It was a case of indigestion that even doctors couldn’t stomach.

Last weekend, a patient was brought to the emergency ward of the Bạch Mai Hospital in Hà Nội with a “crazy expression” on his face and the added symptoms of “delirium and bloating.”

The crazy part was quickly diagnosed. The patent had been brought in from the National Psychiatric Hospital No 1.

The X-ray that was taken subsequently revealed the reasons for both the crazy expression and bloating: there were many objects of different shapes in the stomach, including something sharp that was piercing the intestines. The patient was rushed into the operation theatre for immediate surgery.

In a three-hour operation, the doctors removed a number of objects from the patient’s abdomen including a leaf, a ballpoint pen, a plastic spoon, plastic bag, some candy covers, nails and capsules.

This very rare case was caused by drug addiction, doctors said.

Overdosing on drugs like methamphetamine and amphethamine can affect the brain and make a person unaware of his/her actions, doctors said.

In this particular case, two days after the surgery, the patient was in sound health, physically. It was not known, however, if and when he would come to his senses. — VNS