A Novosibirsk man almost died after swallowing a piece of glass on an airplane

What happens if you eat glass

What happens inside a person if he accidentally swallows glass or another object with sharp edges? It all depends on its shape and your luck; in some cases, glass goes through all stages along with food and does not get stuck anywhere or injure anything. But minor small punctures or scratches on the internal walls of the digestive organs may also occur. In this case, slight internal bleeding will occur, which you can notice by performing a visual analysis of the stool of a person who ate a foreign object a few days ago.

In cases where glass is swallowed along with a large amount of food, it quickly passes through the area from the mouth to the stomach, called the esophagus, and enters the rest of the food in the stomach. Then all food is processed by gastric juice and after this processing moves further through the so-called “gatekeeper”. Thanks to the “gatekeeper”, large pieces of food do not move on to the next stage of digestion until they become the required size, in other words, until they are eaten away by the acid produced by the stomach, they will not pass through this bottleneck.

In cases where glass is swallowed along with a large amount of food, it quickly passes through the area from the mouth to the stomach, called the esophagus, and ends up in the rest of the food in the stomach.

The same conditions will await a piece of glass if it is swallowed. Therefore, large objects will get stuck right here, in the “gatekeeper,” and the doctor can easily remove it from the stomach from the same hole through which it was eaten, using a special device with a video camera attached to it - an endoscope.

Everything that passed through this narrow place, designed by nature itself, should not cause injury to a person. But what happens if you swallow many small pieces of glass with sharp edges? They can cause an intestinal infection caused by cuts in the intestinal walls.

Glass got into the stomach symptoms

This situation can arise with anyone, be it an adult or a child. For example, a splinter from a cracked glass or glass will fall into the esophagus while drinking. It is not uncommon for a child to swallow a piece of protective glass from a phone while playing with it. Animals are also at risk. It is common for small kittens and puppies to swallow foreign objects. The consequences for any organism are similar and fraught:

• Damage to the esophagus . Since the glass is sharp, it leaves microtraumas on the mucous membrane. As a result, a person or animal begins to bleed internally. The danger is that it is difficult to detect and understand the cause of the illness. And the more time it takes to diagnose, the worse the health consequences;
• Death from suffocation . The most dangerous situation is if the broken glass gets stuck and interferes with normal breathing. If such a sign occurs, then you need to immediately call an ambulance;
• Stomach damage . If a piece enters the body with a significant amount of food, then it will not get stuck in the esophagus, but will move to the stomach. The work of the gastrointestinal tract is designed in such a way as to digest food into solution. Naturally, the stomach cannot cope with glass, so it will go to the “gatekeeper”, where it will be stuck for a long time until the person undergoes surgery;
• Infectious contamination . If a person has managed to swallow many tiny fragments or glass chips, the situation is much more complicated. It is impossible to get them out during surgery. A kind of prickly crushed sand will injure the stomach and intestines during the process of digestion and removal from the body. Such damage will lead to infectious inflammation and a number of unpleasant consequences;

It all depends on luck, but history knows of cases when a person who swallowed glass did not experience the disastrous consequences. Theoretically, a smooth object can go through all stages of processing by the body and leave it naturally without pain.

Recommendations

Small children often swallow glass accidentally. In order to avoid the penetration of glass into the body, you should carefully monitor the child. It is not recommended to allow glass objects to be used for games. Such accessories should be kept out of the reach of children. Parents are required to wean their child from holding various objects in his mouth.

To prevent your child from accidentally falling on glass objects, the following rules should be followed:

• We must not forget fragile products in the child’s field of view;
• remove all breakable decorative items from the reach of children;
• if a glass object is broken, protect the child by keeping it away from the broken glass and carefully collect everything;
• follow your child while walking outside;
• do not leave the baby alone for a long time;
• Do not feed from glass containers.

Small glass gets into the stomach symptoms

It is not uncommon for a child to swallow a piece of protective glass from a phone while playing with it.
Animals are also at risk . What happens if you swallow a small piece of glass with water, because the oral cavity and the human tongue are very sensitive? Usually a person has time to identify foreign bodies before swallowing.

However, children sometimes taste different things and drinks and may swallow unwanted objects. Father and mother can immediately find out that their child has swallowed an object hazardous to health. A number of signs indicate that the child has swallowed a small piece of glass.

Among them:

• vomit;
• salivation;
• stomach ache;
• difficulty swallowing;
• change in stool;
• strange sounds in the stomach.

If any of these signs occur, the child should be immediately shown to a doctor or an ambulance should be called. Small pieces from bottles and glasses are not so easy to see on x-ray. If there is no severe acute pain, doctors wait 24 hours for the fragments to come out completely on their own.

There is a health hazard if a child swallows a splinter. What happens if you swallow a small piece of glass? Little explorers are curious, and the best way to analyze surrounding objects is to taste them. Glass objects are often the subject of study.

In this case, you need to know what the risk of swallowing glass is. The outcome of the situation depends on the characteristics, shape and surface of the element. The child can eat a piece of the glass. So, what happens if you swallow a piece of glass from a glass? It gets stuck in the esophagus and can damage it.

If the object is evenly shaped (for example, balls), you can consider yourself lucky. The danger is limited to the usual getting stuck in the stomach, and damage can be ruled out. There is no need to worry, because there are a number of methods with which you can free yourself from a stuck object.

The most important thing is to act quickly, especially if the situation has formed in full view of the parents.

Recommendations

Children most often swallow glass shards. Adults should be extremely careful, protect children from playing with glass objects, keep them out of the reach of children, and do not allow children to put objects in their mouths. These measures will help prevent glass from entering the child’s body and save from unpleasant, and sometimes irreversible, consequences.

This is only a small part of the “collection” of objects extracted from stomachs

Precautions for parents:

• keep all glass and other fragile items out of the reach of children;
• if an object breaks, do not allow the child to approach the place where the fragments lie;
• always keep the child in sight, or better yet, at arm’s length, and do not leave him alone for a long time;
• It is advisable not to use glass containers to feed your baby.

Glass shards got into the stomach: glass shape

What happens if you swallow a small piece of glass? The entire danger depends on its shape and volume.

Sharp pieces of glass can cause organ damage. What happens if you eat a piece of glass with pointed ends? Minor tissue puncture and mild bleeding in the intestinal tract may occur. Blood can be found in a fecal test. But what happens if you swallow a small piece of glass with food? Once food is swallowed, it quickly passes through the esophagus into the stomach. In a narrow section of the stomach there is an outlet, the pylorus.

Pieces that are too large cannot come out through it. They remain in the stomach. The doctor is able to remove pieces through the mouth using a flexible device - an endoscope.

Anything that gets past the gatekeeper is unlikely to cause problems. What happens if you swallow a small piece of glass? Swallowing small pieces with sharp ends seems more dangerous. They can cut through tissue and cause infection.

Features of the structure of the esophagus

The gastrointestinal tract is a long, flexible muscular tube. If a person swallows food, the muscles contract and push the food further. Indigestible edible substances and inedible objects pass through the tract unchanged.

Man-made substances (iron, glass, plastic) do not change in the intestinal tract, so swallowing these items is risky.

A piece of glass got into the stomach first aid

Be sure to call an ambulance so that doctors can assess the severity of the injury and choose a treatment strategy. The tactics of action depend on the size, location of the fragment, as well as the degree of damage to the walls of the digestive organs. What to do if a child or adult swallows a piece of glass:

• If the injury is mild, when the fragment is in sight, it can be carefully pulled out. If you fail to do this, try inducing vomiting. To do this, press with your finger or a spoon on the root of the tongue. Then the foreign object will come out along with the vomit. In this case, the walls of the esophagus are not damaged. After this, you need to hospitalize the patient in a hospital and conduct an ultrasound or other instrumental studies to check their condition.
• If you notice that the victim has swallowed a small fragment, then follow the same plan. And after providing assistance, be sure to visit a doctor.
• The situation is aggravated if the time of ingestion of a foreign object is unknown. Approximately 2 - 3 hours after the incident, the glass descends into the intestines. In this case, you will not be able to remove it yourself.

You need to immediately call an ambulance, and you should also tell the doctors at least the approximate time when the person swallowed the fragment. Doctors prescribe ultrasound or other hardware methods and monitor the patient’s condition.

If there are no dangerous signs within 2 to 3 days after the incident, then most likely the glass has already passed out along with the feces. The most dangerous situation is when glass penetrates the trachea. This can cause suffocation and severe pain. In this case, you need to urgently get the fragment out. If a person is bleeding from the mouth, then using the methods described below is strictly contraindicated! In this case, the victim must be hospitalized immediately.

Therapeutic measures

In severe cases, urgent hospitalization of the injured child is required. At the hospital, specialists (pediatric surgeon, pediatrician) examine the child. Various diagnostic methods are used (ultrasound, endoscopic). Then specialists make a diagnosis and determine the level of location of the foreign body. Doctors can:

• monitor the small patient until the glass comes out on its own - for this, the child is given laxatives;
• schedule surgery.

In severe cases, urgent hospitalization of the injured child is required.

Indications for surgical intervention:

• worsening breathing;
• difficult movement of glass through the gastrointestinal tract.

In 99% of cases, surgeons use endoscopic treatment methods. This method of removing glass from a child’s body is used when the object is located above the duodenum. This is explained by the fact that the endoscope reaches the indicated place. To remove glass, doctors use an endoscopic loop, baskets, or clamps passed through the endoscope. This item is introduced into the child's body through the mouth.

The object is pulled towards the endoscope and then removed. Upon completion of this procedure, a repeat examination of the gastrointestinal tract is indicated. If during the endoscopy the glass is pushed through by the device, then the child is prescribed laxatives. This technique is effective if it is applied within several hours after the incident.

If the glass is located below the duodenum, then radiography is indicated. You should not drink laxatives. You can use Vaseline oil. If vomiting, pain, fever, or bleeding occur, a laparotomy is performed. This method, unlike abdominal surgery, does not require making a large incision on the anterior wall of the peritoneum. Then a laparoscope is inserted into the cavity.

Abdominal surgical intervention is carried out after determining the location of the foreign body, its size and shape, and the condition of the injured child. But any surgical intervention traumatizes the child’s body, causing various complications.

What to do if glass gets into your stomach

If there are no dangerous signs within 2 to 3 days after the incident, then most likely the glass has already passed out along with the feces.
The most dangerous situation is considered to be when glass penetrates the trachea. If a person immediately notices swallowing glass, then it is best to induce vomiting. The piece will be quickly removed from the body with food and mucus, without causing much damage. If this happens to a child, vomiting must be induced artificially by pressing on the root of the tongue.

After this, even after making sure that the fragment has come out, you need to contact the doctor, describing the situation. He will give advice for subsequent actions and prescribe a study that will detect defects in internal organs, if any.

Urgent actions:

1. If the glass does not come out with vomiting, you must immediately call an ambulance, outlining the situation, and prepare for hospitalization.
2. If it took more than 2 hours, the parts could have time to move into the intestinal tract and worsen the situation. Then only a highly qualified doctor will decide what to do, who should be informed as clearly as possible about the size of the fragment and the time of the accident.
3. X-rays are often ineffective in such situations, since the glass in its reflections does not contrast.
4. You shouldn’t count on the fact that the fragment is very small and sit at home until it comes out naturally.
5. The use of laxatives and enemas is also not recommended without medical examination.
6. If the fragment does not go immediately after vomiting, secondary efforts can be dangerous, therefore, calling a doctor and waiting for an ambulance to arrive would be preferable.
7. A lot of activity during this period is also harmful, since every movement can provoke internal injuries.

Small pieces often actually leave the body naturally, causing virtually no inconvenience to their owner. However, you should not count on this, since ignoring it in this case threatens severe injuries and even death.