Exploding Bellies

Is it true that swallowing dry Alka-Seltzer or sodium bicarbonate can cause damage to your stomach?

I've heard this all my life (and about exploding sea gulls), but recently read something debunking it. Well, I happened to look on the side of my box of baking soda and what do I see under the heading Antacid Use? It says "STOMACH WARNING: TO AVOID SERIOUS INJURY, DO NOT TAKE UNTIL POWDER IS COMPLETELY DISSOLVED. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT NOT TO TAKE THIS PRODUCT WHEN OVERLY FULL FROM FOOD OR DRINK. Consult a doctor if severe stomach pain occurs after taking this product."

So apparently you CAN get hurt by taking a sodium bicarbonate mixture, especially if you're suffering from overeating. Anyone ever heard of this happening?

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sosumi

If I recall correctly, it has happened that a man accidently ruptured his stomach after taking bicarbonate one an *extremely* full stomach. This is something that would not happen to someone who was merely stuffed, we are talking he ate the whole d*mn thing sort of thing. The stomach didn't explode, the guy did not end up like Mr. Creosote, but the stomach (Or intestinal) wall was compromized, because the stomach couldn't stretch any further, and already had a large amount of gas present. I will attempt to find a cite...Note that birds don't explode eating rice or alka-seltzer either.

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>>while contemplating the navel of the universe, I wondered, is it an innie or outie?<<

---The dragon observes

Apparently, Nickrz, you are suffering from a Monty Python deficiency. Mr. Creosote ate a large meal, or, to be more precise, a really huge incredibly gutbusting gluttonous feast. He was offered an after dinner mint, which he refused.

He was persuaded to change his mind and disgustingly exploded.

Note that birds don't explode eating rice or alka-seltzer either

Aww man, there goes my weekend plans.

Damn, that one got by me! As many of those as I've watched, I never saw or heard of that Creosote dood. :(

It's from one of their movies, Nick! (Their last, "The Meaning of Life". Rent it if just for the "Sperm Song".)

Okay, laugh it up, all of you, but when its YOUR belly button hanging off the ceiling fan, don't say I didn't warn ya!

But seriously, this is kinda strange - this warning is posted in all-caps red letters on the side of the baking soda box. Is this a real hazard or just one of those 'this might happen once every three billion years so we better put a warning on the box to avoid liability' type things? I mean, it SOUNDS as if eating a spoonful of baking soda could hurt you, but there is no 'Keep out of the Reach of Children' statement anywhere on the box, and I can just see somebody's kid trying it and rupturing their stomach or something. (Or, more likely, trying it on little brother to see if HE blows up.)

Is there a doctor in the house?

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sosumi

Lol. Who or what is "Mr. Creosote"?

coosa, as I said before, my understanding is that it has happened before, that someone ate an extremely large meal, took some sodium bicarbonate and subseqently ruptured either his stomach or intestine. Not instantly fatal, but parontinisis(sp?) is very painfull and will kill if not treated.
But as I said as well, you have to have eaten a very large meal, such that your stomach is already distended to its utmost before it would cause the problem mentioned.

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>>while contemplating the navel of the universe, I wondered, is it an innie or outie?<<

---The dragon observes

Nick - did you mean peritonitis?

I can't believe you've missed - "Just one little itsy-bitsy mint" :o

Apparently it can happen and it has been documented.

http://www.urbanlegends.com/medical/stomach_rupture_baking_soda.html

Oh what a relief it is.


Alphagene

Hey, thanks! Great cite/site. Covers the (drumroll)Whole Nine Yards!

Think I'll stick with Alka-Seltzer.

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sosumi

zyada, Not nick, Narile, and yes I meant peritonitis if that is when material escapes from the intestine and causes an infection in the gut.

Alphagene, Interesting, I'd looked for that page on urbanlegends, and never found it. Thanks!

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>>while contemplating the navel of the universe, I wondered, is it an innie or outie?<<

---The dragon observes

OK, I'm not saying that the Alka-Seltzer/seagull UL actually *isn't* a UL, but I've happened across a number of seagulls lying on the beach, very much alive, but with what are obviously their guts dragging behind them. There's little evidence of blood, though - neither on their feathers, on their insides, or on the sand immediately around them.
They're not moving, their breathing is labored, and they don't make much of an effort (if any) to get away when you approach them.

So what's making their guts explode outward?

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Cave Diem! Carpe Canem!

zyada:"Just one little itsy-bitsy mint"


"It's wafer-thin!"

If anyone here uses/plays GURPS, and has the magic items sourcebook, one of the magic items in the illegal magic section, is the assasins mint. :) Not as cute as the halitosis mug, but is still a nasty one.


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>>while contemplating the navel of the universe, I wondered, is it an innie or outie?<<

---The dragon observes

There are great gaping holes in my formal education! SO?! I used to know all the words to the Lumberjack song and did a pretty good SPAM routine. Does that count? :)

Note that birds don't explode eating rice or alka-seltzer either

Really? Because I have seen several birds dead around church sites where rice was thrown several days before...could there have been something *in* the rice that made them die? Also, why was the rumour created that they could, and why does the majority now throw birdseed?

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tipi :)

Sorry, Narile, I don't know what I was thinking.

Eating a box of baking soda is more likely to kill you from metabolic alkalosis. The stuff is a base and it'll throw your pH balance out of whack.

Tipiwoo:I have seen several birds dead around church sites where rice was thrown several days before...
Which is where the cats found them scarfing down the rice.

Seriously, considering how long people in this country have been throwing rice at newlyweds, don't you think that someone would have noticed large numbers of dead birds surrounding churches sometime before it became a UL in the 1970's? Think of the local Italian parish where they were cranking out four to six weddings every Saturday in the late 1960's as the first boomers grew up (or the same location at the end of WWII when the first boomers were being (pro)created). Those places would have been hip dip in dead birds by the end of June each summer. (And why is it that Southeast Asia, Louisiana, and East Texas do not have a serious dead bird removal problem at the time of the rice harvests?)

I suspect that the dead-birds-after-weddings that you saw were simply coincidence--or there are often dead birds around tall buildings and you have simply noticed them more after you know a wedding has taken place.

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Tom~

My theory on the whole rice/dead birds UL is that it was created by church caretakers, so they wouldn't have to clean up all that god-awful rice after every wedding. It backfired on them though, when some bright spark thought to substitute birdseed. Now instead of cleaning up rice, they have to clean up bird poop!

zayada, S'Allright. S'Allright?

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>>while contemplating the navel of the universe, I wondered, is it an innie or outie?<<

---The dragon observes