Table of Contents:
- Spastic Colon Treatment
- Common Causes of Spastic Colon
- Spastic Colon Symptoms
- Spastic Colon Overview
Spastic colon, otherwise described as colon spasms or gut motility disorder, is a sudden spasm of the large intestine. This is a common occurrence in IBS patients, when dysregulation of the brain-gut axis leads to unmodulated or sporadic gut movements that do not come as a result of interaction with food. Evinature Co-Founder Nir Salomon describes it as “a tractor in your gut. Sudden movements, either quick or slow, of the large intestinal wall lead to painful cramping associated with Irritable Bowel Syndrome.”
What is Spastic Colon?
Spastic colon is an outdated term that has been associated with Irritable Bowel Syndrome; however, it refers to a specific type of gut motility disorder common in IBS patients. Gut motility refers to the ability of the large intestine, also known as your colon, to contract and relax in precise movements to push food through the GI tract. When this becomes dysregulated, such as is common in IBS, these movements no longer proceed in a precise, controlled manner. Instead, patients experience a sensation like “butterflies in their stomach”, or sudden, sporadic contractions of the large intestine. These spasms can be painful and are usually accompanied by aches on the lower left side (where the descending colon deposits processed food into the rectum for excretion) and bloating.
Spastic Colon Symptoms
A tractor’s engine fires in a quick, erratic sequence, and the machine vibrates while lurching in response to these uneven ignitions. The gut motility disorder underlying spastic colon feels a little like this movement, leading to uncomfortable spasms, bloating, and abdominal pain.
- Abdominal pain: Sudden spasms of the colon can lead to aches and pains, particularly in the lower left region of your abdomen.
- Constipation: Sudden movements of the large intestine can push food back into the intestine, instead of moving it forward. This can lead to constipation, where raw material is stuck in the gastrointestinal tract.
- Bloated stomach: Enlargement of the intestines in response to poor movement of material through the GI tract can cause bloating due to poor gut motility.
- Tenesmus: The feeling of having to excrete, but being unable to, is common for those with IBS. This can be due to colon spasms moving material around in the large intestine, without being able to move it forward to the rectum and final excretion. As such, your body receives signals that there is material to defecate, but when it goes to do so, the material has backwashed into the large intestine due to poor gut motility.
- Fecal Incontinence and Bowel Urgency: In some cases, the spasms can push food through the gastrointestinal tract too quickly, with stool arriving at the rectum much quicker than the body can react to it. Usually, in conjunction with damaged neural sensors around the rectum and anus, fecal incontinence causes IBS patients to be fine one moment, but the next feel the urge to poop. This can even result in unintentional defecation.
- Diarrhea: Material moves through the GI tract much too fast as a result of colon spasms, and therefore is not completely digested when it arrives at the rectum. Diarrhea is the result of overly-quick intestinal movements, coupled with too little time to digest food. This results in loose stools that have not had the time to condense in the large intestine.
- Mucous stool: Mucus lines the inside of your small and large intestine to protect the GI tract from a multitude of threats. When gut motility is impaired, this lining may be partially secreted together with feces or stool.
Common Causes of Spastic Colon
Spastic colon, or gut motility disorder, comes as a result of dysregulation with the brain-gut axis. The hypothalamus secretes hormones that upregulate or downregulate the movements of the gut that control digestion—when this axis is impacted, gut motility, or movements of the gut to digest and move through the intestines—becomes impaired. Several reasons causing this type of dysregulation are listed below:
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome: Irritable Bowel Syndrome, or IBS, is a cluster of gastrointestinal symptoms without a clear cause. Colon spasms are so common to IBS patients that ‘spastic colon’ has even become another name for referencing IBS.
- Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Unlike IBS, patients with Ulcerative Colitis or Crohn’s Disease experience inflammation of their GI tract, which can lead to colon spasms and irregular bowel movements.
- Allergic reactions: Allergic reactions, particularly to food, can cause inflammation. This inflammation interferes with the balance of gut signaling, leading to dysregulation of gut motility.
- Infection: Viral or bacterial infection of the gut wall can impact gut signaling and digestion, leading to irregular and painful colon spasms, as well as mucous stool and abdominal pain.
- Hormonal Fluctuations: Temporary or chronic hormonal fluctuations, such as those caused by pregnancy or endometriosis respectively, can impair gut motility, leading to painful colon spasms. Since hormones play an essential role in gut signaling, an imbalance of hormones is like waving a hand in the face of the brain; it gets distracted and dysregulates its ability to send consistent signaling to the gut.
- Anxiety: The same pathway that regulates stress reactions in the body regulates gut motility. Therefore, people experiencing high levels of stress can also see a drop in their gut motility, leading to painful colon spasms.
Spastic Colon Treatment
Colon spasms can often be treated with minor lifestyle adjustments and natural remedies.
- Bowel rest: Sometimes, our gut just needs a break. Colon spasms can signal an overworked gut; therefore, focusing on easy-to-digest liquids such as bone broth, pureed vegetable soups, and smoothies can give your intestines a hard-earned break from breaking down material. Slowly return to a solid diet with cooked vegetables, lean meats, and plenty of water and juices to aid digestion.
- Elimination Diet: If colon spasms return after trying bowel rest, something in your diet may be setting off a bad reaction. Many people have intolerances to different foods; therefore, working with a licensed nutritionist to identify and eliminate food triggers can reduce the frequency and severity of colon spasms. A common elimination diet to begin with is the Low FODMAPs diet, where consumption of fermented sugars is systematically decreased, and then reintroduced one at a time to identify food triggers leading to colon spasms.
- Low-impact, Regular Exercise: Incorporating consistent, low-impact exercise into your daily regimen assists with digestion and helps regulate gut motility. It is important to note that while there is nothing wrong with moderate to high-impact exercise, listening to your body and understanding what it is capable of makes all the difference in preventing colon spasms. Overdoing exercise and strain is just as likely to dysregulate digestion as lack of exercise; therefore, if you are experiencing colon spasms, better to take it easy with low-impact exercise such as yoga or stretching until the episode passes and then increase to moderate exercise when your body is ready.
- Stress Management: Decreasing your stress levels directly improves gut health and digestive ability through restoring balance to the brain-gut axis. Journaling, meditation, and taking walks are tried-and-true methods of coping with stress; and talking to a licensed psychotherapist can help those who are really struggling.
- Enteric-coated Peppermint: Enteric-coated peppermint capsules and peppermint oil, amongst other natural remedies, can calm irritated gut linings and assist with digestion. Peppermint is also an anti-oxidant and improves overall GI health and maintenance.
- Exhale: Evinature produces a high-quality nutraceutical designed to help patients cope with the symptoms of stress, specifically for improving gut health. A supplement containing ashwagandha, chamomile, mimosa bark, and other anti-oxidants, Exhale provides patients with a deep breath of calm amidst the chaos of daily life while supporting gut-wall integrity and digestive function.
If none of these solutions seem to reduce colon spasms, your doctor may try to treat spastic colon with antispasmodics, antibiotics to treat residual infection or overgrowth, and anti-diarrheal medications. If these fail, the physician may move on to higher-grade anti-convulsants called anti-cholinergetics, which directly impact the ability of an excitatory hormone, acetylcholine, to bind to the gut to induce colon spasms.
Spastic Colon Overview
Spastic colon, colon spasms, gut motility disorder: no matter the name it goes by, the painful spasms are the same. When it does occur, it can impact daily life, and therefore making sure that treatment addresses the root causes and the symptoms is essential to long-lasting relief. If you or someone you know is experiencing painful colon spasms, seeking medical advice and implementing lifestyle changes can lead to a drastic resolution of symptoms, and increase patients’ quality of life.
Evinature’s website has a free online gut health assessment for patients looking for long-lasting dietary solutions, with a dedicated Clinical Support Team ready to assist with any inquiries. Take our free assessment here to find out which of our solutions is right for you!
Summer Pitocchelli-Schwartzman
