[Q] Backache and going to toilet

[paigetheoracle]

Why is it that sometimes I have a bad back that is relieved by defecation? Is this anything to do with my proneness to migraines?

[lemit]

A doctor I had in high school, who was considered an authority on the colon, explained to me that there are very few nerve endings in the colon, so we tend to feel what we should feel in the colon somewhere else. He called this "referred pain." The distension of your colon would cause one of those sensations that would then be referred.

 

Doctors always laughed at the term "referred pain," until I told them my source. Then, several of them took notes, so I guess there must have been some authority there.

 

--lemit

[paigetheoracle]

I always thought it was my kidneys but it could be ganglia going into the spine, reacting there and not at the site of the problem I suppose:shrug:

[enorbet2]

I seem to recall that defecation often, if not always, is accompanied by the release of endorphins and other neurotransmitters that follow certain kinds of physical stress. This is how chiropractic seems to help temporarily. I doubt it has to do with migraine but that condition is not well understood.

 

Regarding migraine 1st off you have my deepest sympathies but also my empathy since I am one who has suffered through several per day at times as well as the 4 day "someone please hand me a gun" vomiting ones. Secondly if you only suspect you have inherited migraine I urge you to see a neurologist and nail it down so you know for certain. It is a serious condition that often gets marginalized by public and even some doctors' sensibilities that have equated migraine with just a "bad headache" when it is much more than that. If you are a migraine sufferer you will need to educate yourself and be very proactive in your healthcare, such as it is, because you are the one who has to live in your body. Be well.

[paigetheoracle]

I seem to recall that defecation often, if not always, is accompanied by the release of endorphins and other neurotransmitters that follow certain kinds of physical stress. This is how chiropractic seems to help temporarily. I doubt it has to do with migraine but that condition is not well understood.

 

Regarding migraine 1st off you have my deepest sympathies but also my empathy since I am one who has suffered through several per day at times as well as the 4 day "someone please hand me a gun" vomiting ones. Secondly if you only suspect you have inherited migraine I urge you to see a neurologist and nail it down so you know for certain. It is a serious condition that often gets marginalized by public and even some doctors' sensibilities that have equated migraine with just a "bad headache" when it is much more than that. If you are a migraine sufferer you will need to educate yourself and be very proactive in your healthcare, such as it is, because you are the one who has to live in your body. Be well.

 

I used to get the three a day with vomiting in my case. I intend doing that but my present practice has three times put me off going down this route, so I intend going to a friend in order to get referred as he won't care. The only treatment that works is zomig during an attack - all prophylactics fail through tolerance and the fact that my attacks are definitely emotionally based (anger) and that in turn might be down to me having Aspergers Syndrome (something else I'll need my friend to get me referred for!).

[enorbet2]

Geez Paige, I am so sorry to hear you have so much difficulty. IIRC the lead singer/guitar player of The Vines has a similar condition and it has all but destroyed his career (that plus self-medicating).

This may sound odd in a science forum but there is a scientific explanation as well as the mystical one for acupuncture. Acupuncture had more impact than anything else in my case and I went in with a "show me!" attitude. The only positive reinforcement that meant anything to me was a headache specialist from Johns Hopkins who informed me that he didn't know if it could help migraine (this was in the late 80s) but that he knew there was "something there" because he had witnesses deep surgery with no anaesthetic, just two guys twirling needles, and as he said emphatically, there is no way to fake that.

The downside is that even as with western medical doctors the quality of care does vary with practitioner. Fortunately it's fairly cheap and not at all limited to the common expectations that only Asians can do it right.

Best wishes

[paigetheoracle]

You're sorry to hear about my condition - well so am I! I find that if I can discharge this tension in the lower back, through bending backwards over a piece of furniture, it goes but unconsciousness follows (I drop off to sleep) and I wake up with a migraine. So the choice is keep the stress and avoid the migraine or relax and get it in the neck again!