Buzz
At some stage in life, most of us have accidentally ingested objects that don’t belong inside us. It could be a small plastic fragment, a smear of toothpaste, or even an entire tooth. Typically, such items pass harmlessly through our digestive tract and eventually exit the body.
However, the human body can endure far more than we imagine. Whether accidental or intentional, people have inserted objects into various orifices for reasons ranging from curiosity to criminal intent. These bizarre incidents continue to astonish medical professionals and provide endless fascination for those who study them.
10. Toothpick
A 70-year-old Australian woman had been frequently visiting her local hospital due to intense abdominal pain. In April 2017, after her fourth visit, doctors opted for surgery to identify the root cause of her discomfort.
During the procedure, doctors discovered a severely inflamed section of her colon, resulting from persistent strain during bowel movements. Upon removal, they were shocked to find a toothpick embedded within the tissue. Post-surgery, the woman made a full recovery and is now in excellent health.
Doctors rarely link abdominal pain to toothpicks, yet over half of the patients who swallow them are unaware of the incident. Intoxication often plays a role, as many cases occur at parties where snacks are served on toothpicks.
Next time you’re at a party, think twice before reaching for that cheese platter. It might just pose a life-threatening risk.
9. Sauce Sachet
A 41-year-old woman spent six years believing she had Crohn’s disease, only to discover her symptoms were caused by a Heinz sauce sachet. She experienced severe bloating and stomach pain lasting up to three days, leading doctors to initially diagnose her with the chronic condition. When her symptoms didn’t improve with treatment, they performed keyhole surgery to investigate further.
During the surgery, doctors found an inflamed mass penetrating her small intestine, which turned out to be fragments of a plastic Heinz sauce sachet. After its removal, her symptoms vanished immediately. However, the woman insists she never consumed a meal with that sauce sachet on the day her issues began.
This case marked the first known instance of a plastic object leading to a Crohn’s disease misdiagnosis. It serves as a reminder that appearances can be deceiving, and sometimes the truth lies deep within.
8. Ballpoint Pen(s)
A Chinese man recently underwent surgery to remove two ballpoint pens from his stomach, 36 years after swallowing them during a drunken dare. Despite the 11.9-centimeter (4.7 in) pens remaining in his digestive system for over three decades, they caused no noticeable discomfort or symptoms, leading doctors to assume they had been digested.
The successful procedure took place in May 2017 at a hospital in Kunshan, located in eastern China. While the man could have been a real-life Etch A Sketch, that title remains unclaimed.
7. Glass
In another incident in China, a man took body shots to an extreme level. He had a glass object lodged in his anus for two days in late 2017 before being rushed to the hospital. During that time, he attempted to remove it himself using various tools and methods, but the swelling caused it to shatter into pieces.
As a result, he was urgently taken to the hospital. The tumbler, measuring 7 centimeters (2.8 in) in diameter, couldn’t be removed manually by doctors, prompting them to perform an emergency abdominal surgery.
Thankfully, the surgery was successful, and the glass was removed. The circumstances of how the glass ended up there remain a mystery. The man recovered fully without any injuries from the broken glass.
6. Laxative Pill Bottle
In 2014, a 60-year-old man in China, desperate to relieve his constipation, inserted an entire bottle of laxatives into his rectum, far exceeding the recommended dose. He believed the entire bottle would act as a powerful stimulant to resolve his persistent bowel issues.
Unsurprisingly, his plan backfired. The bottle became firmly stuck, forcing him to seek medical help. Doctors successfully removed it without causing harm, but the X-rays of the incident went viral after being shared by hospital staff on social media.
The hospital later released the X-rays publicly after ensuring the man’s personal records were securely removed from their systems.
5. Mushrooms
In early 2017, a 50-year-old woman required surgery to remove a collection of mushrooms from her stomach after failing to chew them properly. Astonishingly, the mushrooms began to grow inside her stomach.
Her stomach provided the ideal conditions—dark and moist—for the fungi to flourish. Some of the mushrooms reached an astonishing length of 7 centimeters (2.8 in)!
The mushrooms became lodged because the woman had cooked them without soaking and swallowed them whole. She soon experienced severe stomach pain, prompting her to seek medical attention.
Doctors performed surgery and successfully removed the mushrooms. The woman recovered fully after the procedure.
4. Cockroach
Cockroaches are the unwelcome kitchen invaders we all despise, often causing even the bravest to scream. But what if one ventured into uncharted territory—like your skull?
In early 2017, a 42-year-old woman from India woke up feeling strange, tingling sensations in her right nostril. Assuming it was just a cold, she tried to sleep but was disturbed by unusual movements inside her nose.
She stayed awake all night, waiting for sunrise to visit a hospital. Convinced it was an insect, she noted how every movement caused her eyes to burn.
After being referred to three hospitals, doctors scanned her skull and detected a “mobile foreign body.” Using an endoscope, they discovered a cockroach lodged in the base of her skull, between her eyes and perilously close to her brain.
Doctors swiftly used forceps and suction tools to extract the intruder. After 12 hours, the cockroach was successfully removed and, surprisingly, still alive. The medical team was relieved to find it alive, as a dead insect could have led to a severe infection.
3. Toy
Toys often end up in children’s mouths, but for Paul Baxter, a postman from Croston, Lancashire, the story was different. A former smoker, he was suspected of having lung cancer after coughing up yellow fluid for over a year. Doctors had previously detected a mass in his lungs 20 years earlier but failed to remove it.
In late 2017, a tiny camera revealed the truth: instead of a tumor, they found a toy traffic cone from a Playmobil set. Removed under local anesthesia, Baxter kept the cone as a memento of his bizarre experience. He claims it’s still in ‘working order,’ complete with visible markings.
Baxter recalled that the traffic cone was part of a Playmobil set he received on his seventh birthday, though he has no memory of inhaling it. Remarkably, the cone remained lodged in his lungs for 40 years, with symptoms only surfacing recently. Paul has since fully recovered and is enjoying a healthy life with his wife and two children.
2. Money
In 2017, a 26-year-old Florida man concealed over $1,000 in drug money in his rectum to evade police detection. He was traveling with his seven-month-old child when officers pulled him over for a routine traffic stop and detected the odor of marijuana emanating from the vehicle.
During the search, officers uncovered 197 grams of meth, rock cocaine, and four grams of heroin. They also seized a scale, a significant amount of cash, and marijuana.
After the suspect was taken to the local police station, officers noticed the money recovered earlier was missing. Despite his claims that he had already handed over the cash, a strip search revealed where he had concealed it.
1. Kinder Surprise Eggs
Damian O’Reilly, a 20-year-old with a history of drug smuggling, devised a plan to make a fortune. Knowing drugs fetch ten times their street value in prison, he aimed to get arrested and smuggle contraband inside. He hid 8 Kinder Surprise Eggs filled with marijuana, matches, tobacco, and rolling papers in his rectum, using a prison slang term called 'hooping.'
Already on probation, he believed throwing a rock at a police cruiser would get him arrested. His plan worked instantly, and he was taken to jail to await bail.
However, things took a turn for the worse. A guard grew suspicious of O’Reilly’s potential drug smuggling and moved him to a 'dry cell'—a cell without plumbing. Guards monitored him closely, waiting for the contraband to be expelled naturally so they could confiscate it.
Unable to endure the discomfort any longer, O’Reilly removed the eggs himself. He was subsequently convicted of drug trafficking and, as he had hoped, sentenced to two years in prison.
