# Woman swallows table knife. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 2, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202 "2012-08-02T18:11:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/1 "2012-08-02T18:11:39Z")
[Here’s what it looks like](http://bodyodd.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/01/13070877-heres-what-it-looks-like-if-you-swallow-a-knife?lite) I wonder what her husband thinks abou this? ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/2 "2012-08-02T18:14:35Z")
He’s probably thinking “No more excuses from her!” combined with “That bulimia thing keeps her SO, so hot.” ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/3 "2012-08-02T18:17:24Z")
> [@](#): > > A 30-year-old woman who suffered from bulimia was showing off for her sister. To prove that she no longer had a gag reflex, she stuck a table knife to the back of her throat and unexpectedly laughed during her demonstration. If you’re going to prove you no longer have a gag reflex, for fuck’s sake demonstrate with something that impossible to actually swallow. I volunteer. ---
**Author:** ![MostlyClueless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/4 "2012-08-02T18:19:43Z")
Other objects found in other patients: > [@](#): > > wire bristles from grill-cleaning brushes. Damn. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/5 "2012-08-02T18:25:16Z")
From the linked article. > [@](#): > > Fortunately for her, she chose a table knife, not the sharpest knife in the drawer 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/6 "2012-08-02T18:25:34Z")
> [@MostlyClueless](#): > > Other objects found in other patients: > > Damn. 'cause Listerine just isn’t enough to combat taco-breath. Edit: Awesome catch, Pat. :p:p ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/7 "2012-08-02T18:27:36Z")
_Doc, you’re going to look for it with an XRay and not an MRI, right?_ ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/8 "2012-08-02T18:29:30Z")
There’s an entire collection, filling a large storage cabinet, of recovered swallowed objects at the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia (the Chevalier Jackson collection): > **[AOL - News, Politics, Sports, Mail & Latest Headlines](https://www.aol.com/news/)** > > Get breaking news and the latest headlines on business, entertainment, politics, world news, tech, sports, videos and much more from AOL > **[Swallow This!](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/13-things-people-swallowed_b_812255)** > > It wasn't until I'd discovered that the doctor who extracted them had written a bestselling autobiography in 1938 that I realized there was a book waiting to be written about the curious doctor and his collection. > **[Mutter Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania](https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2207)** > > A fun medical museum of human pathology, but so dignified that you almost forget that you're looking at skulls, conjoined twins, and a giant colon. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/9 "2012-08-02T18:43:09Z")
Reading that article made me squirm in my seat. Blech! ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/10 "2012-08-02T18:57:16Z")
> [@Zyada](#): > > [Here’s what it looks like](http://bodyodd.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/08/01/13070877-heres-what-it-looks-like-if-you-swallow-a-knife?lite) > > I wonder what her husband thinks abou this? “Honey, when I said I wished you would swallow, that’s not what I meant!” ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/11 "2012-08-02T19:09:31Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > There’s an entire collection, filling a large storage cabinet, of recovered swallowed objects at the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia (the Chevalier Jackson collection): > > [News, Politics, Sports, Mail & Latest Headlines - AOL.com](http://www.aolnews.com/2011/04/27/thousands-of-swallowed-objects-form-the-chevalier-jackson-collec/) > > [13 Real And Imaginary Things That People Have Swallowed (PHOTOS) | HuffPost Entertainment](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-cappello/13-things-people-swallowed_b_812255.html#s227599&title=Real_or_Imaginary) > > [http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2207](http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/2207) That storage cabinet must be right next to the other one full of souvenirs recovered from people’s other ends ([Straight Dope, March 8, 1986](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/478/is-it-true-what-they-say-about-gerbils)), and the cabinet full of collectibles found in other bodily places ([Straight Dope, December 21, 2001](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2330/whats-the-story-with-vaginal-foreign-bodies)). Does all that stuff have any nutritional value? ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/12 "2012-08-02T19:11:14Z")
How much cooler would this story be what for a single comma in the thread title between the words “table” and “knife”? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/13 "2012-08-02T19:24:27Z")
> [@MostlyClueless](#): > > Other objects found in other patients: > > > [@](#): > > > > wire bristles from grill-cleaning brushes. > > Damn. Note that this is often not intentional. People use wire brushes to clean their grills and this can sometimes leave bristles left behind. Later, when food is being cooked on the grill, the bristles are picked up and then eaten. The advice is to carefully check the surface of the grill before cooking. See [this CDC article](http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6126a4.htm?s_cid=mm6126a4_w) for details. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/14 "2012-08-02T19:28:10Z")
Cal Meacham: > [@](#): > > There’s an entire collection, filling a large storage cabinet, of recovered swallowed objects at the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia (the Chevalier Jackson collection): And a sort-of mural made from objects recovered from the stomach of one woman at the Glore Psychiatric Museum in St. Joseph, Missouri. ([link](https://www.onlinefilefolder.com/public_folder_binary.php?page_action=generate_image&hash=DSpgaJkzFZQ5&db_num=2&file_id=49562096&file_date=11-08-2010%2005%3A47%20PM&w=1266&h=543)). ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/15 "2012-08-02T19:44:36Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > There’s an entire collection, filling a large storage cabinet, of recovered swallowed objects at the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia (the Chevalier Jackson collection): I have \*got \*to get to that museum someday. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/16 "2012-08-02T20:31:48Z")
I suspect the husband already knows of her lack of a gag reflex. But this is the 2nd knife she’s _accidentally swallowed_? Something’s fishy here. ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/17 "2012-08-02T20:35:23Z")
Waitaminit…the implication is that she had made herself throw up so many times she no longer had a gag reflex. So how does she continue to make herself barf? Ingest something nasty? Edit: Answer to my own question, from Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > MisuseIpecac has been used by individuals with bulimia nervosa as a means to achieve weight loss through induced defensive vomiting. Repeated use in this manner is believed to cause damage to the heart and muscles, which can ultimately result in the user’s death.[6] Misuse of ipecac has been blamed for the death of well-known singer Karen Carpenter in 1983.[7] It has also been used as an agent for Münchausen syndrome by proxy.[ ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/18 "2012-08-02T21:26:05Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > I have \*got \*to get to that museum someday. You really should. The Mutter museum is phantasmagorically awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/19 "2012-08-02T22:26:27Z")
My first thought was “…and to think they want to outlaw Bucky Balls. You can’t fix stupid.” ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2012, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202/20 "2012-08-02T22:29:34Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Cal Meacham: > > And a sort-of mural made from objects recovered from the stomach of one woman at the Glore Psychiatric Museum in St. Joseph, Missouri. ([link](https://www.onlinefilefolder.com/public_folder_binary.php?page_action=generate_image&hash=DSpgaJkzFZQ5&db_num=2&file_id=49562096&file_date=11-08-2010%2005%3A47%20PM&w=1266&h=543)). Several years ago I worked at a teaching hospital in Tulsa. The medical library had a display created by one of the proctologists on staff of items removed from the rectum. (before someone else says it… “rectum? Damn near killed 'im!” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woman-swallows-table-knife/630202.md?page=2)