# "Flatus retention" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [September 7, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flatus-retention/320565 "2005-09-07T19:30:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flatus-retention/320565/1 "2005-09-07T19:30:29Z")
[linq](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_385.html) I don’t think the taboo specified in the first paragraph necessarily prohibits all gas-passing. Would the “Boke of Curtasye” have considered training oneself to emit silent, unobstrusive farts to satisfy its admonition against “gun-blasting”? ---
**Author:** ![critter42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ba0ec/32.png) [@critter42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/critter42)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flatus-retention/320565/2 "2005-09-07T19:55:52Z")
Exploding fart - urban legend? Hey, I thought this place was about “the fight against ignorance”, and yet Cecil is passing on an Urban Legend? Say it ain’t so! ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flatus-retention/320565/3 "2005-09-07T20:44:18Z")
> [@Mathochist](#): > > Would the “Boke of Curtasye” have considered training oneself to emit silent, unobstrusive farts to satisfy its admonition against “gun-blasting”? No. I think when someone committed a fart, you were just supposed to boke him over the head with it. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flatus-retention/320565/4 "2005-09-07T21:12:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Exploding fart - urban legend? Hey, I thought this place was about “the fight against ignorance”, and yet Cecil is passing on an Urban Legend? Say it ain’t so! It sounds possible – yet it might be an Urban Legend. I know I’ve seen the story in “News of the Weird”, which makes it suspect. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2005, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flatus-retention/320565/5 "2005-09-07T21:22:35Z")
> [@critter42](#): > > Exploding fart - urban legend? Hey, I thought this place was about “the fight against ignorance”, and yet Cecil is passing on an Urban Legend? Say it ain’t so! I don’t know whether Cecil’s wrong or not, but [here’s an article](http://ostomy.50megs.com/gas.html) about Dr. Michael Levitt, referenced in Cecil’s column. It mentions that Dr. Levitt developed a protocol for treating patients with some special drink before sigmoidoscopies so they don’t blow up. > [@](#): > > Anyone who’s had a sigmoid oscopy, a procedure in which a flexible tube is inserted into the rectum to check for colon cancer, can thank Levitt that there wasn’t an explosion. Really. > > Hydrogen, whether it’s in the dirigible Hindenburg or your body, is flammable. That may be a source of delight to a teenager with a match but a dangerous problem when physicians want to burn off any abnormal growths found during a sigmoidoscopy. One spark can cause an explosion in the colon, Levitt says. There are documented cases of that happening. > > Levitt was one of the researchers who helped solve the problem. He and his colleagues analyzed different liquids that patients would drink to clean the colon of feces and not contain any food for the bacteria. > > They found that polyethylene glycol was the best agent. Patients around the world now regularly drink this thick preventative before undergoing the procedure. ---
**Author:** ![mearns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ed8c4c/32.png) [@mearns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mearns)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flatus-retention/320565/6 "2005-09-08T15:17:11Z")
This happened in my high school days. I was on a high dosage of antibiotics to treat an infection at the time. One day (in biology class as irony would have it) I needed to fart, but due to the deep seated fear of the social gaffe that is inherent in any 16 year-old, I held it in. A few hours later, the need to relese had subsided, but a massive pain had developed deep in my gut. In agony (I’m not exaggerating here) I made my way a couple of blocks to my mother’s office building. This trip took about 45 minutes as I was doubled-over and passing out along the way. In the reception area, my mother took one look at me and decided to take me to the hospital. In the car I passed-out a few times and at the hospital I was put in a wheelchair and seen immediately. The doctors realized, once they had seen the information about my antibiotic prescription, that I had a rare reaction to the medication. The antibiotics had killed off all of the bacteria that caused the infection, but had also killed the ‘good’ bacteria in my intestines. As they died, a large amount of carbon dioxide was released. Because I didn’t want to fart in class, the buildup continued until my intestine was swollen to three times its normal size. With an emergency surgeon on stand-by, the doctors began a course of treatment to ‘decompress’ me. Use your imagination (it involved the aforementioned tube). And miraculously an hour later I was fine. So, the moral of the story is: There are health risks to holding it in. I now fart in all manner of social situations with reckless abandon. Medical records available upon request. ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flatus-retention/320565/7 "2005-09-08T16:04:29Z")
> [@Baldwin](#): > > It sounds possible – yet it might be an Urban Legend. I know I’ve seen the story in “News of the Weird”, which makes it suspect. It’s not on Snopes, for whatever that’s worth. ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flatus-retention/320565/8 "2005-09-08T18:20:44Z")
> [@mearns](#): > > I now fart in all manner of social situations with reckless abandon. > Medical records available upon request. I’m imagining a laminated card. “Medical need everyone, please hang on to any loose jewelery, unrestrained pets or small children.” _ **POOT!!!** _ **card goes back into the wallet** thanks for your cooperation ---
**Author:** ![cymrich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@cymrich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cymrich)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flatus-retention/320565/9 "2005-09-08T19:04:39Z")
correct me if I’m wrong… but Cecil didn’t answer the question as near as I can tell… instead we got information of the possible dangers of not passing gas… The question was not “can holding it in harm me?” but was “If gas pains are caused by intestinal gas, then how come I never feel better when I fart?” ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2005, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flatus-retention/320565/10 "2005-09-08T20:45:10Z")
Meanwhile, wait until tomorrow, when Cecil’s column also deals with flatulence … and fatalities. ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flatus-retention/320565/11 "2005-09-09T04:51:47Z")
> [@C K Dexter Haven](#): > > Meanwhile, wait until tomorrow, when Cecil’s column also deals with flatulence … and fatalities. I figured that this series of old columns was leading up to something… ---
**Author:** ![SiXSwordS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/49beb7/32.png) [@SiXSwordS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SiXSwordS)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2005, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flatus-retention/320565/12 "2005-09-09T13:54:27Z")
> [@cymrich](#): > > correct me if I’m wrong… but Cecil didn’t answer the question as near as I can tell… \The question was not “can holding it in harm me?” but was “If gas pains are caused by intestinal gas, then how come I never feel better when I fart?” What an astute observation!