Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair" is the famous fairytale cry.
But real life moved from Grimm to gruesome for one 38-year-old woman in the US who had a giant 15cm hairball in her stomach.
She is one of only a handful of documented cases of "Rapunzel syndrome", which is caused by people plucking and eating their own hair.
Their once glorious locks build up in the digestive system where they can eventually have a devastating effect.
The woman, who is has not been named, developed sudden vomiting and constipation. Meanwhile, her stomach swelled as it filled with liquids and gas.
She had gone off food for a year, lost 15lb in the previous eight months, and by the time she reached hospital, was unable to keep down any food.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-37573343
But real life moved from Grimm to gruesome for one 38-year-old woman in the US who had a giant 15cm hairball in her stomach.
She is one of only a handful of documented cases of "Rapunzel syndrome", which is caused by people plucking and eating their own hair.
Their once glorious locks build up in the digestive system where they can eventually have a devastating effect.
The woman, who is has not been named, developed sudden vomiting and constipation. Meanwhile, her stomach swelled as it filled with liquids and gas.
She had gone off food for a year, lost 15lb in the previous eight months, and by the time she reached hospital, was unable to keep down any food.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-37573343
