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We do not eat Christmas Eve supper by candlelight – urge ENT specialists. However, if we happen to swallow a bone, do not bite it with bread – they warn.
- For example, the poison sticks to the throat and causes excruciating pain
- What to do if we swallow a piece of a skeleton? The ENT doctor explains that it’s best to try to pull out the bone – yourself or see a doctor
- The doctor also debunks the myth that if you swallow a bone, you should eat a piece of bread quickly
- You can find more such stories on the TvoiLokony home page
The Christmas season is called the feeding season by ENT specialists. – Most patients with swallowed bones come on the first day of Christmas – says laryngologist Dr. Michał Wątróbski. We usually swallow a fragment of a fish skeleton on Christmas Eve, but everyone hopes that the throat will cope somehow overnight and that is why they do not report back until the next day. Otolaryngologists warn that eating fish requires good lighting, so a candlelit dinner with a fish menu is not a good idea.
A chaff in the throat
If we happen to eat a bone and it does not end up in the stomach, but gets stuck on the way, we will feel a pain in the throat, which will increase when we swallow the saliva. Drooling may also occur. There is no point in counting on the fact that the bone will dissolve itself. When it manages to reach the stomach, it will rather be digested there, but if it sticks to the throat or esophagus, it has to be pulled out. – Such a bone is most often stuck in the tonsils, the root of the tongue or the lingual-epiglottis – says Dr. Wątróbski. If it hadn’t stopped there, it might have ended up in the esophagus, where it would have done much more damage. – Most often in the hospital we pull out 3 to 4 cm bones. However, there are also 5-millimeter ones, which are very difficult to see – says the doctor.
- Also read: How is the Christmas ER?
Homemade ways to get a bone in the throat
There is a popular superstition that It is best to bite the swallowed bone with bread. “Nothing could be more wrong,” says Dr. Wątróbski. He explains that the mere swallowing reflex of tightening the muscles in the throat can penetrate the bone even deeper. – The tongue acts as a piston to push the food down the throat. There, the tiled muscles make movements that push the swallowed food into the esophagus, which also has its own muscular structure. If the bone does not dig deeper as a result of these movements, the bread may push it into the esophagus. Meanwhile, at a distance of 17-23 cm from the oral cavity, the aorta runs on the left side. Its puncture could be catastrophic. Without quick help, the patient could bleed out or choke on blood – explains the ENT specialist.
Removing bones from the throat
– There is a rule in laryngology that if a foreign body has entered the body, it must be evacuated in the same way. This applies not only to the throat, but also to the nose and ear – says Dr. Wątróbski.
She advises that if a bone is swallowed, try to remove it yourself or with the help of another person. – Shine a lamp or flashlight down the throat and use long tweezers to pull out the bone. If it fails, a doctor should be consulted, preferably in an ENT department or emergency room. The laryngologist can use a special mirror to look deeper or perform videolaryngoscopy, i.e. insert a device with a camera into the throat. He adds that sometimes, in order to find a foreign body, an X-ray image is taken with the appropriate contrast.
Inflammatory and purulent complications
– If we do not remove the bone stuck in the throat mucosa, it will become inflamed and pus will appear there. First, it will be local inflammation manifested by neck pain with fever. However, the proximity of the carotid artery supplying blood to the brain and the jugular vein pumping it to the heart threatens with the spread of infection and even sepsis, which is a life-threatening condition, explains Dr. Wątróbski. Therefore, symptoms that indicate a stuck bones should not be ignored. Treatment of such inflammation consists in removing its source, i.e. evacuating the foreign body. You also need to give an antibiotic, and sometimes puncture the abscesses.
- Also read: Rich, without sick relatives and old quadrupeds. What is hidden under the cover of perfect holidays?
Bones at the Christmas Eve table
Otolaryngologists remind that apart from the fact that Christmas Eve dinner must be eaten in good lighting, singing Christmas carols while eating is forbidden. Carol singing can be started only after the meal. When we swallow food, the epiglottis, which is like a little flap, closes the larynx. However, if we try to speak, the flap opens. Then the food can fall into the bronchi or lungs. If the vocal cords shorten in time, an expectorant reflex will arise and we will spit out the swallowed bite. If they fail, we may develop aspiration pneumonia or bronchitis.
– Patients, most often children – swallow peanuts, small oval candies this way. On x-rays, you can see such an intruder in the bronchi. It must be removed immediately. It is a more complicated procedure. Therefore, let us remember the old rule: “when you eat, you don’t talk” – says Dr. Wątróbski and wishes you a tasty carp.
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