Causes | Spasms in the stomach

Causes

Spasms in the abdomen can be triggered by a variety of things and circumstances. Large parts of the population have to struggle with this problem from time to time in the course of their lives, but usually the spasms in the abdomen are absolutely harmless. For example, increased stress, the wrong food or unfavorable eating habits (e.g., too fast, too greasy, at the wrong time, too much coffee) can sometimes make the intestines feel bad.

A very common reason for spasms in the stomach is the so-called irritable bowel syndrome. But also diarrhoea or constipation can be the cause of spasms in the abdomen. In addition, many girls and women regularly suffer from abdominal complaints, namely during their periods.

Other, not so frequent causes can be, for example: Infections of the gastrointestinal tract (common pathogens are Campylobacter bacteria or Salmonella), food poisoning (often in fish or products containing raw egg), the cattle tapeworms already mentioned above, Allergies and/or intolerances to certain foods or food groups (e.g. lactose intolerance or gluten sensitivity), inflammation of the appendix (appendicitis), as well as chronic inflammatory bowel diseases such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis or circulatory disorders in the gastrointestinal tract.Even though abdominal spasms almost always occur in the muscles of the intestinal wall, their cause is not necessarily to be found there. For example, problems with the stomach, such as inflammation of the mucous membrane of the stomach or a stomach ulcer (ulcer), diseases of the kidneys (such as kidney stones) and diseases from the gynecological circle (such as endometriosis) can cause the spasms in the stomach. If the spasms in the abdomen have this typical wave-like or contraction-like character, this is usually an indication that a stone is causing the discomfort and therefore the gallbladder and bile ducts should be examined first. In very rare cases, a tumorous disease such as colon cancer can also be the cause of the spasms in the abdomen. If the spasms are much more painful than usual, do not improve over time but rather worsen and occur over several days, if accompanying symptoms such as fever, diarrhea or vomiting or even blood in the stool occur, a specialist doctor must be consulted in any case, who can find the cause of the complaints and in the best case can completely eliminate them.