Proctalgia fugax history and symptoms
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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]
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Overview
History and Symptoms
It most often occurs in the middle of the night[1] and lasts approximately 20 minutes, occasionally 30 minutes or longer. Because pain threshold drops during sleep it intensifies as you go to sleep and wakes the sufferer up again. Most sufferers encounter it less than 6 times a year and can go for many months without an episode.
During an episode, the patient feels spasm-like pain in the anus, often misinterpreted as a need to defecate. Simultaneous stimulation of the local autonomic system can cause erection in males. It is a disorder of skeletal muscle, it is recurrent and there is also no known cure. It is not known to be linked to any disease process and data on the number of people afflicted varies, but is more prevalent than usually thought.
Like all ordinary muscle cramps it is a severe, deep rooted pain.
It has been reported to occur immediately following ejaculation.
Episodes happen almost always with an empty colon. Defaecation of any faeces present can to worsen the spasm, but may relieve it, or provide a measure of comfort. The pain might subside by itself as the spasm disappears on its own, or may persist or reoccur during the same night. At the time it can seem like 'it will never go away'.
In males there seems to be some indication that prolonged and tense sexual arousal may lead to an episode later that night.