Intestinal Spasms: Causes and Probiotic Treatment
Published October 25, 2022
Have you had those days when you’re outside then felt a sudden discomfort in your gut? We get it! Abdominal spasms can be downright uncomfortable and irritating. When the pain becomes unbearable, your capacity to do things can be severely affected. Not to mention your bowel habits.
Lucky you! There are now treatments that can help you from the agony of having intestinal spasms. Read on to know more about the causes of intestinal spasms and how probiotics can treat it.
What Is An Intestinal Spasm?
Intestinal spasm or spastic colon is a symptom usually associated with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS).
It’s often thought that both are the same. But the truth is, an IBS is a medical condition while a spastic colon is often a symptom of certain diseases. Also, not all people with IBS experience intestinal spasm.
Regular muscle contractions on the intestine help move feces down to the anus. However, irregular contraction of the intestinal muscles often results in a spastic colon.
What Do Intestinal Spasms Feel Like?
Here are some signs that you can experience when you have intestinal spasm:
- Pain
Intestinal spasms can be really painful. Sudden and severe pain in your lower left abdomen can usually occur if you have an intestinal spasm. The pain level depends on your pain tolerance.
- Gas or bloating
Now, this can be really uncomfortable. Regardless of your diet, bloating can occur anytime if you have an intestinal spasm.
- Changes in bowel habits
Irregular muscle contractions of the intestine can increase bowel motility. When intestinal spasm attacks, you may have a sudden urge to use the bathroom.
- Changes in characteristic of stool
Because of the irregularity of the bowel movement, your feces may not form fully. This often results in loose stool. Mucus in stools may also appear in your feces if you have a spastic colon.
This is usually a sign of an underlying disease. Mucus in stools is often seen in those who have IBS. As mentioned, an intestinal spasm is often a symptom of a medical condition.
What Causes Intestinal Spasms?
Below are some examples of medical conditions that may cause intestinal or colon spasms:
- Irritable bowel syndrome makes your bowel, or the lower part of your digestive tract, more sensitive to stimuli. That means if there’s even a slight pain, that pain might be amplified.
- Any kind of inflammation in your intestinal areas can cause intestinal spasms. That’s why diseases like ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s Disease tend to lead to spastic colon symptoms.
- Bacteria, parasites, and viruses may cause not only infection, but also inflammation in your intestinal regions. And as previously established inflammation can lead to intestinal spasms.
- Food intolerances and allergies can cause immune responses in your guts that may result in inflammation, which, again, is the catalyst for intestinal spasms.
- Emotional and mental stress can magnify the sensitivity of the gut as it’s linked to the brain via the nervous system. So, a slight issue can escalate quickly and lead to spastic colon spasms.
How To Treat Intestinal Spasms
In most cases, a spastic colon’s treatment aims to reduce the symptoms of spasm. But, treating intestinal spasm actually depends on the underlying medical condition.
For instance, intestinal spasm due to IBS will have different treatment for spastic colon due to bacterial infection. Below are the most common way of treating spastic colon.
- Manage stress
- Increase in physical activity
- Change your diet
- Limit your consumption of alcohol and/or tobacco
- Anticholinergic medications
- Anti-diarrheal medications
- Antispasmodic medications
For some reason, we often find it hard to avoid stress, engage in physical activities, and have a proper diet. That leaves us in taking medications or probiotics supplements.
Several studies prove the health benefits of probiotics. You’ll be surprised how probiotics can help you a lot. Not only with your intestinal spasms but also with other health diseases.
Can Probiotics Help With Spastic Colon Or Intestinal Spasms?
Probiotics are bacteria that are considered good and healthy for the body. Several studies show that probiotics help us prevent and treat some illnesses.
It works by keeping a healthy balance of bacteria within your body.
For example, if you take Antibiotics to treat other infections, all the bacteria in your body will be killed including the healthy ones.
That’s when probiotics come in. Probiotics can help you replace and maintain the good bacteria needed by your body.
It’s essential to have healthy bacteria because it helps the human body to have a strong immune system.
A strong immune system can avoid having a bacterial infection and other diseases. Thus, avoiding intestinal spasms.
Moreover, several studies show that probiotics help to suppress lots of symptoms. This includes:
- Abdominal pain
- Bloating
- Diarrhea or constipation
What many people don’t know though is that there are a lot of probiotic strains. Each strain has a different function and health benefits.
Thus, when taking a probiotic supplement for intestinal spasms, make sure it has the right strain.
Take Bionaze for example. It’s a probiotic supplement formulated with two cutting edge strains: BLIS K12 and Bl-04. These probiotic strains target ear, nose, throat and mouth infections.
For intestinal spasms, the strain L. Plantarum is scientifically proven to reduce both abdominal bloating and gas. This is supported by separate studies in Poland and Germany.
Why Are Probiotics Good For You?
Aside from intestinal spasms, Probiotics can help treat other medical conditions too. Remember that probiotics help you have a strong immune system which means your body will be able to fight against illnesses.
A lot of research has been made and showed what other conditions that probiotics can treat. These include:
- Yeast infections
- Urinary Tract Infections (UTI)
- Lactose intolerance
- Eczema
- Respiratory infections
- Allergies and Asthma
- Mouth and Ear infections
Have you tried using probiotics for intestinal spasms? Tell us about your experience in the comments.
(Related: Can Probiotics Cause Gas and Bloating?)
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About The Author
Lenard Arceo is an experienced writer who enjoys learning to code in his spare time. He has a fascination with health and nutrition and enjoys sharing his knowledge and research. He is proud of his commitment to communicating factual content that has helped his readers with life changing choices over the years.
