The Blog by Ziyad Nazem

A look at X-Rays of objects stuck in patients’ orifices..

There are lots of ways to mark the passage of time, but none as unusual as seeing what common household objects find their way up a person’s innards.

That’s the discovery that forensic psychiatrist Marty A. Sindhian, M.D., made while researching “Stuck Up!” — a look at the strange objects that have found their way into the human body through the various orifices. The intentionally funny book includes more than 100 bizarre X-rays, and when you finish, you may never look at Barbie dolls or baby shoes the same way again.

Sindhian, who co-authored the book with fellow shrink Rich E. Dreben and emergency room physician Murdoc Knight, made this discovery while researching a case about a person who came into the emergency room a few years ago and a cassette tape showed up on the X-ray.

Doctors see a lot of strange things on the job, but perhaps no topic is weirder than the objects that find their way inside peoples’ bodies, such as this pair of scissors. That’s the topic of “Stuck Up!” a new book by Rich E. Dreben, Murdoc Knight and Marty A. Sindhian, a trio of medical insiders.

The book features 100 anecdotes of objects that made their way into the body. Usually the insertion happens either orally or rectally (as in the case of these glasses) but Sindhian says some insertions happen through the nose or the urethra.

People have been swallowing or inserting unusual objects since the dawn of time, but the choice of objects has changed over the centuries. For instance, Sindhian doesn’t think that any emergency rooms will be reporting cases of people inserting cassettes into their orifices any time soon…

However, objects such as the iPod may become more common. Although Sindhian doesn’t know what possesses a person to insert something like that into their body.

Many of the objects that get stuck inside the body were put there by people looking for sexual pleasure. That was the case with this electrical cord.

Some of the excuses are stranger than the objects. Dreben says some patients tell their doctor they were doing some type of household chore in the nude when they “fell” or “tripped” or “jumped into bed” and “landed on the object.” Others explain that their predicaments resulted from sexual activity.

Sindhian says that alcohol is also a common excuse, but younger people will say that it happened because of a dare, or because they were attempting to seek sexual pleasure, as was the case with this Barbie doll.

Although most swallowing emergencies happen to kids, Sindhian says adults will often swallow engagement rings, mainly as a way to hide them. Luckily, they usually pass through without incident — unless the other person finds out what happened.

Sindhian, Dreben and Knight hope their book keeps people from trying to shove their Buzz Lightyear action figure to infinity and beyond and also takes away the stigma of people seeking emergency treatment when something does get stuck inside their body.