"The Perils of Health-Related Pranks: A Cautionary Case of Laxative Overdose
Some of us have been victims of pranks, and others dare but one thing I will not prank or dare with is anything that affects my health directly or indirectly since I know I have only one life to live and I have to make the best of it. One prank that went for a very long time on the internet is one that people dare themselves to eat laxative brownies. In this post, I will be writing on a case that has to do with laxative and what happened after the event.
A person presented to the hospital with abnormal rate after visiting the toilet for about 8 times in the last 5 hours. He had eaten 25 laxative brownies as he was performing a challenge with his friends called "First to Poopoo wears a tutu". They all ate 10 laxative filled brownies within 15 minutes and they agreed that who first poop was going to wear a tutu outside the next day.
They were going to add 2 laxative tablets to one brownie and you are recommended to take 2 laxative pills so they were going to eat 20 laxative. The people involved in the competition were uncomfortable after eating the brownies and they immediately went to the toilet but the patient in the hospital wasn't feeling well but wanted to show off and decided to eat more while laughing at the rest. His friends were feeling down and had abdominal cramps after eating just 10 brownies. At the end, he ate 25 brownies before going to use the rest room.
Soon the patient began to act weird as he began to have slurry words, and began to trip over when walking. He had used the toilet 6 times, having diarrhea and his urine was looking like coffee. Soon he started feeling sore in his calf and he began to gasp for air as his heart raced. He then began to have headache but then after using the toilet for the 8th time, he collapsed and was rushed to the hospital.
At the emergency room it was visible that the patient was suffering from Hypokalemia ("Hypo" meaning low, "Kal" meaning potassium, and "Emia" meaning presence in blood) which means he had low potassium in his blood, and this was because he took sennosides which is a laxative that causes the muscle of the colon to muscle which helps to pass stool and also draws water into the stool thereby making the stool soft. With this, several nutrient in the body is passed out from the body along with the stool thereby causing nutrients to be depleted including potassium.
Sodium is responsible for muscle contraction, while potassium is responsible for muscle relaxation. With potassium present too much in the muscle, the muscles relaxes for too much and when there is little the muscle won't stop contracting. With low potassium in the body of the patient, the muscles would not relax. This led to him having cramps in his right calf muscle and his abdomen, then it led to irregular beating since it didn't have enough resources to signal relaxation.
With irregular heartbeat, the oxygen getting into his body and into his brain causing him to lose consciousness. Soon, he started suffering from rhabdomyolysis which is the breakdown of skeletal muscles which occurs as a result of the low potassium in the blood and excess water causes water to get into the muscle. When there is no water in the body, the kidney constrict his blood vessels in the attempt to conserve body water and this can lead to kidney damage since there is little blood getting to the kidney leading to cell death.
When the muscle tissues begin to breakdown, they begin to release protein known as Myoglobin which causes lipid peroxidation destroying the outer membrane of cells which can be toxic to the body, to the heart, and the kidney and spills into the urine as that is why his urine became black like coffee. If the condition is reversible, the kidney damage will not be reversible. Back to the condition, if the kidney cannot remove waste, it is a vector for metabolic acidosis where the pH of the blood decreases.
While pranks and challenges may seem fun and harmless, they can have serious, life-threatening consequences, especially when they involve the misuse of substances like laxatives. This story serves as a powerful warning to think twice before participating in activities that could jeopardize our health and well-being.
Post Reference
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20687617/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7965788/
https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.me.33.020182.002251
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5881435/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482465/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK544256/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3834518/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4066722/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4365849/
Image Reference
Image 1 || Picryl || U.S. Army Maj. Ersan Capan, Emergency Nurse, assigned
Why will one person take such amount of laxative in the name of playing games. I am usually not opened to playing those type of games, I feel they are too risky.
Thanks for your contribution to the STEMsocial community. Feel free to join us on discord to get to know the rest of us!
Please consider delegating to the @stemsocial account (85% of the curation rewards are returned).
Thanks for including @stemsocial as a beneficiary, which gives you stronger support.