Bowel spasms caused by spinal nerve impingement?

@pati2u Welcome to Connect. I think you are right about your spine issues causing constipation issues. That can be caused by pressure on the spinal cord and you have a vertebra slipping. There could be other causes as well. I am a cervical spine surgery patient. Other members here have also reported severe constipation from cervical cord compression.

Now that you have an imaging report, have you been referred to a spine specialist?

Jennifer - did a neurosurgeon confirm the connection? I have a variety of problems I believe stem from cervical spine but don’t know who to approach. I don’t believe my current neurosurgeon will be on board and the pain management doctor was definitely not.

No referrals yet. Gastro doctor says not likely but my Rheumatologist says it’s possible. Not sure but I’m leaning towards a Neurologist instead of Orthopedic doctor. I also take Oxycodone for pain, and that causes constipation which is an aggravating factor.

@jamierb It was the anesthesiologist who was doing my spinal injection who explained that spinal cord compression can cause incontinence of bowel or bladder, and that would be an urgent situation for a surgical consultation. I did experience difficulty emptying my bladder when it would stop about half way, and I could voluntarily force the rest to empty. At the same time, I was seeing my physical therapist who would realign my spine, and then my bladder functioned normally again until the next muscle spasm changed spine alignment and this issue re-occurred in addition to an intermittent uneven walking gait. I was in a stage of intermittent symptoms dependent on my spine alignment. I think these are the early warnings that would progress toward loss of control if the compression continued and got worse. That was fixed by spine surgery. My surgeon at Mayo is Jeremy Fogelson and he is excellent.

Another member, @hodinator posted about severe constipation and he did have a cervical spine issue. He talked to me a lot and had spine surgery that improved his situation a lot. He was in a wheelchair, unable to walk because of his spine condition. After surgery and some moths of rehab, he regained walking ability and better bowel movements and was able to avoid surgery on his colon. Here is a post after his recovery. https://connect.mayoclinic.org/comment/961008/

What are the symptoms that are concerning you in possible relation to your spine?
I had surgeons who did not believe my leg issues were related to my cervical spine, but they were. I had what is called "funicuar pain" and I found medical literature with cases like mine, and then came to Mayo. A lot of surgeons missed that. It helps to keep a journal about how symptoms change over time, and if they changed with different body positions.

@pati2u Just in case you were talking about a surgeon, that would be a neurosurgeon and I'm mentioning this for anyone following the post. A neurologist doesn't do surgery, and they diagnose nerve problems with electrical tests. Both Orthopedic and Neurosurgeons do spine surgery. Find the best that you can with in network insurance coverage. My spine surgery was done at Mayo by a neurosurgeon who also had some orthopedic deformity spine fellowship training. I didn't need that degree of specialty, but he was the only surgeon who got the diagnosis right and offered to help me. I've also had a lot of constipation issues with oxycodone and for that reason, I stopped taking it right after my spine surgery and I did just find without it. With all the issues surgically fixed, the pain after surgery was less than before surgery for me. I also had an excellent surgeon, Jeremy Fogelson. If you are able to go to Mayo, he's very well respected. Here is an older story about a case he did for lumbar surgery. It had pictures in it, but because it's older, they have been removed.
https://newsnetwork.mayoclinic.org/discussion/sharing-mayo-clinic-spinal-surgery-saves-teen-swimmers-mobility/