Needles???

[Ben E Lou]

Hundreds of coins found in patient's belly

Wednesday, February 18, 2004 Posted: 5:11 PM EST (2211 GMT)

An X-ray shows the patient's stomach filled with coins, necklaces and needles. Story Tools RELATED • New England Journal of Medicine HEALTH LIBRARY • Health Library YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS Follow the news that matters to you. Create your own alert to be notified on topics you're interested in. Or, visit Popular Alerts for suggestions. Manage alerts | What is this?

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AP) -- French doctors were taken aback when they discovered the reason for a patient's sore, swollen belly: He had swallowed around 350 coins -- $650 worth -- along with assorted necklaces and needles.

The 62-year-old man came to the emergency room of Cholet General Hospital in western France in 2002. He had a history of major psychiatric illness, was suffering from stomach pain, and could not eat or move his bowels.

His family warned doctors that he sometimes swallowed coins, and a few had been removed from his stomach in past hospital visits.

Still, doctors were awed when they took an X-ray. They discovered an enormous opaque mass in his stomach that turned out to weigh 12 pounds -- as much as some bowling balls. It was so heavy it had forced his stomach down between his hips.

Five days after his arrival, doctors cut him open and removed his badly damaged stomach with its contents. He died 12 days later from complications.

One of his doctors, intensive care specialist Dr. Bruno Francois, said the patient had swallowed the coins -- both French currency and later euros -- over about a decade. His family tried to keep coins and jewelry away from him.

"When he was invited and came in some homes, he liked to steal coins and eat them," Francois said.

The case history of the French patient, whose name was withheld, was reported in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.

The patient's rare condition is called pica, a compulsion to eat things not normally consumed as food. Its name comes from the Latin word for magpie, a bird thought to eat just about anything.

Pica can take the form of eating dirt, ashes, chalk, hair, soap, toothbrushes, burned matches and many other things. Francois once treated a patient who ate forks. Most such objects are small enough to pass on their own, but some must be removed by doctors.

The condition is perhaps best known in children and pregnant women but is also sometimes linked to psychiatric illness.

A few details of the Frenchman's case were presented January 1 along with the X-ray -- but no explanation of the stomach mass -- as a challenge to New England Journal of Medicine readers in a fixture called "A Medical Mystery."

Dr. Lindsey Baden, an editor at the journal, reported that 666 readers in 73 countries -- mostly doctors or doctors-in-training -- contacted the journal to try to solve the mystery. Almost 90 percent settled on diagnoses consistent with pica, but only 8 percent correctly identified coins.

"This case serves as a reminder of important factors that should be considered in the care of patients who are mentally impaired," Baden wrote.

[Ben E Lou]

Needles?????





{Shudder}





How could the whole article just make a passing mention of needles and not discuss it?

[Franklinnoble]

Well, I'm no longer hungry for breakfast. Thanks!

[Marmel]

Mt wife works in a hospital and met a man who swallows toothbrushes. She even saw the X-Rays. Strange people out there.

[cartman]

Hmm... if spicy tacos made SD's anus burn, imagine what needles would to to him?

[Butter]

I thought this thread was going to be about Snoopy's brother, Spike.

Carry on.

[Ben E Lou]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

I thought this thread was going to be about Snoopy's brother, Spike.

Carry on.

Nice!!!!

[Eaglesfan27]

Interesting case.

[MacroGuru]

I had one like this when I was a psych tech at the state hospital. We had to keep him on watch 24/7 or he was swallowing something. I don't know how many times I had to take him to the local Med Center.

[SegRat]

I have watched guys swallow glass, staples, pencils, chicken bones. I have also watched some of these items be placed in areas that would make you squirm.

[JeeberD]

I used to eat paper when I was little... :o

[QuikSand]

They discovered an enormous opaque mass in his stomach that turned out to weigh 12 pounds -- as much as some bowling balls.

I always get stuck on dumb things like this.

It's 12 pounds. Apparently they feel that this is such an abstract concept that (a) they feel that we need to be offered a point of reference for hiw much 12 pounds is, and (b) that "some bowling balls" is the best reference available.

Whatever.

[RendeR]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I always get stuck on dumb things like this.

It's 12 pounds. Apparently they feel that this is such an abstract concept that (a) they feel that we need to be offered a point of reference for hiw much 12 pounds is, and (b) that "some bowling balls" is the best reference available.

Whatever.

Actually I think its a great comparison, the general populace wouldn't be able to gauge how much 12 lbs really weighed, and by comparing it to something many people recognize and understand to be a fairly heavy item (the bowling ball) they get a better grasp of just what this guy was living with.

His stomach was between his HIPS for gods sake, its supposed to be just behind and below the sternum, about a foot higher =)

[corbes]

This thread didn't bother me this morning, but now it's making me positively queasy. My mind won't stop imagining what it might feel like to have all that metal in my stomach... AGH! MAKE IT STOP!

[QuikSand]

RendeR, I wa gong to respond with something like "you must think the general populace are a bunch of idiots, then." Then I gave a little thought about the subject, and decided that you are exactly right. My mistake.

[RendeR]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

RendeR, I wa gong to respond with something like "you must think the general populace are a bunch of idiots, then." Then I gave a little thought about the subject, and decided that you are exactly right. My mistake.

[Calis]

I've never heard of Pica before reading this. Now I'm quite fascinated by this. I just can't imagine having the urge to do this, and they appear to not know the cause of it?

Must research more.

[BigJohn&TheLions]

OK Ben, just remember to watch your new cell phone when you go to the all-you-can-eat needles and coins buffet...

[Eaglesfan27]

Pica's etiology is not clearly known. Some scientists believe it is due to mineral deficiencies. Others believe it is due to a hypothalamic lesion. I have one patient with a severe case of Pica and she worries me more then most of my other patients. Her mom called today to tell me she ate a whole candle. I immediately thought of this thread.

[tucker342]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

RendeR, I wa gong to respond with something like "you must think the general populace are a bunch of idiots, then." Then I gave a little thought about the subject, and decided that you are exactly right. My mistake.

lol

[Easy Mac]

Originally Posted by Calis

I've never heard of Pica before reading this.

Must research more.

Its that little yellow fucker on all the Nintendo games... I heard it gives people seizures as well.

[BigJohn&TheLions]

Originally Posted by Easy Mac

Its that little yellow fucker on all the Nintendo games... I heard it gives people seizures as well.

Who took that little evil bastard in the draft? My kid loved that damn show and the cards. she now loved some other suck-ass japan card/cartoon/seizurefest. let's bomb japan again!

[korme]

Originally Posted by SegRat

I have watched guys swallow glass, staples, pencils, chicken bones. I have also watched some of these items be placed in areas that would make you squirm.

How about a real-life sized nerf football? The things you can find from Kazaa.

[Easy Mac]

The things you search for on Kazaa.