# gastrointestinal reversal during drug rehab??? myth??? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 4, 2004, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gastrointestinal-reversal-during-drug-rehab-myth/232474 "2004-03-04T05:55:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Deimos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Deimos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deimos)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2004, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gastrointestinal-reversal-during-drug-rehab-myth/232474/1 "2004-03-04T05:55:50Z")
i heard through a friend of mine that his cousin once spent a time in a drug rehab center and during his recovery time his intestines began to push backwards so that when he vomited, “poo” would come out his mouth. i didn’t think this was physically possible, but he insists it happened. can this be true, or is he just full of crap himself? thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2004, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gastrointestinal-reversal-during-drug-rehab-myth/232474/2 "2004-03-04T06:13:24Z")
Maybe he shouldn’t have stuck food up his butt. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2004, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gastrointestinal-reversal-during-drug-rehab-myth/232474/3 "2004-03-04T10:41:31Z")
I worked on staff at a drug rehab center for four years and this is news to me. If this “gastrointestinal reversal” occurred, it wasn’t because of his rehab. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gastrointestinal-reversal-during-drug-rehab-myth/232474/4 "2004-03-04T17:08:53Z")
And I’ve studied the digestive system for more than 20 years and I’m positive it’s physically impossible. Vomit comes from the contents of the stomach. Well, I suppose vomit of a sort comes from “friend of a friend” stories too. Your cousin just proved this. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2004, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gastrointestinal-reversal-during-drug-rehab-myth/232474/5 "2004-03-05T00:59:19Z")
I dunno - a GI bleed with half-digested blood might _appear_ to be excretement-like… but, again, that’s not inherent to the rehab process, that a Major Dysfunction of the body. Alcoholics experience these, I suppose other addicts could, too. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2004, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gastrointestinal-reversal-during-drug-rehab-myth/232474/6 "2004-03-05T01:25:57Z")
Some years ago a doctor friend of mine, when I asked her how were things going at the hospital, told me about a case as described on the OP, I was quite surprised, but too eeked to ask more. 🙂 Anecdotal and all that, so YMMV; but she wasn´t the kind of person that pulled stuff like that out of her (in this case) mouth; so if she said so, it must have been so. _And now I can´t take out of my head that scene in Austin Powers about the “coffee cup”…_ _shudders_ ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2004, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gastrointestinal-reversal-during-drug-rehab-myth/232474/7 "2004-03-05T03:31:32Z")
Unless there is an anomalous erosion which creates a channel from the bowel to the stomach, people hardly ever vomit material from further down than the duodenum. And there’s nothing about detox that would change this. I posted at length about the characteristics of human vomitus in response to a similar question a few months back. Feel free to search for said post. 😃 QtM, MD ---
**Author:** ![LorieSmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a587f6/32.png) [@LorieSmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LorieSmurf)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2004, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gastrointestinal-reversal-during-drug-rehab-myth/232474/8 "2004-03-05T06:16:40Z")
Never heard of that reversal thingie, but I googled on “vomiting feces”, and I found this link: [interesting](http://poopreport.com/Doctor/Content/month.html)