Can your colon physically burst from holding back gas?
One time I arrived at work and felt I had the runs. Often when I get the runs I have a build-up of gas too and if I fart before getting to a toilet I know it's going to smell really eggy and would be very unpleasant and embarrassing. So I held it back, which meant me squeezing my butt cheeks together as much as I could until the feeling passed. But as I was doing so I felt my colon was going to burst, like when you blow up a balloon too much.
Once the feeling had passed I was able to go to the toilet where I finally had privacy.
So I was wondering if your colon can physically burst from too much gas or if that was really possible. Hopefully it isn't possible, but it's a worry that goes through my mind whenever I'm in a situation where I have a lot of gas that suddenly wants to come all at once but it's too inappropriate to do it.
I know everyone farts and all that but I'm quite a shy person and the "ladylike" type, and I feel it's undignifying to do such a stinky fart so early in the morning at work when I'm not really the sort to feel comfortable farting in company. It's a pride thing.
It doesn't hurt me to hold it in, it just comes out when I get to a toilet.
I've never heard of the colon bursting because of gas, but I'm obviously not a doctor... I did try looking it up online and couldn't find anything.
I do know that feeling though and it's so uncomfortable. 🙁
Not wanting to pass gas in public is completely understandable. Even using the bathroom at work (or anywhere else that's not at home) has always felt uncomfortable for me...
I hope other community members will share their experiences with you soon!
All the best, Karina (team member)I have IBS-D and take hyoscyamine XR daily. In addition, I take some anti-gas medication at the same time, because of the tendancy of the meds causing gas. Works pretty well for me.
I haven't wondered as much about it with relation to gas as I have constipation and don't want to get so backed up that I ruin my bowels in some way. Trying to find a good balance is the mystery I'm trying to solve and if nothing else this site lets me know that everyone is different and all we can do is read and share and hope we find our best case scenario by seeing what's working or not for otheres.
Don't worry, I don't think it's possible. Your bowels are far more durable than a balloon. If you resist, air will keep building up and gradually getting more and more uncomfortable, but it will ultimately leave through the path of least resistance: they will eventually override the physical effort you're making to keep the gates closed.
A bizarre quick proof of this is a YouTube video of a dead hippo being scavenged by either lions or hyenas; a lot of poop and gases start coming out of it. When a small or medium sized animal dies, gases start building up inside it, causing post-mortem farts, in spite of the muscles being tightened beyond what will can muster (rigor mortis) the air leaves through there.
I specifically mention small or medium sized animals because the guts of behemots such as whales do explode from gases building up after their deaths. But thankfully that doesn't apply to us.Person, I often feel extremely bloated with gas when I wake in the morning & often it disturbs the night`s sleep as well, but over time I have learnt thru massaging the gut where most of the problem areas are resulting in a good release of gas before rising to meet the day! I start off working on the lower right side (which seems to have a pocket there thru distention), then massaging clockwise with particular attention to bottom left area where the dissending colon meets the sigmoid ( a well recognised problematic part of the bowel for many). I massage these areas several times until gas is released!
Oh wow, I had never heard of this! Thank you for sharing.
Karina (team member)
