Dear Gaseous,

There may be times when you are very   gaseous -- so uncomfortable, bloated, crampy, and distended that you feel that you, not just your intestine, could burst. This is because gas that has become trapped in the intestine, due to decreased motility, is building up with increasing pressure. Good news for you -- as far as Alice knows, no one (or her/his intestine) has exploded, or spontaneously combusted, from flatulence! [Wouldn't that be a gas (or lack of it)?] The only "explosion" would be that characteristically loud and startling noise that could result from such a forceful expulsion.

Now that we're on the subject, according to one of Alice's reference texts, 7 - 10 liters of gas are processed by the intestine daily, of which most is reabsorbed into the blood. When your intestine can no longer accommodate some of the leftover gas, your intestine will move it out via contractions. The result: you'll pass the gas, fart, cut the cheese, let one rip, break wind, blow bad mud, have SBDs (silent, but deadly, farts), etc. You get the picture (or smell!). Also beware of announcing these "gas leaks," because "the one that smelt it, dealt it," regardless of who laid one. And just in case, don't light a match while you let one out (who knows what you could start with that gas!). Just joking.

For more information, read Flatulence? and Gas, bloating, fiber? in Alice's General Health archives, and also check out the children's book, The Gas We Pass: The Story of Farts, by Shinta Cho.

Alice

Related Q&As

Remedies for gas pain?

Why do people fart?