Things People Swallow

In August 2006, a Serbian man had surgery to remove the following items from his stomach: eight nails, a knife, a pen, a screw, a spoon, and a clothes-pin. There were also several other smaller objects in his stomach. The man had been reported by a concerned relative although he didn't report any pain. Amazingly, doctors found no damage to the man's internal organs.

Can you guess what we're talking about today? Make sure you aren't about to eat anything and then go visit this page. The 10 Most Shocking Things Found In People's Stomachs. Seriously. Put the cupcake down first.

Have any of you heard of the term, "pica?" It is the behavioral urge to swallow things. Usually it only manifests itself in babies and young children, but sometimes the urge persists until adulthood.

In France a few years ago, a 62 year old man was complaining of violent stomach cramps and was rushed to the hospital. When they x-rayed his abdomen, they saw a large mass inside his gut, pushing his stomach down. They operated to remove the mass and found it to be 5 kilograms of coins worth $650 in value. This guy never outgrew pica. But at least he could afford the trip to the hospital.

I was reading some threads in a teacher's forum today and found that most teachers of young children deal with pica. A frequently asked question among the teachers was, "How do I make them stop?" I liked one teacher's response for how she dealt with her first graders. She says:

"What's in you mouth!? Now if you accidentally swallow that thing I am going to have to get it out. Do you see how big my hand is? I'm going to have to stick my big hand down your throat. You can be sure that it will hurt. If you don't want my big fat hand down your throat then you better get that thing out of your mouth and keep it out!"

She reports and almost 100% effective rate for her method.

When my oldest was in diapers, I'd occasionally discover a surprise in her diaper. Mostly rubber bands and small pieces of trash but once my favorite bracelet went missing. A day later I found all the beads from the bracelet in her diaper. I had a weird moment of calm when I considered salvaging the beads and re-stringing the necklace. Don't worry. I didn't. But it did amaze me how they had just traveled through her entire digestive system unmarred.

So here's the conversational topic. What is worth eating simply for the x-ray photo? What's the weirdest thing you or your kids have eaten? Do you really believe that story about the hair? Discuss.