Causes of Trapped Wind

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Contents Overview Causes of Trapped Wind Signs & Symptoms In Pregnancy In Babies Chest Trapped Wind Remedy Peppermint & Trapped Wind

The causes of trapped wind in our gut or intestine are legion. The most common cause of trapped wind however has to do with the type of food item we eat.

Drinks, our clothing, how much air we swallow and our psychological state of mind also determine our likelihood of developing trapped wind.

Trapped wind could be as a result of some chronic health problems, or passing situation like constipation. It is a very common cause of abdominal pain in newborn babies, troddlers older children and adults. It is also a condition that can occur in the pregnant. Understanding and finding the causes of trapped wind is thus a beneficial step in overcoming this problem.

We shall now discuss causes of trapped wind in the acute setting (i.e. occurring within hours and few days)and then proceed to mention causes of trapped wind in the chronic setting(occuring and persisting over weeks and months or years).

Well documented causes of trapped wind include :

FOODS

Common things occur commonly. The commonest cause of trapped wind comes from the food we eat. Certain kinds of food predisposes to excess gas production, causing trapped wind.

These food items for some reasons attract the normal gut bacterial action and breakdown, thus releasing intestinal gas in large amount. It is estimated that as much as 70% of gas produced in the intestines come from such bacterial action; not from swallowed air!

That these foods do cause trapped wind in themselves is no reason to exclude them from our diet. They are important to maintaining good health, except if you are expressly allergic to them. You could look for ways to modify how you prepare them to reduce this problem. Such foods include:

• Beans

• Peas

• Onions

• Nuts

• Cauliflower

• Broccoli

• Some dried fruits

These food items are usually rich in cellulose and or proteins. Some of their components are not easily digested by the normal intestinal enzymes. Gut bacteria help to digest the part of the food item not digested by human enzymes, and they tend to produce lots of gas as by product of the digestion.

Eating irregularly, or late at night can also cause bloating due to poor digestion and accumulation of wind from actions of the same gut flora on the poorly digested meal.

DRINKS

Carbonated or fizzy drinks have very large amount of gas in them. These gases escape and get trapped in the bowel, and are one of the notorious causes of trapped wind in the predisposed, or in anyone when taken in excess.

Drinks with very high sugar content can also cause bloating from trapped wind. The sugar gets fermented by gut bacteria, and the more the sugar, the more the gas produced by fermentation: the more the bloating.

SWALLOWING AIR

This is a very common cause of trapped wind. It is the most common cause of trapped wind in infants and babies (neonates). this could occur following usuing a feedl=ing bottle with a large teath, or not holding a feeding bottle in the proper angle while feeding as well as sucking on an empty feeding bottle.

Another of the common causes of trapped wind in babies is air swallowed while sucking on pacifiers.

In adults, if we eat our food in a rush, or during swallowing, we may swallow some air which could get trapped. Chewing a chew gum is a typical example of a situation where we may be gulping a large amount of air without knowing.

When we are anxious or emotionally distressed, we could swallow large amount of air without knowing.

When we talk for a long time and swallow air, these surprisingly can cause wind to be entrapped in us.

CONSTIPATION

If we are constipated over a long time, it makes a conducive environment for wind to be produced and get trapped in us.

You could learn more about causes of constipation here

OUR CLOTHES

Yes. Our clothes. How tight is your trouser, skirt or how hard do you fasten your belt on your waist? This may explain why you tend to have loads of trapped wind. Strapping our belt very firmly on our waist or lower abdomen means that we are restricting the normal movement of wind down our gut. These simply get trapped in us.

CAUSES OF LONG STANDING TRAPPED WIND

Do you suffer with trapped wind going on for weeks and months and distrupting your life? You may well need to speak with your GP or family doctor to determine the cause. Causes of longstanding trapped wind (chronic) generally include:

• Irritable bowel syndrome

• Crohn’s Disease

• Chronic constipation

• Volvulus

• Gallbladder diseases.

This list of causes of trapped wind is by no means exhaustive. If you suffer with trapped wind and can not pin point the possible causes of trapped wind in your case, discussing with your family doctor is the wisest course of action to take. You can also engage an online doctor for immediate consultation. You can do so via telephone 24 hours of the day in by speaking to a 24/7 GP if you are in the United Kingdom or phone consultation physicians if you are in the United States.

You can get rid of your trapped wind as well as causes of trapped wind due to food ingested by regularly drinking Peppermint tea with every meal or before going to bed and in the morning.

Read more about trapped wind from the various sections on this top as presented on the top left hand corner of this page.

Please do not hesitate to contact us on specific questions on trapped wind and in deed any other medical topic you may be interested in via our free online medical consultation forum.

Reference on Causes of Trapped Wind:

Stone K T et al. Aerophagia In Children.

Am Fam Physician 1971; 3: 94 – 95.

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