Dr Yousuf Ali Al Mulla
We receive plenty of queries and concerns from individuals about too much intestinal gas. Some even asking whether their digestive tract could be malfunctioning? In fact, passing gas or breaking wind is common. Even most healthy people do it between 14 and 23 times each day.
However, excessive flatulence can be embarrassing and make you feel uncomfortable around others. I believe many wondering what’s going on in his or her digestive tract and whether it’s a symptom of a more serious health condition.
We know that the gas comes from two sources, swallowed air and that produced by colonic bacteria. I would say that intestinal gas is composed of various amounts of oxygen an dniyroheouns for instance, which come from as I mentioned from swallowed air, beside hydrogen and methane, which are by-products of the breakdown of food by good bacteria in the colon. I would say here that most gases actually are coming from swallowing air.
Nevertheless, most of the time excessive gas is due to what you are eating and drinking habits as well swallowed air. It can also be a symptom of some health conditions, for instance like gastroesophageal reflux disease, celiac disease, malabsorption problems, sometimes even small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, not forgetting conditions related to abdominal hernia and colon or ovarian cancer or some intolerance illness.
Looking into that, it should be clear to us that, gas can cause pain and cramping in the abdomen as well, some noisy sound effects, like when belching at which the gas is released from the body through the mouth by burping or by flatulence through the rectum or bloating as the gas accumulate. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have excessive gas, rather you are more sensitive to gas than other people.
Although, there are no medical guidelines defining the normal frequency or volume of flatulence, I believe that you are the best person to assess your own symptoms. Visit the doctor if your gas pains are persistent or interferes with your ability to function well in daily life, or if you experience painful bloating with additional signs like: bloody stool, change in consistency of stool or even constipation or diarrhoea as well as recurrent vomiting for instance.
However, at the end it depends on your lifestyle as well. Reducing gases can be done with little efforts, like, eating slowly, quitting smoking, increase physical activity and increasing fibres in your diets as well drinking plenty of water daily, moreover, try to avoid or limit talking while eating and that’s happened a lot as per patients. Also, try to avoid eating when you are upset, drinking from a bottle, drinking carbonated beverages and eating foods with fractions or even sipping hot beverages.
At the end, your lifestyle is a major factor, so it will be great if you look at your habit and assess what you eat, drink. You may be able to prevent some of the episodes or at least be comfortable knowing that they are normal, so don’t try to hold your horses and let it fly to avoid building a pressure and a backdraft, which will make it so uncomfortable to you.
Dr Yousuf Ali Al Mulla, MD, Ministry of Health. He is a medical innovator and educator. For any queries regarding the content of the column, he can be contacted at: dryusufalmulla@gmail.com
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