Doctors extract rakhis, nails from Punjab man’s stomach: Why do people swallow weird items?

Earphones, lockets, screws, rakhis, safety pins, shirt buttons and zips. These aren’t just some random items being mentioned. But are items that were removed from a man’s stomach in Punjab’s Moga. And these items didn’t find themselves inside the man by some odd miracle. Doctors have revealed that the 40-year-old man had ingested them over a period of time. On Thursday (28 September), doctors at the Medicity Hospital in Moga carried out a three-hour surgery on the man and extracted the weird items from his stomach. Medicity Director Dr Ajmer Kalra said that Singh had come to them, complaining of a high fever and a stomach ache. As part of their investigations, they carried out an X-ray on his stomach, which showed numerous metallic objects lodged inside his stomach. Kalra added that the objects inside the stomach had been consumed for a long time. The medical staff at the hospital added that the patient’s condition was not yet stable and he was being monitored. As shocking as this incident may be, it’s not the first time that bizarre items have been found inside a person’s stomach. In fact, Kalra said that while this was a first in his career, there have been other instances of people swallowing the weirdest things. In fact, doctors say that the act of eating non-edible items is a medical condition that goes by the name of Pica. Let’s take a closer look at what exactly does Pica mean and other instances when humans ingested strange items. Pica, explained The act of habitually and compulsively eating non-food items, such as dirt, chalk, or plastic, has been labelled by the medical community as a disorder called pica. Termed as a mental disorder, pica gets its name from the bird, the Eurasian magpie – the formal Latin name for that species is Pica pica. This bird has a reputation for eating unusual objects. A person with pica might eat relatively harmless items, such as paper. Or they might eat potentially dangerous items, likes flakes of dried paint or pieces of metal. In the latter case, the disorder can lead to serious consequences, such as lead poisoning or even bowel perforation. In the case of the Punjab man, it led to a severe stomach ache and nausea. Depending on the item you ingest, pica can also be harmful to one’s teeth. Doctors have said that pica can be dangerous, as it could lead to blockages. Moreover, it provides a gateway to several parasites to enter the body and wreak havoc. [caption id=“attachment_13185702” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] A person with pica might eat relatively harmless items, such as paper or chalk. Or they might eat potentially dangerous items, likes flakes of dried paint or pieces of metal. Image used for representational purposes/Pixabay[/caption] Pica is a relatively common condition, but experts aren’t sure exactly how common it is. That’s partly because, as Cleveland Clinic explains, research studies often don’t use the same definition for this condition. Medical experts, however, do find that pica most often is seen in children and pregnant women. Some experts have stated that pica also occurs in people who have intellectual disabilities. As to the reason for this disorder, doctors believe it is largely due to an iron deficiency. Dr Sonal Anand, psychiatrist, Wockhardt Hospitals, Mumbai, told the Indian Express, “Your unexpected desires might be a sign that your body is attempting to replace depleted nutritional stores.” She added that mental disorders too could result in Pica. “It may emerge as a coping technique in people with certain mental health problems, such as schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).” Other experts also state that dieting and malnourishment can lead to pica. In these cases, eating non-food items may help you feel full. And what’s the cure to this disorder? The main form of treatment for pica is therapy, with different therapy methods available depending on the situation and individual needs. [caption id=“attachment_13185682” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] In August 2019, doctors in Ahmedabad removed nail-cutters, safety pins, nuts and bolts as well as coins weighing four kg from a man’s stomach. Image used for representational purposes/Pixabay[/caption] Other bizarre items ingested While the Punjab man has garnered headlines, he’s not the sole person to swallow weird things. In August 2019, a man in Ahmedabad was operated on and a whopping 452 metal items weighing almost four kg was found in his stomach. The doctors had extracted items as bizarre as nail-cutters, safety pins, nuts and bolts as well as coins. Another peculiar case came from Uttar Pradesh’s Muzaffarnagar in 2022. Doctors found 63 spoons lodged in a man’s stomach. The cutlery was extracted from the man’s stomach after a two-hour-long surgery. If these weren’t bizarre instances, Torree McGowan, an emergency physician in Oregon, told Insider that she once saw a patient who gagged on her toothbrush and accidentally swallowed it. There’s also the other case when a man in Croatia was found to have a lighter in his stomach which had been there for 17 months. The man admitted to his doctors that he intentionally swallowed the lighter when he was at a police station, where he was being questioned about possibly smuggling drugs, according to a 2012 report of the case. The man had wrapped the lighter in cellophane, so he wasn’t exposed to the toxic chemicals in the lighter, even after all that time. Doctors were able to successfully remove the lighter by using a snare-like medical tool, and pulled it out through the man’s oesophagus. In 2011, doctors in Chhattisgarh were left speechless when they removed 421 coins, 197 fishnet pellets, three keys and 19 bolts of bicycle chain from a 28-year-old man’s stomach. The total weight of the items had amounted to six kgs and at the time doctors had believed that the man was suffering from pica. With inputs from agencies