A man in India had two months swallowing knives and had 40 of them surgically removed from his stomach, according to the doctor who led the operation, Dr. Jatinder Malhotra told CNN.
“He had a wild urge to consume metal. Even for us, the experienced surgeons, it was frightening,”We were so nervous… a small mistake could have taken the patient’s life.
In my 20 years of practice, I have never seen anything like it.”He [the patient] says he swallowed some knives folded, and some unfolded. When we took out the knives, some were found folded, some were open, and some had even started rusting and were broken,” Malhotra said.
The patient, a 42-year-old father of two, told CNN he’s feeling much better.
“I’m sorry I let my family down. I’ll be forever thankful to doctors and hospital staff for saving my life,”I don’t know why I used to swallow knives,” the patient told CNN. “I just enjoyed its taste and I was addicted … how people get addicted to alcohol and other things, my situation was similar.” “I will never do such acts ever again,” the patient said. “I’m a new person now.”
Malhotra says the patient is now “out of danger” and is set to be discharged in a couple of days. He won’t be discharged until he’s cleared by psychiatrists, which is set to happen in a couple of days, two doctors at the hospital told CNN.
Malhotra believes the patient has a very rare mental disorder that most likely has not been published in any international medical journal.
The patient is currently under the continuous supervision of the hospital’s in-house psychiatric team and will soon be visited by independent mental health experts, doctors said.
The patient told doctors that he has no idea why he started eating knives but that he “developed a taste for metal” and “loved the way blades tasted.”
The patient even managed to keep his habit secret from his family, according to Malhotra.