# If you Hold in a Fart, What Happens to IT? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 22, 2001, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-hold-in-a-fart-what-happens-to-it/51302 "2001-01-22T19:28:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wildest\_Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Wildest\_Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildest_Bill)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-hold-in-a-fart-what-happens-to-it/51302/1 "2001-01-22T19:28:31Z")
Ok this was of those dumb questions that comes up when you are talking with your sister or something. You know situation like when you’re around alot of people and it is quiet so you really don’t want to let that sucker out. So you hold it. Well what happens to it when you hold it? Obviously it was some gas from the stomach that needed to be expelled and now you are holding it in. Well, where does it go? Do you burp it out or does it just sit there until you can fart it out later? Or does it just dissapear? Also is it unhealthy to hold it in? (That would be a perfect excuse to let’em out in in elevator huh. 😃 ) ---
**Author:** ![smoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c5a1d2/32.png) [@smoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smoke)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-hold-in-a-fart-what-happens-to-it/51302/2 "2001-01-22T19:38:31Z")
Almost positive this one’s been “dealt” with by Cecil. Search it- I’m too lazy. I remember something about reabsorption… ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-hold-in-a-fart-what-happens-to-it/51302/3 "2001-01-22T20:19:23Z")
[Does suppressing the urge to toot endanger one’s health?](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_385.html) ---
**Author:** ![Wildest\_Bill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Wildest\_Bill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wildest_Bill)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-hold-in-a-fart-what-happens-to-it/51302/4 "2001-01-22T20:19:55Z")
Thanks. I will. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-hold-in-a-fart-what-happens-to-it/51302/5 "2001-01-22T20:23:14Z")
You will what? Endanger your health? Aw, Bill, just for us? Why, you go ahead and toot away, darlin’, I don’t mind. Your sister, however, is another matter… ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-hold-in-a-fart-what-happens-to-it/51302/6 "2001-01-22T20:42:56Z")
It is\* painful to blow up your guts like a balloon. There have been times when I held in flatus and lived to regret it: sharp, stabbing, pinching, agonizing pains. It can take up to an hour to pass all that wind (usually in dribs and drabs) after you’ve forced it back inside. Be afraid, be very afraid. ---
**Author:** ![Meephead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b782af/32.png) [@Meephead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meephead)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2001, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-hold-in-a-fart-what-happens-to-it/51302/7 "2001-01-22T21:05:29Z")
Oh, blow it out your… [sub]nevermind, I shouldn’t talk liek that, here[/sub] 😃 ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2001, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-hold-in-a-fart-what-happens-to-it/51302/8 "2001-01-23T00:54:10Z")
Oh, it goes back up your intestines & becomes a burp. Gotta chuckle at this from that URL: “Dr. Michael Levitt, a Minneapolis gastroenterologist who is probably the world’s leading expert on flatulence, tells of a somewhat gassy patient who was having a rectal polyp cauterized one day and unexpectedly exploded on the operating table” ---
**Author:** ![pantom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/34f0e0/32.png) [@pantom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pantom)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2001, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-hold-in-a-fart-what-happens-to-it/51302/9 "2001-01-23T03:56:41Z")
As Ben Franklin put it, “Fart Proudly”. God knows I’d rather do that than blow up. ---
**Author:** ![Nacho4Sara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Nacho4Sara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nacho4Sara)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2001, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-hold-in-a-fart-what-happens-to-it/51302/10 "2001-01-23T06:00:49Z")
Your head explodes. No, really. My aunt used to say, _Wherever you may be, let your wind break free_. A true poet. And sometimes, when you hold it back, it becomes a stomach cramp. That happens to me every once in a while. I just find a lonely spot and let loose, and _poof_ goes the cramp. Best of luck, Wildest Bill, in letting the farts go free. ---
**Author:** ![posatyvo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b5ac83/32.png) [@posatyvo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/posatyvo)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2001, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-hold-in-a-fart-what-happens-to-it/51302/11 "2001-01-23T06:10:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nacho4Sara \* > \*\*_Wherever you may be, let your wind break free_. \*\* That would make a good bumper sticker or a slogan for Montana. I personaly think it just makes things worse to hang on to what your body just doesn’t want anymore. On a related note; Isn’t it weird when you and your SO finnaly get to the point where you’ll let 'em rip?