Bowel Spasm

The bowel has an encircling muscle layer which can go into spasm and cause pain like cramps in your legs or calf. The muscle encircling the bowel normally contracts or squeezes to push the motion/poo around the bowel and you are usually completely unaware of it contracting or squeezing, except when you go to the toilet and want to open your bowels Doctors give ‘bowel spasm’ several names although the most common are ‘irritable bowel syndrome’ (IBS) and ‘functional bowel disorders’. The pain can range from mild discomfort to being so severe that it mimics more serious bowel conditions and some people can be admitted as an emergency to hospital to exclude more serious conditions It always settles down in hospital without any serious treatment – just by stopping eating to rest the bowel and relaxing in bed for 2-3days. Some people have fluids through a drip while they are taking nothing by mouth