When one swallows and it causes coughing and gasping we tend to say, "It went down the wrong pipe." If it really goes down the wrong pipe, where does it end up in our body? If it is in the lungs or somewhere else, how would our bodies expel it? If we don't expel it, what happens to it?
2006-11-14 06:59:19 · 12 answers · asked by tootsie1115 3 in Health ➔ General Health Care ➔ Other - General Health Care
This is not a stupid qusetion. When food 'goes down the wrong pipe' it goes down the trachea to the lungs instead of down the esophagus to the stomach. The reason we cough is because our body does not want foreign objects in our lungs. Coughing causes the object to be worked out of the lungs. Should something stay in the lungs this can cause an infection called aspiration pneumonia which can be very serious.
2006-11-14 07:06:50 · answer #1 · answered by vkb354 2 · 6⤊ 0⤋
In a sense yes and no. the wrong pipe is really the fact that instead of going to your stomach it actually went to your lung. but can happen many time because the lungs and the stomach share the same pipe and what separates 1 from the is a "valve". now when this happen your bodies natural defense system notices the fluid or what ever and make you cough. that's how your lungs expel the unwanted material. that's why when ppl say "oh it went down the wrong pipe" they usually say it after a cough attack. now if the substance stays in your lungs it could in fact kill you because it's blocking the air from coming in to the lungs and that's not cool.
2006-11-14 07:09:43 · answer #2 · answered by Diablo 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Windpipe And Food Pipe
2016-12-17 15:34:47 · answer #3 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. What they mean is that it went down your windpipe (trachea) leading to your lungs rather than down your oesophagus (gullet) leading to your stomach.
[Anyone who says there is only one pipe must have a very strange concept of anatomy - do they think we breath with our stomachs or perhaps digest with our lungs???]
When you swallow a reflex action closes a flap of skin called the epiglotis over the windpipe to stop food going down into your lungs and choking you. Sometimes the reflex doesn't work properly (usually because air is coming out of your lungs at the same time - eg. when you're talking and eating at the same time!) and this is when food ends up going "down the wrong pipe" into your lungs. When this happens another reflex takes over - the coughing or choking reflex which is designed to expel unwanted matter from your lungs.
Failure to expel the food by coughing it back out of the lungs could result in asphixiation - choking to death - the very old and the very young are particularly vulnerable to this and people choke to death in this way every year. The correct procedure is to apply sudden inward and upward pressure on the lower abdomen (the Heimlich Maneuver) which forces more air from the lungs to eject the obstruction in the windpipe.
2006-11-14 07:01:46 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
Yes, you have valve in your throat that protects from this but sometimes it malfunctions. That is how people choke to death on food such as hotdogs. Also people get aspiration pneumonia by getting food and drink in there respirtory tracts. This happens in elderly often and many times leads to death. And that is why pediatricians reccommend not eating hot dogs and peanuts for small children. We banned hot dogs in our schools here when a 2nd grader died in school cafeteria.
2006-11-14 07:07:21 · answer #5 · answered by bess 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
yes when u choke on something u eat like carrots and it' begins' to go down the wrong pipe and u start coughing .... till it's out of ur windpipe..
2016-03-19 08:02:52 · answer #6 · answered by Michele 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Can you spell PNEUMONIA....there are only two "pipes" if it isn't going down to teh stomach, its' goin' in the lungs...
You either cough it up or it remains lodged...that isn't good.
2006-11-14 07:02:47 · answer #7 · answered by Mr Clean 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There is only 1 pipe. Your esophagus. What happens is that there is a flap that opens and closes. Most of the time when ppl choke it's because they are trying to talk and eat at the same time.
I read the internet and it says that the TRACHEA is what brings air into the lungs and ESOPHAGUS is what brings the food to the stomach. So maybe the flap prevents air going in stomach and food going into the lungs.
I said the same damn thing why i get two thumbs down. Some ppl are ignorant.
2006-11-14 07:01:17 · answer #8 · answered by Jaby 2 · 1⤊ 9⤋
No, there is just one pipe. Hey just a little something extra, when germans say something has 'gone down the wrong pipe,' in german of course.. it is then translated as going 'down the wrong neck'--and you know that you have only one of them. right?
2006-11-14 07:08:24 · answer #9 · answered by Stacy 2 · 0⤊ 7⤋
The is only one tube the esophagus.
2006-11-14 07:02:36 · answer #10 · answered by WC 7 · 0⤊ 4⤋