Spasm
A brief, automatic jerking movement. A muscle spasm can be quite painful, with the muscle clenching tightly. A spasm of the coronary artery can cause the pain of angina. Spasms in various types of tissue may be caused by stress, medication, and overexercise.
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- Spasm, coronary artery
A sudden constriction of a coronary artery that deprives the heart muscle of blood and oxygen. This can cause a type of sudden chest pain referred to as variant angina or Prinzmetal angina. Coronary artery spasm can be triggered by emotional stress, medicines, street drugs (particularly cocaine), and exposure to extreme cold. Treatments include the […]
- Spasm, nictitating
Spasm of the eyelid with continuous winking. To nictitiate is to wink. “Nictitate” and the older verb “nictate” both come from the Latin word for winking, “nictare.”
- Spasmodic dysphonia
A disorder that involves the muscles of the throat that control speech. Spasmodic dysphonia causes strained and difficult speaking or breathy and effortful speech. Also known as spastic dysphonia, laryngeal dystonia, adductor spasmodic dysphonia, and abductor spasmodic dysphonia.
- Spastic colitis
A common gastrointestinal disorder involving an abnormal condition of gut contractions (motility) characterized by abdominal pain, bloating, mucous in stools, and irregular bowel habits with alternating diarrhea and constipation, symptoms that tend to be chronic and to wax and wane over the years. Although the disorder can cause chronic recurrent discomfort, it does not lead […]
- Spastic colon
A term sometimes used to refer to irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Although the term “spastic” colon implies the occurrence of muscle contractions, or spasms, in the large bowel, this may not hold true for all cases of IBS. See also irritable bowel syndrome.