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Tenesmus - Overview

Alternative Names

Pain - passing stool; Painful stools; Difficulty passing stool

Definition of Tenesmus:

Tenesmus is the feeling that you constantly need to pass stools, even though your bowels are already empty. It may involve straining, pain, and cramping.

Considerations:

Tenesmus usually occurs with inflammatory diseases of the bowels. These diseases may be caused by an infection or other conditions.

It can also occur with diseases that affect the normal movements of the intestines. Such diseases are called motility disorders.

Persons with tenesmus may push very hard (strain) to try to empty their bowels, but they pass little stool.

Common Causes:

Anorectal abscess
Colorectal cancer or tumors
Crohn's disease
Infection of the colon (infectious colitis)
Inflammation of the colon or rectum from radiation (radiation proctitis or colitis)
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
Movement (motility) disorder of the intestines
Ulcerative colitis

Lower digestive anatomy

Reviewed last on: 7/7/2010
David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; George F. Longstreth, MD, Department of Gastroenterology, Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program, San Diego, California. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

References

Camilleri M. Disorders of gastrointestinal motility. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 138.

Stenson WF. Inflammatory bowel disease. In: Goldman L, Ausiello D, eds. Cecil Medicine. 23rd ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Saunders Elsevier; 2007:chap 144.

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