I swallowed a toothpick! WTF do I do?

One time I swallowed a fish bone when I was a kid. I was told to drink large amount of vinegar to soften the fish bone. I followed the advice and it worked. You may want to try this, at least you won't lose anything, except for the irritating smell, maybe.
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I was going to PM you, but I thought that I could finally contribute something really useful to this board.

If you don't already have a better method of "toothpick surveillance" than picking through turds, here's something that one of my mentors used to recommend to parents after their kid swallowed some inappropriate object:

Take the leg of an old pair of pantyhose (you can use CTF's if you don't want to ruin any of yours, but fishnets won't work). Stretch it over the shitter when it's time to drop the kids off at the pool. When you're done, remove it and hold it in the water while you flush repeatedly until everything has washed away but the corn, peanuts, and hopefully the toothpick.

Then take it back to the urgent care doctor along with a big plate of ribs and corn-on-the-cob as thanks for a job well done.
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It has been about a full week at this point, and still no sign of a toothpick.

I visited a second specialist on Friday for another opinion. He also thinks we are just in a wait and see mode. Either it'll come out on its own... or it'll stab me from the inside and cause me such pain that I'll have to be rushed to the ER for surgery.

Ugh.
 
I know someone that was in the same situation and it can be very serious ( puncturing lining of intestines as it passes, causing infections)

good luck
 
Do you think it could have passed and you may have missed it?

Keep us posted, I'm now fascinated with your GI system....which is quite disturbing
 
Is it possible that your body can eventually break it down? I saw this weird show on tv a long time ago about a guy who chopped up a ten-speed into tiny pieces and ate the whole thing.
 
If splinters generally dissolve under the skin, why wouldn't a toothpick dissolve in your stomach? Stomach acid is far more potent than whatever dissolves splinters.... in your fingers
 
dave1.mgh.harvard.edu/ViewFilms.cfm?Film_id=490

This guy swallowed sulfuric acid from his car battery. He was trying to commit suicide, but that should get your toothpick. That is not the way I want to go. Warning....this is kind of a grisly video.


Seriously though, I hope it passes soon. I'm no doctor, but I do teach anatomy to doctors. I would be worried about the ileocecal valve (where the small intestine becomes the large). It could get stuck in the small intestine, but becomes less likely the further it makes it because the walls become smoother. The video before showed the toothpick caught on a plicae circularis in the duodenum.
 
Still alive. No news.

I stopped checking my excrement on Saturday.... after 12 days of checking I had enough of it.

The doctors said all we can do is just sit back and wait. Someday it'll either pass.... or I'll feel a sudden pain/fever.

On a side note, I have had a 1 week vacation planned to a remote island in the caribbean in early June for several months now. I'm freaking out because there aren't any hospitals (or even clinics) on this island. The trip isn't refundable... so I've been advised to purchase trip insurance. Any one have any suggestions on that. If something were to happen, I would imagine I would be 'life-flighted' into San Juan, PR and I bet that is expensive.
 
I just read about life-flight insurance. You pay an annual fee and if you need medical evacuation anywhere in the world they will come and get you. Seems like it wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be.

I'll see if I can find it again.
 
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