foreign body aspiration

[Theo R Cwithin]

When I was a kid, my mother would sometimes scold me for not washing thoroughly, claiming "Potatoes will grow in your ears!" Apparently there's really something to that.

I came across this from a few days ago: "Sprout grows in man's windpipe"

...which reminded me of this, from when I was in Russia last year: "Surgeons find fir tree growing in man's lung".

With a good two minutes of intense research, this article popped up which lists the two cases above, as well as cases of grass, citrus and pumpkin seeds: "Pea sprouts: The body as potting soil"

Now, being slightly sick and twisted, I'm a sucker for stories about weird things being found inside people. But for some reason, the idea of a plant taking root inside is just... utterly creepy.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Hmmm...why does this thread's title make me want to compose a metal song?

Its not common, but its pretty dangerous stuff- our family's attorney was believed to be dying of cancer. He was losing a lot of weight, coughing a lot, etc.

Turned out he had aspirated a peanut. It didn't grow (it had been roasted, after all), but iodged in his lung, it provided constant irritation for his immune system to go nuts* over.


* pun not intended.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Ah, that sounds like the pea sprout guy in the Boston article above. I had no idea it would be such a weakening condition. That's the immune response to what's effectively an infection, I assume? I can't imagine the relief one must feel after finding out a cancerous tumor is actually just a peanut.

I do wonder about sprouts in places other than in the respiratory system-- under the skin, for example, or in the digestive tract. I suppose there are fungal infections to be found all over, inside and out. But what about actual seeds? Bleah.

Ah well, something nasty to ponder as I head to sleep tonight. Or maybe not. :/

 

[Pbartender]

I've had aspirations for foreign bodies ever since I visited France, when I was in college.

 

[Umbran]

But for some reason, the idea of a plant taking root inside is just... utterly creepy.

Have you read Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the Dead?

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

Have you read Orson Scott Card's Speaker for the Dead?

Nope, but it's on my list now.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

And, FWIW, DC's Swamp Thing in the 1990s started defeating some of his enemies by causing spores & such within their bodies to grow at exponential rates... Not pretty.

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

And, FWIW, DC's Swamp Thing in the 1990s started defeating some of his enemies by causing spores & such within their bodies to grow at exponential rates... Not pretty.

Definitely not pretty. Yeah, there's a reason it's creepy; just look at (my favorites!) the Plant monsters in any Monster Manual.

It occurs to me, though, that it seems to be a relatively recent idea as a sci-fi/horror/fantasy device. While I've never read such a story in Golden Era pulp fiction (I'm not terribly well-read in the genre, sadly), I can certainly envision it there; but I can't see it appearing earlier than that. And this is despite the fact that (presumably) people have been inhaling beans and conifer seeds since prehistory.

So are there older stories-- fairy tales, literature, mythologies-- based on the idea of a plant growing from inside a person?

 

[Tonguez]

Lots of mythologies do

eg a Lotus was said to have grown from Vishnus Navel and part of the body of the giant Ymir become plants (as did the corpse of a Mayan mother goddess)
However I'm not sure those myths have any particular link to these incidents

 

[nai_cha]

Wow, I would've loved to see those cases first hand.

Closest I ever got was collaborating on a case series report about our patients who came in with appendicitis and were also found to have swallowed santol seeds.

As for other weird things I've seen inside people...oh well. Not grandma friendly.