Help needed: possibly swallowed ice cream stick!
Posted , 4 users are following.
Hi. About 12hrs ago I was watching TV and wolfing down an ice cream magnum on a stick quickly and I look down and realise half the stick is gone it's snapped in two only the big missing piece is nowhere to be found. There's a really good possibility I've just gone and swallowed it with my icecream and by the look of what remains it would be pretty pointy which is my main concern. Not that long maybe 5-6cm and no more than half the stick. I didn't feel any different or get a stomach ache or anything so I've just left things but tonight I started wondering if there might be a danger of the piece of wood not being broken down by stomach acid and then hurting my intestines or something so I did some google searches and scared myself reading about cases of people who died from swallowing a toothpick even due to complications. I am on an island here so it would be a huge effort and expense I can't afford to get any medical help so I definitely don't want to if it's not absolutely required. The other possibility I was considering was I don't even know if I swallowed anything at all.. is there a chance an ice cream like that could have come on a presnapped stick so it was already missing? Never heard of that and I don't know anything about the process of how icecream gets from icecream to stick.. to know if that's even possible or happens.. all I know is there is 0% chance if it was originally a full stick that I didn't consume it.
Anyway forgive the anxious rambling.. I guess I just want to know if I should be concerned since I have no symptoms as of yet. How long would it take for symptoms to arise if I did swallow this stick and it caused issues? Is it safe to wait and see? Surely you would think they would make these sticks out of a type of wood the stomach can break down right? I can't be the only one who has eaten one if I have..
Any advice on what symptoms to look out for or any at all would be great. Thanks for reading all this.
Dan
0 likes, 4 replies
pippa58442 crystalfoxzero
Posted
I think your anxiety is getting the better of you since you are unsure what has happened and you have no symptoms. For now, take plenty of fluids. I think you would have felt something as big as a Magmum ice cream stick going your throat. If you swallow a foreign object, you would surely feel discomfort.
mary19068 crystalfoxzero
Posted
Hi crystalfoxz
You would have most certainly felt it in your mouth and it would 'stick' in your throat (scuse the pun)!...If you have not experienced any pain i would say you didn't swallow half of the stick i think it was probably already broken. I have had lollies with broken sticks.
Eat your normal meals for the food to sandwich the stick if it's there🤔...and check your stool for a while to see if it has been excreted......
lester90053 crystalfoxzero
Posted
U.S. President Abraham Lincoln once said "You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time but you cannot fool all of the people all of the time."
crystalfoxzero
Posted
I do have some pretty strong anxiety in general so it can make it difficult. I did feel like I felt something scratching down my throat and a feeling like something was still there for a few hours after but I only felt this AFTER I saw the piece was missing and continued to swallow. Psychosomatic maybe, just like I'm feeling mild abdominal pain perhaps now because I'm expecting to. I've been through the rounds with health anxiety so I know how that works but it does make it difficult to know when something is actually happening. Since I still haven't had any bad pain or proper symptoms it is calming me down about it. Also reassuring to know someone else has experienced lollies with pre- broken sticks. I considered it could have been broken already but it was the fact that the half of it looked snapped off and was missing that seemed too weird. I guess if the stick snapped in half in the factory and then a machine or whatever continued to put ice cream around it anyway (if thats how it even works) could happen. In any event I think you guys are right and I'm just being an anxiety head and worrying about nothing. People kept telling me to go to the ER and travel off island and were getting me worked up with stories of people with perforated bowels and I was letting it get the better of me. I guess if it did go down and caused issues my body would let me know somehow if I don't pass it and otherwise I'll just try and put it out of my head. Anyway thanks for your responses.