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Ulcerative Colitis
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Posted 10/27/2007 9:30 AM (GMT 0)
Does anyone know the physical reasons for needing to use the bathroom urgently. I'm not talking about urgency due to D. I've noticed that even with solid stools I sometimes need to find a bathroom quite urgently. My ability to store stool seems to have been reduced.

I realise that an inflammed rectum will lead to increased urgency but I'm looking for reasons outside of this fact. For instance most IBSers also complaion of urgency but these people do not have any such inflammation. Could there be psychological factors involved, phsyical problems with the muscles in the rectum area?

Thanks in advance,

D

 

Posted 10/27/2007 11:37 AM (GMT 0)
No idea of the actual cause. But I know it's not all in my head because if I try to ignore it I loose control and it's not pretty.
Posted 10/27/2007 1:37 PM (GMT 0)
The term for the urgency is tenesmus and I looked all over the net trying to find the actual physical cause of it and everything on this was pretty vague. I hope someone comes along and answers this because I too am interested in knowing.
Posted 10/27/2007 2:12 PM (GMT 0)
Even in full remission I sometimes have this. I don't know the reason for it, but I suspect maybe the muscles of the rectum and anus have been stretched and maybe sensitized to pressure. I'm sure there's also some degree of mental component to it, because most of us have lived in terror of having an accident for too long, and it's hard to lose that. I'll still wake up in the middle of the night an hour before I have to go to the bathroom. It's like when the stool hits some point in my left colon, my brain automatically wakes me up.
Posted 10/27/2007 2:58 PM (GMT 0)
about the term tenesmus -- I believe that it's actually the feeling of having to go when you might not actually have to. Like a false feeling of needing to use the bathroom.

This is a really good question... which I'm going to ask my GI next time I see her unless someone can answer it here! I see online that lots of conditions cause urgency but I didn't see anything that explained why. I don't think it's linked to inflamation. My feeling is that it might be linked to a kind of spasm or a motility issue. That once things get going, there's no stopping it.

It's true though that I don't "test my luck" and I run to the bathroom as soon as I think I need to. I know what Judy means when she says that a component of it might be mental. Not that we're causing the urgency by worrying but that we might read our bodies signals more intensely.
Posted 10/27/2007 4:04 PM (GMT 0)
my personal theory, based on my own thoughts are maybe it's a sensitive spot in your colon that once aggravated puts pressure on all those nerves and triggers something in your body to release it. Lately my urgency has gone down and I have an hour commute each way to work and not a lot of bathroom stops, luckily (knock on wood) I have been able to hold it and make it to work and back w/out having to stop (though I pretty much empty myself out before I get into the car it seems) and even when I have to go I have tried to hold it for a moment to see if it can pass so that way I don't go 4 times in a row, maybe just two and it seems to be working but probably only b/c I am getting a little better day by day.
Posted 10/27/2007 5:42 PM (GMT 0)
I have this issue as well and it is very frustrating because at least 9 out of 10 times I do have to poop, the one other time ends up being a false alarm (which could actually be constipation) but I'm thinking it may be more along the lines of the brain-gut association, there's some messed up info in the path of the brain and gut and not being able to physically control holding back the poop once the signal hits...I hate that about this stupid disease, like it's not bad enough having all the other issues.

:)
Posted 10/27/2007 6:22 PM (GMT 0)
The idea of your bowel going into spasm and causing the urgency is close to what I think / feel. If I have little or no stool present I can withstand the spasm. Then once its gone I may not get any more urgency for another 4-6 hours. If I have a lot of stool I cant "hold the spasm" and I have to find a toilet.

Does anyone have this feeling?
Posted 10/27/2007 7:59 PM (GMT 0)
I have only been going more due to anxiety. The reason we go more is absolutely to do with the brain and gut talking to eachother. Inflammed colon's will also cause a trigger as there will be movement down there.

No stress, positive atittude, probiotic, good food.. and I sure we would all be fine.
Posted 10/27/2007 8:46 PM (GMT 0)
Well luckily I dont seem to have any inflammation these days. But I do find that the more I worry about urgency the more it seems to be an issue for me, even when my stools are solid. So starting to agree that it is stress and mind related.

I'd be interested to hear how people reconcile urgency who don't believe that IBD and IBS is stress symptom-driven just to get an alternate opinion.

Thanks to everyone for their comments.
Posted 10/27/2007 9:35 PM (GMT 0)
I think most of us with IBD also have IBS be it mild or severre and this exasperates the issues. So even when it is in remission, we feel stress and have to go.
Posted 10/27/2007 10:34 PM (GMT 0)

I have this question in my mind as well...for me it seems like now that I have had UC for 8 years, my body no longer views urgency as something wrong.  Almost as if I have trained my rectum to react this way.  What are everyone's thoughts on this theory?

love to all

bob

Posted 10/28/2007 10:43 AM (GMT 0)
I agree with that. All muscles can be trained so the muscles of the rectum should be capable of being trained too. If you have never lifted a really heavy dumbell chances are your mind will send you a message and say "I cant do this". But of you train and build up your muscles over a period of time then you wont get this negative reaction from the mind anymore.

I'm sure part of our urgency is a mental thing and part of it is a phsyical thing as the muscles have lost a degree of "intelligence". I guess to overcome urgency we need to work together with both the mental and physical aspects. Not sure what is the best way to do this so any advice would be great.

To me this is an example of a wholisitc approach to a condition. You look at the overall picture of the health of the body rather than try and single out one factor. Medical science is paranoid about the "one cause one symptom approach". This is not the way to deal with chronic illnesses.
Posted 10/28/2007 2:44 PM (GMT 0)
Actually, I'd say what bothers me the most is true tenesmus. I will have times when I constantly feel as if I need to go, but there's nothing there. Fortunately, these now last minutes to a couple of hours versus days to weeks as they did when I was at the worst point of a flare.
Posted 10/30/2007 5:46 AM (GMT 0)
The technique some of you were talking about is interesting: Holding back minor urges so when the time comes you may be able to hold back more moderate urges where there may not be the opportunity to go. Is purposefully holding back unhealthy in any way?
Posted 10/30/2007 10:53 AM (GMT 0)
I find I'm more twitchy if i'm in a strange place where i know there is no toilet access or i'm not protected. Mondays are always worse for me, i can usually keep it in if i'm active and busy, i find i tend to forget about it and then i'm ok.
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