Recurrent intake of everyday objects
Introduction: Ingesting foreign bodies is a frequent practice in the pediatric population, however, these are rare situations in adults, in which, the incidence is greater in groups as people with psychiatric pathology and in institutionalized, sharing a common characteristic which is the intentional nature of the behaviour for rentier purposes. We present the case of a patient with a psychiatric history who came to the Emergency Department multiple times for ingesting different foreign bodies. Through the publication of this case it is intended that health personnel become aware of the seriousness that requires complex patients, difficult to assess and even of doubtful credibility at times, both for the prevention of morbidity and mortality and for the general approach of them.
Case: A 39-year-old patient, institutionalized in neuropsychiatric care residence, with a diagnosis of borderline personality disorder with low intellectual knowledge, who ingests objects compulsively in the context of emotional distress. In his medical record there are thirteen visits, in the last year, to the emergency department for this reason. In two of them, the presence of a foreign body was not observed in the digestive tract or through the antenna, in the rest, the intake of different objects was confirmed, in which endoscopic and even surgical treatment was required on several occasions.
Results: Previous diagnostic imaging tests are required as a general procedure. In this case, it has been necessary to perform multiple digestive endoscopies for the extraction of ingested objects due to the high risk of perforation or heavy metal poisoning.
Discussion: Psychiatric emergencies, increasingly important for attention in the differential diagnosis. The intake of repeated foreign bodies, has a poor long-term prognosis, which may be a relapse in behaviors, also assuming an increase in health cost. Therefore, we consider the adoption of preventive measures of behavior.
