Strange Files...

On CNN.Com/Health


Doctors untangle the strange case of the giant hairball!






CNN) -- 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 a large mass, doctors lowered a scope through her esophagus.

It revealed "a large bezoar occluding nearly the entire stomach," wrote Drs. Ronald M. Levy and Srinadh Komanduri, gastroenterologists at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois.
For the uninitiated, a bezoar is a hairball.

"On questioning, the patient stated that she had had a habit of eating her hair for many years -- a condition called trichophagia," they wrote.


"It seemed like she'd been doing this for several years," Levy told CNN.
The woman underwent surgery to remove the mass of black, curly hair, which weighed 10 pounds and measured 15 inches by 7 inches by 7 inches, the doctors said.
Five days later, she was eating normally and was sent home.

A year later, the pain and vomiting were gone, the patient had regained 20 pounds "and reports that she has stopped eating her hair."

Reached at his home in Chicago, Levy said he had no idea whether the journal's timing of the publication on Thanksgiving was intentional.

Either way, he said, it would not affect the gastroenterologists' holiday dinner plans -- "We don't get fazed by much."










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Unsuspecting couple slept entire night with wasp nest under pillow

They must have been really drunk not to want to investigate what was going on in the room. I HATE WASPS AND BEEs!! I rather fight a snake than to have to fight a wasp. Now being too drunk to want to investigate what all the buzzing was about is just beyond me. I just cant believe that the wasps did not sting them during the night with them moving about. I know that i move about when i sleep and also put my hands under the pillows. IF you ask me, they were very lucky!

A more unpleasant collection of bedfellows would be hard to imagine.

As Vicki and Clive Hames settled down for the night, they couldn't fail to notice the strange buzzing in the bedroom - but chose not to investigate.

On reflection, it's probably a good job that they didn't.

The wasp nest stretched from the pillow all the way down the back of the bed
Unbeknown to the couple, a swarm of wasps had built a nest beneath the pillows of their bed.
And, remarkably, they both slept the entire night without realising.

It was not until the morning, when 57-year- old Mrs Hames pulled back her pillow to reveal the angry swarm that she was stung once on the back.

Her 60-year-old husband, meanwhile, escaped unharmed.

Mr and Mrs Hames, from Northampton, heard the "low buzzing sound" as they tried to drop off in the spare room of her stepfather's house.

If that was me, i would have the the hell stung out of me!! I do not have that kind of luck. Here is the link for the rest of the story: Wasps are MAD!

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The couple who stopped off at a Travelodge - and stayed 22 years

For most of us who visit a Travelodge, it is a fleeting pleasure. Park the car, go to bed and get away as early as possible in the morning. But for David and Jean Davidson, it is home. They arrived in 1985, and enjoyed it so much that they never left.

This sound like a contrived story to me. Who in their right mind would go and stay at a hotel for 22 years? I hate to go and stay for a week much less 22 freaking years? I can see that they are elderly, but are they insane as well? I might be less expensive than a house, but where do you cook and what happens if the hotel changes hands during that period? And what happened to their house?

What would happen if they family wanted to "visit" them? I can hear it now; Jim, check into room 104. That is the one that has the adjoining door with our room. It also has a micro fridge and a coffee maker.

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Why of course... it's a Zorse??

SOMETHING’S not quite white about this animal. It has two bizarre patches of stripes on its head and flank thanks to a strange parentage.

Dad was a zebra stallion, mum was a horse . . . so their odd-looking offspring is known as a zorse.

The animal, called Eclyse, can be seen at a safari park in Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock, Germany.
Trust us, it’s not an April Foal.

It is Real!!! Looks Fake, but it is REAL!!

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Real Tallent...

That must hurt her hands...
Very useful skill...



These people have what it takes to make it to the top of my Dumbass of the week posting...


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Just Very Strange...

I saw this article while i was on FARK. I wanted to post a pic, but it looks like the computers here at work will not allow that at the moment. Here is the link to the pic: http://i12.tinypic.com/6glewkj.jpg

The family of 95-year-old Zhao from Zhanjiang city, China are hoping that doctors will be able to explain the 5 inch horn that is growing out of her forehead. Local media describes the horn as curving down "like the stalk of a pumpkin".

The mysterious growth started three years ago. "At first, it was only a mole, but it gradually grew and became like a horn. It causes me no discomfort, but blocks part of my view," said Zhao.

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Pig in a cannon!! Very Strange!!!

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