Colic

Colic (from Greek kolikos, relative to the colon) is a form of pain which starts and stops abruptly. Types include:

  • Baby colic, a condition, usually in infants, characterized by incessant crying
  • Renal colic, a pain in the flank, characteristic of kidney stones
  • Biliary colic, blockage by a gallstone of the common bile duct or cystic duct
  • Horse colic, a potentially fatal condition experienced by horses, caused by intestinal displacement or blockage
  • Devon colic, an affliction caused by lead poisoning
  • Painter's colic or lead poisoning


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Famous quotes containing the word colic:

    Diseased nature oftentimes breaks forth
    In strange eruptions; oft the teeming earth
    Is with a kind of colic pinched and vexed
    By the imprisoning of unruly wind
    Within her womb, which, for enlargement striving,
    Shakes the old beldame earth, and topples down
    Steeples and moss-grown towers.
    William Shakespeare (1564–1616)