POSSIBLE BREAKTHROUGH. It could be EATING NUTS causing this.

Just to add, with allergies NUTS appear to have a lot to answer for and could also be responsible in triggering attacks.

Hi Phil,

Sorry to say that I don't think there is a connection with a nut allergy.

From my experience, I am not allergic to nuts, I have gorged on many a tin of nuts - that's the point. Being a vegetarian probably means that I eat more nuts than others, but it never been followed by a bout of this awfulness.

It's a pity there are so few of us, otherwise those chaps on C4's Embarrassing Bodies might find it an interesting challenge, but I don't feel like revealing my nether region to the masses.

Good luck all

Russ

I love nuts and eat lots of them. But maybe it's your trigger? It's been a year since you questioned them, are you nut free and has it helped? I'm wondering if it a certain type or amount of oil in my diet. My attacks seem to follow after theatre popcorn or frosting like store bought cake or Oreo cookies. But it could be totally unrelated and have more to do with stress because I would not eat bad foods like that unless I'm emotional and binging.

Hi Phil R, I am a 75 y.o. male and have been suffering Proctalgia Fugax attacks since about 1977.  I know this is long-winded but please bear with me as I value other opinions and observations.  Like other contributers, I cannot define a definite pattern to the episodes in trying to finding a cause of the problem which causes so much misery.  If I may I would like to add to the other observations published here in an effort to help other sufferers and maybe help to eliminate this scourge.  

I do not believe that diet or what you eat will trigger attacks of P.F.  Here's why. One of   the worst attacks I have experienced happened during the preparation for a colonoscopy procedure.  I had to eat no fibreous meals a week before and nothing at all a day or two before the examination.  My bowel was filled with water along with the prescribed clear chemicals.  It was then I had the agonising attack.  So I struck diet out as a cause of P.F.

I have noticed that some sexual activity may provoke P.F. but not all the time.  I cannot relate any activity, illness or other causes to the episodes other than the nebulous reference to sexual activity.  The painful condition occurs 99.9% of the time when in bed at no particular time.  I used to get up and run a hot bath to a depth of 4 or so inches and sit in the hot water for a few minutes and the pain usually goes.  This however is a time consuming exercise and what about when you are away from home and there is no bath?  I resorted to using an enima with hot water in it.  This takes only a few minutes and offers instant relief.  Interestingly when the water and gas in the rectum is ejected it is ALWAYS accompanied with a small turd the size of half a thumb in size.

 P.F. is defininately associated (in my case) with the retention of gas (farts) in the region above the anus.  If the fart is released during an attack my pain immediately goes away.  My attacks seem to occur in groups of two to four or five then a large or small gap to the next lot.  That's the fustrating thing about P.F. it does not follow rhyme or reason.

Recently I had a moment of insight reading about the nerves accociated with the rectum and anus.  Not much known about this subject but one medical source mentioned the rectal nerve endings play a part in controlling what passes out of the back passage.  This makes perfect sense to me as I consider that the human body is a wonderful carefully-designed biological machine.  So how does the body know what is passing from the bowel into the rectal area?  I reckon the answer is in the nerve endings.  They  determine wheather it's gas or fecal matter moving down.  Obviously gas passes more freely than the solid matter which is a good thing.

 Consolidating my observations on the effects of using the enima, just say there is a misinformation going on in the nerves.  Maybe the gas - sensing nerve endings mistakenly sense a turd and block the passage of gas out of the rectum causing a painful blockage in an area where it should not be.  Result - Proctalgia.  If there was a simple explanation then we would all know about it.  If we, as a group can present a coherent set of observations to the medicos we just may get some interest going and rid ourselves of this scourge.  

hi!!! i have been suffering from p.f. since i was a child! im 31, female and just left the ER last week with a p.f attack...

ive never been to the ER for this but bought a bag full of treenuts chestnuts, pecams walnuts ect for my christmas stocking and ate mostly all of them!

about 8-10 hours later i get sharp stabbing anal pain, on and off, which i usually use benedryl to treat, this time i didnt have benedryl. 48 hours after injesting, is the peak of my attack.

I felt anal pain and tried to breathe through it without benedryl.

i was doubled over in pain. its a delayed food allergy but such a releif to know others have the same embarrassing allergies and p.f attack from treenuts.

please treat as severe allergy as i will.

god bless!

pain from p.f is unreal!

im figurating PF right now. im avoiding bread, corn, and seems like nuts will be added to this list. i have been getting attacks after eating nuts.