Flatus in the context of "Embarrassment"

In mammals, invertebrates and most fish, the anus (pl.: anuses or ani; from Latin, 'ring' or 'circle') is the external body orifice at the exit end of the digestive tract (bowel), i.e. the opposite end from the mouth. Its function is to facilitate the expulsion of waste that remains after digestion.

Bowel contents that pass through the anus include the gaseous flatus and the semi-solid feces, which (depending on the type of animal) include: indigestible matter such as bones, hair pellets, endozoochorous seeds and digestive rocks; residual food material after the digestible nutrients have been extracted, for example cellulose or lignin; ingested matter which would be toxic if it remained in the digestive tract; excreted metabolites like bilirubin-containing bile; and dead mucosal epithelia or excess gut bacteria and other endosymbionts. Passage of feces through the anus is typically controlled by muscular sphincters, and failure to stop unwanted passages results in fecal incontinence.

Defecation (or defaecation) follows digestion and is the necessary biological process by which organisms eliminate a solid, semisolid, or liquid waste material known as feces (or faeces) from the digestive tract via the anus or cloaca. The act has a variety of names, ranging from the technical (e.g. bowel movement), to the common (like pooping or crapping), to the obscene (shitting), to the euphemistic ("doing number two", "dropping a deuce" or "taking a dump"), to the juvenile ("going poo-poo" or "making doo-doo"). The topic, usually avoided in polite company, forms the basis of scatological humor.

Humans expel feces with a frequency varying from a few times daily to a few times weekly. Waves of muscular contraction (known as peristalsis) in the walls of the colon move fecal matter through the digestive tract towards the rectum. Flatus may also be expulsed. Undigested food may also be expelled within the feces, in a process called egestion. When birds defecate, they also expel urine and urates in the same mass, whereas other animals may also simultaneously urinate during defecation, but the processes are spatially separated. Defecation may also accompany childbirth and death. Babies defecate a unique substance called meconium prior to eating external foods.

Fecal incontinence (FI), or in some forms, encopresis, is a lack of control over defecation, leading to involuntary loss of bowel contents—including flatus (gas), liquid stool elements and mucus, or solid feces. FI is a sign or a symptom, not a diagnosis. Incontinence can result from different causes and might occur with either constipation or diarrhea. Continence is maintained by several interrelated factors, including the anal sampling mechanism, and incontinence usually results from a deficiency of multiple mechanisms. The most common causes are thought to be immediate or delayed damage from childbirth, complications from prior anorectal surgery (especially involving the anal sphincters or hemorrhoidal vascular cushions), altered bowel habits (e.g., caused by irritable bowel syndrome, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, food intolerance, or constipation with overflow incontinence). Reported prevalence figures vary: an estimated 2.2% of community-dwelling adults are affected, while 8.39% among non-institutionalized U.S adults between 2005 and 2010 has been reported, and among institutionalized elders figures come close to 50%.

Fecal incontinence has three main consequences: local reactions of the perianal skin and urinary tract, including maceration (softening and whitening of the skin due to continuous moisture), urinary tract infections, or decubitus ulcers (pressure sores); a financial expense for individuals (due to the cost of medication and incontinence products, and loss of productivity), employers (days off), and medical insurers and society generally (health care costs, unemployment); and an associated decrease in quality of life. There is often reduced self-esteem, shame, humiliation, depression, a need to organize life around easy access to a toilet, and avoidance of enjoyable activities. FI is an example of a stigmatized medical condition, which creates barriers to successful management and makes the problem worse. People may be too embarrassed to seek medical help and attempt to self-manage the symptom in secrecy from others.