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Heinz sauce sachet behind 6 years of agony for woman diagnosed with Crohn’s disease Sauce of the problem: Surgeons find ketchup packet inside woman’s bowel
(about 3 hours later)
A woman with a serious bowel disease was told by doctors that the cause of her ailment was a Heinz sauce sachet piercing the walls of her intestines. The patient had thought for the past six years that she had Crohn’s disease. A woman who doctors diagnosed with a serious bowel condition underwent surgery only to find that her abdominal pain was caused by a packet of Heinz Ketchup she had swallowed six years earlier.
The 41-year-old woman was diagnosed with the chronic disease by doctors after complaining of having acute abdominal pains and bloating lasting up to three days, classic symptoms of Crohn’s. For six years the woman believed the bouts of acute abdominal pain she suffered were caused by the chronic intestinal disease.
After prolonged standard treatment that she failed to respond to and displays of “severe” symptoms of the chronic disease, the patient underwent keyhole surgery, according to the British Medical Journal. READ MORE: Doctor suspended for reusing disposable anal catheters on multiple patients
The procedure, carried out at the Heatherwood and Wexham Park Hospital in Slough, revealed an inflamed mass in her small intestine, featuring two pieces of plastic packaging with the iconic Heinz logo. The 41 year old suffered the symptoms in three-day spells before they would resolve spontaneously, a case study in the British Medical Journal reveals.
The packet bore the features of a sauce sachet, though the patient claimed she had no recollection of consuming any such item. The problem persisted despite treatment and eventually doctors at Heatherwood and Wexham Park hospital in England decided keyhole surgery was the only option.
Once the package was removed, the woman was relieved of all pain and cleared of symptoms for the five months after the surgery. When the woman went under the knife surgeons discovered two pieces of plastic bearing the Heinz branding. The plastic appeared to come from a sauce sachet and it had caused an inflamed mass to develop in her small intestine.
READ MORE: Amazon cuts circumcision ‘training kit’ over fears it could encourage DIY jobs The woman had no recollection of eating a meal involving the sauce packet that caused her years of pain. After the sachet was removed her symptoms vanished and she was still symptom-free five months later.
Doctors said it was the first case of ingested plastic packaging mimicking the symptoms of Crohn's disease, though there had been previous cases involving toothpicks. The study notes that it’s the only case they could find of plastic mimicking Crohn’s disease in a patient. There had been four other similar incidents in the past, but in all of those cases the ingested object was a toothpick.
“It is important to consider alternative surgical diagnoses in patients with presumed Crohn’s disease unresponsive to standard treatment,” the report said. “It is important to consider alternative surgical diagnoses in patients with presumed Crohn's disease unresponsive to standard treatment,” the report concludes.
Crohn’s disease is a long-term condition which causes inflammation of the lining of the digestive system.
There is currently no cure, so efforts are directed to reducing inflammation, relieving pain and avoiding surgery. Symptoms of the disease include diarrhea, fever, fatigue and abdominal pain. It now appears that consuming sauce packaging can have the same effects.