Posted 2/8/2015 8:04 PM (GMT 0)
tenesmus is a sign of flaring...usually with most of us who have UC. I'm not talking another issue when one isn't flaring or has rectal dysfunction in another way....there are other possibilities.
For me, it's a dead clincher for flaring. I never, ever, ever have it any other time.
Diarrhea during a flare is always easier passing through the rectum....because it will be inflamed as well, no matter how high one's UC is affecting the colon.
Messages get mixed up when the rectum has limited and/or milder inflammation....since it basically rules the colon (OK, ready...send the next load down..;-)
If just the rectum is affected...usually not the entire, but a more limited amount (or that it has very mild inflammation the entire rectum), the rest of the colon just goes about its way to do its thing by absorbing fluid and producing a more formed stool.
The rectum inflammation happens in a progression or heals in a regression. Solid stool going through an inflamed rectum will be forced through in a more violent way and hurt a hell of a lot more compared to diarrhea (since it's being also pushed from above the rectum and is liquid).
There's also more stool involved, so it seems like a never ending and exhausting nightmare when one has to go until the download is completed.
I believe that the signals from the rectum are like I can't do this anymore. The sigmoid is like well..it's already going in your direction and you're telling me to dump...or something like this. Everything throws a huge hissy fit because they're not working in tandum.
Antispasmodics can help with the spasming, rectal meds help greatly to heal the rectum and get it on its way to functioning again. It's a process.
My flares are extremely mild, but it still takes weeks of rectal meds nightly for me to recognise things are back to normal. Only then I consider to start tapering. The tenesmus during bms....when it ceases, things are much better. If my stools are still thin, I still have inflammation...so I continue nightly enemas until they've developed more bulk. It's not like that all the time, but sometimes.
I best stop now because I'm probably going off course with this.
My point is this.....continue the enemas nightly (try it at least to confirm if you can use them), and for platinumpixie...it probably will be until she's off the pred. Go from there.
Antispasmodics...a help for sure. When I have tenesmus badly, I use them up to 4x daily.
q