Published 19:07 IST, December 14th 2019
Chinese woman swallows 30-cm-long tube while using it to throw up to lose weight
A 22-year-old woman accidentally swallowed a 30 centimetres long tube. The woman identified as Xiao Lu was using the tube to throw up for weight loss.
In a strange incident in China, a 22-year-old woman accidentally swallowed a 30 centimetres long tube. The woman identified as Xiao Lu was using the tube to throw up for weight loss. The woman told the doctors that she bought the tube online and she has been using it to lose weight.
Doctors remove 30 cm tube
At first, the woman lied to the doctors and told them that she swallowed a drinking straw. However, when the doctor performed oesophagal radiology on the woman, he found out that it was not a drinking straw but a tubular body that was 1.9 centimetres in width and about 30 centimetres in length. The woman later admitted that she was lying about the straw and told the truth to the doctor.
Xiao Lu told the doctors that she had been using the method for quite some time and it got stuck inside her oesophagus accidentally. Doctors said that the tube was inside her stomach touching the stomach wall, while the other end was near her voice box. After removing the tube successfully, the doctor performed gastroscopy on the woman which revealed that she had ulcers in her stomach and oesophagus. The woman is still in the hospital and will be discharged once she is deemed fit by the doctors.
Losing weight by throwing up can cause multiple damages to the body such as bleeding, involuntary movements of limbs and unconsciousness, said Zhang Hanyu, deputy chief doctor at Beijing Friendship Hospital where the woman was admitted. Recently, a 36-year-old man was admitted to New Delhi's AIIMS hospital after he accidentally swallowed his toothbrush while cleaning his throat on the advice of a quack. Doctors at AIIMS successfully removed the toothbrush without any surgical procedure. The 12-cm-long toothbrush was removed by performing an endoscopy, a procedure in which a snare was used to pull it out from the upper abdomen.
Updated 19:48 IST, December 14th 2019