, but I got that from my pre-UC days too and that usually indicated a "winner." :o) But seriously, can someone please enlighten me?
Posted 2/8/2012 2:31 PM (GMT 0)
     When I suffered with UP and had the diarrhea I would have cramping which felt like I had to keep emptying but there was nothing left to come out.  It certainly was no relief..lol.
Posted 2/8/2012 3:02 PM (GMT 0)
Are you a female? It feels a lot like menstrual cramps to me. Really bad menstrual cramps. lol
Posted 2/8/2012 3:04 PM (GMT 0)
Sierra, that's an analogy I can definitely understand. Thanks.
Posted 2/8/2012 3:28 PM (GMT 0)
That's more spasming to me....white-knuckler poos.


Obvious flaring...it's definitely worse when the inflammation is limited to the rectum than higher. I'd rather have diarrhea...somewhat less paaaaaaain.
Nothing is worse than feeling a little turd the size of a pea coming out like it's the size of a watermelon.

I have had some cramping feeling like period cramps...again, flaring.

Cramping and spasming I also get from food/gas...different when it's throughout the colon than in the rectum...not necessarily flaring.

My fave is to use dicyclomine (Bentylol), which is an antispasmodic.


I hope you're using rectal meds.

q

Posted 2/8/2012 3:48 PM (GMT 0)
Yeah, mine feels like menstrual cramps too but at least for me it's a bit less severe (I used to have extremely painful periods - drop to your knees type of pain). Cramping/abdominal spasms are painful contractions of the intestine. Supposedly there are no pain receptors in the colon - that is what the docs say anyway, but it doesn't feel that way!
Posted 2/8/2012 6:02 PM (GMT 0)
OK, I can't relate to menstrual cramps but the way I get it is more like spasms and someone is twisting my intestine (or whatever it is). In medical terms, it is called a referred pain. There is actually inflammation of intestines. Usually nerve innervation in the intestine is not as extensive as other organs. The pain resulting from inflammation gets 'referred' to the other body part and hence the 'pain'. The cramps that I get is little below the naval and they are excruciating.

My solution is same as Quincy's. Bentyl has been a life saver and lets me sit on my porcelain throne to do the job, else I would act really weird when it cramps.
Posted 2/8/2012 6:58 PM (GMT 0)
Does bentyl help with menstrual cramps also? If so, I may need to get a prescription for some because mine are excruciating. And I have to overdose myself on ibuprofen the first day of my period every month. I know I'm not supposed to have NSAIDS but it's the only thing that provides some relief.
Posted 2/8/2012 7:45 PM (GMT 0)
No, Bentyl only helps with intestinal cramping. It's like a colon valium and it doesn't do anything for uterine cramping. I know that sometimes we have to over rule our common sense when it comes to Nsaids in situations such as this. I've had to do that too but with prescription strength Naproxen, along with Tylonel and those air activated charcoal heating pads.
Posted 2/9/2012 4:17 AM (GMT 0)
It felt like what I can imagine childbirth feels like. Seriously. It was so intensely painful I thought I was dying, not to sound overly dramatic. Bentyl didn't even touch it. that was when I first got UC and wasn't on meds yet. It was like involuntary contractions when there was nothing left to poop out except blood and mucous. Consider yourself lucky if you haven't experienced it. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

I used to get pretty bad menstrual cramps but haven't had any since going on ortho tri-cyclen 8 years ago.

Post Edited (Sara14) : 2/8/2012 9:21:23 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 2/9/2012 6:52 AM (GMT 0)
Wow everyone, that does NOT sound remotely relieving at all, unlike what I get that I thought was cramping. I guess I really have lucked out and hope it stays that way.

I am indeed using rectal meds - Salofalk 4g enemas at night. Didn't use one last night though because I hadn't pooped all day and felt like it would be "wasted" if I was stopped up or would trigger me to use the bathroom right away.
Posted 2/9/2012 7:02 AM (GMT 0)
I have given birth to twins, naturally.

And I would rather give birth than have UC cramps. Labour pains have nothing on my UC cramps.

Mine feel like I have knives stabbed in, and then twisted, then just for added effect, the yanking/pulling feeling that I would imagine would feel like a knife being pulled out.

I had a hysterectomy in November 2010, and the pain lessened, as a lot of my intestines where adhered to my uterus, but I still get agonising pains, so bad that they make me vomit.
Posted 2/9/2012 7:11 AM (GMT 0)
ge0rge, that sounds HORRIBLE. I hope you don't have to experience any more UC pains that awful.
Posted 2/9/2012 7:23 AM (GMT 0)
Yep! It sucks!

My best friend knew I was sick, but when she saw what I went through with an attack, she just couldn't believe it.

She visited me after I have had my babies (5 in total, twins, then single, then twins) and I had 1 natural birth and 2 cesearean sections, and she even said that I recovered 100 times after childbirth better than I did after 1 UC attack.

I am left exhausted.

Like I have just run a marathon, but with my colon.

But my husband is not so understanding, as after years of watching me with this disease, he is desensitized to the whole situation, and think that I am a light weight.

Little does he know, as I have an extremely high pain tolerance level, so high that when I had my last c-section, 4 hours later I was out of bed and walking down stairs (my son was born 10 weeks early, and he was in the NICU - whilst his twin brother was stillborn, due to complications including UC), and nothing was stopping me from going and seeing him.

Yet the UC pains have me on the floor, and I physically can not do anything.
Posted 2/9/2012 7:29 AM (GMT 0)
Mercy. You've definitely been through the blender and back. Seems like you've had to deal with a lot mentally as well. That's a huge ally when dealing with any challenge.
Posted 2/9/2012 9:56 AM (GMT 0)
I think lots of memebers described well the cramps.

I remember having intense cramping (enough to yell and put you into another state of mind) and It felt like a mix of stabbing, twisting, burning and spasming. At one point i thought having contractions would be close to this. I havent delivered a child yet but thats what i would imagine.

The first time it happened the doctor ignored them.
The second time i had them, years later, I asked the doc anything to calm the pain. He said my description was close to heartburn. And even if it might not be heartburns the med he prescribed me would help my cramping. He said he prescribes it to poeple like us because the symptoms are similar. And that medication is called Omeprazole.
To hear the word Omeprazole brings me back to heaven, liberation, light at the end of the tunnel....

Best anti cramps meds Ive ever had! Oh and morphine too..... but i was living with a GP for 6 months and she had a hell of a pharmacy in her bathroom...
Posted 2/9/2012 11:34 AM (GMT 0)
Lucky you living with a GP! Add a cook to the mix and call it heaven!
Posted 2/9/2012 12:08 PM (GMT 0)
ahaha well I don't live with her anymore! I used to nanny this doctors kids when i took a year off work and she rented me a room for like 5 months because i moved to the uk.
I live with my husband now and hes far from a cook!!! Im the cook here.

But yeah she was a brillant gp... very old school and helpfull and her bathroom cabinet was like a candy store!!! And shes the one who prescribed me 6 months worth of asacol enemas 4g so i can pack my suitcases!
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