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Doctors untangle the strange case of the giant hairball
CNN ^ | 11/22/07 | unknown

Posted on 11/22/2007 4:18:09 PM PST by a real Sheila

It may not be the most appetizing reading before a hearty holiday meal, but the New England Journal of Medicine is devoting part of its Thanksgiving issue to a giant hairball -- and not the feline kind.

The prestigious journal details the case of a previously healthy 18-year-old woman who consulted a team of gastrointestinal specialists.

She complained of a five-month history of pain and swelling in her abdomen, vomiting after eating and a 40-pound weight loss.

After a scan of the woman's abdomen showed

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: doctors; hairball; medicalconditions
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For those of you who ate too much today and need to purge. This ought to do it.
1 posted on 11/22/2007 4:18:11 PM PST by a real Sheila
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To: a real Sheila

A problem in shower drains, as well.


2 posted on 11/22/2007 4:27:44 PM PST by secretagent
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To: a real Sheila

That’s amazing. I wasn’t aware some people ate hair like that. Even more so, why wouldn’t it dissolve and be digested? That was a LOT of hair (apparently over a long period of time). I guess the young lady learned her lesson.


3 posted on 11/22/2007 4:30:36 PM PST by CitizenUSA
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To: a real Sheila; Thinkin' Gal; aculeus
which weighed 10 pounds and measured 15 inches by 7 inches by 7 inches, the doctors said.

Mmmm. That looks like it would be good with some gravy on it.

4 posted on 11/22/2007 4:32:00 PM PST by Lijahsbubbe
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To: a real Sheila

“She complained of a five-month history of pain and swelling in her abdomen, vomiting after eating and a 40-pound weight loss.”

The woman ought to write a book: “How to lose 40 pounds—guaranteed.”


5 posted on 11/22/2007 4:32:26 PM PST by Brilliant
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To: a real Sheila

It isn’t black...

Shoulda been eating vaseline with it.. Works for cats.


6 posted on 11/22/2007 4:32:48 PM PST by TASMANIANRED (TAZ:Untamed, Unpredictable, Uninhibited.)
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To: a real Sheila

Actually, I read this case in the Darwin Awards a few years back.


7 posted on 11/22/2007 4:35:44 PM PST by HeartlandOfAmerica (The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.)
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To: a real Sheila

I learned a new word: “bezoar”. I can think of lots of ways to use it — it just sounds more refined than calling someone a hairball. ;-)


8 posted on 11/22/2007 4:36:27 PM PST by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: HeartlandOfAmerica

Actually the girl in the Darwin awards with the hairball died from it.


9 posted on 11/22/2007 4:38:32 PM PST by HeartlandOfAmerica (The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.)
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To: CitizenUSA
I wonder that also. Pets or people - why doesn’t hair digest?
10 posted on 11/22/2007 4:38:33 PM PST by A knight without armor
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To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA
A bezoar plays an important part in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
11 posted on 11/22/2007 4:38:49 PM PST by Publius (A = A)
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To: Brilliant
The woman ought to write a book: “How to lose 40 pounds—guaranteed.”

She lost 40 lbs plus they removed a 10 pound bezoar. That's 50 lbs.

12 posted on 11/22/2007 4:42:42 PM PST by gitmo (From now on, ending a sentence with a preposition is something up with which I will not put.)
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Always something interesting to see here at Free Republic!


13 posted on 11/22/2007 4:43:22 PM PST by dellbabe68
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To: Publius
A bezoar plays an important part in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Darn, you beat me to it. I just thought it was something from a goat's stomach made up for the HP books. I had no idea a bezoar was real.

14 posted on 11/22/2007 4:44:05 PM PST by sockmonkey
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To: a real Sheila

After reading this story. I nearly coughed up a hairball myself.


15 posted on 11/22/2007 4:44:18 PM PST by cquiggy
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To: A knight without armor
Hair Today, Gone Tomorrow

""The biochemical composition of hair makes it impossible for digestive juices in the stomach to break it down. It therefore accumulates, much like it builds up in the plughole of a bath or shower, attracting more hair and ..."

The rest is poorly formatted but this should serve as an explanation.

You are what you eat

16 posted on 11/22/2007 4:45:16 PM PST by HeartlandOfAmerica (The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race.)
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To: TASMANIANRED

I keep fresh grass available for my cats......clears them right out.


17 posted on 11/22/2007 4:49:02 PM PST by Fawn (http://www.brightlion.com/InHope/InHope_en.aspx)
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To: a real Sheila
a bezoar can be composed several things that are ingested. Meat Bezoars used to be treated first with Adolf’s meat tenderizer which often worked bypassing need for surgery.
18 posted on 11/22/2007 4:51:29 PM PST by armymarinemom (My sons freed Iraqi and Afghan Honor Roll students.)
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To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA

Remembr Bezoar the next time you play scrabble.


19 posted on 11/22/2007 4:55:03 PM PST by a real Sheila (stop hillary NOW!)
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To: a real Sheila

yuck it’s a big turd


20 posted on 11/22/2007 4:55:08 PM PST by visualops (artlife.us)
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