Like when you get a really bad tummyache and it’s ‘colic’, and people say it’s ‘trapped gas’. Where is it trapped? Isn’t there only one way for it to go? Why is it so painful?
In: Biology
The stuff moving through your intestines can create gas as it breaks down. If that gas get caught between other solids and liquids that are moving through your intestines, then it tends to push on your intestines’ walls as it is compressed between the objects that have trapped.
Colic is actually just the feeling of abdominal pain (usually local to a hollow organ). In adults, there are several types of colic like biliary colic (caused by gallstones obstructing your gallbladder outlet), renal colic (kidney stones obstructing somewhere in your kidneys or ureter- the tube that carries urine from your kidney to your bladder) and intestinal colic (caused by blockage of intestines – this can be impacted food, tumours, inflammatory processes, etc). In terms of intestinal colic, if food/feces are blocking up your intestine, it will cause pain. Naturally, the gas that is in your intestines will also be blocked from exiting your body, and this could be what people mean when they say it’s “trapped gas”. Just keep in mind that gas is not necessarily the cause of the pain, it is the blocked passage of material (whether it be bile from the gallbladder, urine from the kidneys, or feces from the intestines) that causes the inflammation and then pain.
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