“You’re so full of sh*t.”
We’ve all heard it or said it at some point, be honest! But for one 22 year-old man in China, he was literally full of it!
Earlier this week, a team of doctors in Shanghai, China removed 28 pounds of feces from the bowels of a man who was reportedly constipated since the day he was born. The yet-unidentified man had 30 inches of his severely enlarged bowel removed after doctors and witnesses said he looked nine months pregnant because of the enlargement and backup.
Pictures of the surgically removed portion of the colon can be seen here. Warning: the images could be considered graphic or at least not for the faint of heart.
According to reports, the man had Hirschsprung’s disease, a rare condition that affects the large intestine (colon) and creates difficulty with passing stool. The illness is present at birth as a result of missing nerve cells in the muscles of the colon.
The disease is as uncomfortable as you can imagine. According to reports, the afflicted man was chronically constipated and it was determined via testing that he had months, or even years, worth of feces inside a portion of his colon, causing immense swelling of his abdomen. The surgery reported lasted three hours.
According to the Mayo Clinic, Hirschsprung’s is associated with certain inherited conditions such as Down’s syndrome and congenital heart disease. While the most observable sign of Hirschsprung’s is a newborn’s failure to have a bowel movement within 48 hours after birth, others to look out for include a swollen belly, vomiting (including vomiting a green or brown substance), constipation or gas, and diarrhea.
