Miss Piggy's Grocery Store Checkout Headlines

[zoobernut]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/19/health...html?hpt=hp_t3

Apparently there is something called auto-brewery syndrome where everything you eat is fermented into alcohol in your stomach. This man was perpetually drunk for several years and didn't know why.

(CNN) -- Most beer guts are the result of consuming fermented brew, but a new case study describes a rare syndrome that had one man's gut fermenting brew, not consuming it.
It's called gut fermentation syndrome or auto-brewery syndrome, and it's "a relatively unknown phenomenon in Western medicine" according to a study published in July's International Journal of Clinical Medicine. "Only a few cases have been reported in the last three decades" according to Dr. Barbara Cordell, the dean of nursing at Panola College in Carthage, Texas, and Dr. Justin McCarthy, a Lubbock gastroenterologist, the study's authors.
The most current case comes courtesy of an unnamed 61-year-old Texas man who for five years seemed to be drunk -- all of the time.
His wife, a nurse, began to give him breathalyzer tests. Even when he hadn't been drinking at all, his blood alcohol content was as high 0.40 -- five times the legal driving limit -- according to the study.
But the medical community was largely unaware of Gut Fermentation Syndrome then, so the patient wasn't always believed. In 2009 he was admitted into an emergency room on a day he hadn't had a sip of alcohol and blew a 0.37.
"The physicians were not aware of any way that a person could be intoxicated without ingesting alcohol and therefore believed he must be a "closet drinker," the paper says.
Finally, after a 24-hour observation period at a gastroenterology practice in 2010 -- one in which he saw no visitors and underwent a battery of tests -- doctors figured out what was ailing him: His stomach was turning food into booze.
"The underlying mechanism is thought to be an overgrowth of yeast in the gut whereby the yeast ferments carbohydrates into ethanol."
After a regimen of antifungal medication, his yeast was in check, and he was registering zeroes on the breathalyzer.
The authors conclude their paper by imploring their colleagues in the field to take gut fermentation syndrome seriously.
"This is a rare syndrome but should be recognized because of the social implications such as loss of job, relationship difficulties, stigma, and even possible arrest and incarceration," the authors write.

[BaneTheBrawler]

jesus christ lol

[Byrthnoth]

Hypothetically speaking, how much yeast would one have to eat to obtain such a stomach?

[notorious bum]

This explains so many things in life now... this.. this is the real Secret...

[Ksandra]

Idon'teven

[Ragnus]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...medium=twitter

French child named Jihad sent to daycare wearing a t-shirt saying "I am a bomb. Jihad: Born on Sept 11"

[Moss]

it would be REALLY strange to be sober after being drunk for 5 years

[Anoat]

That seems like the coolest disease.

[Kerberoz]

I wonder how big his liver is.

[myreality]

Two teens attack one's mom, plan to eat her liver after pill binge, deputy says

Two teenagers -- 13 and 14 years old -- are in custody in Spokane, Washington, and the mother of one of the teens is recuperating in a hospital after she was attacked by the boys following a pill-taking episode, authorities said.
The boys apparently had planned to kill the woman, who is the 13-year-old's mother, and eat her liver, Spokane County Sheriff's Deputy Craig Chamberlin told CNN Friday.
"The 14-year-old came up with the idea of, 'Hey, let's rip her open and eat her liver,' but it never happened," said Chamberlin. Instead, the older boy allegedly beat the woman with the handle of a sword, Chamberlin said, adding, "I think that was their original plan, to cut her open, but then they changed their minds."
The woman was left bloodied with head injuries after the incident Tuesday, and remained hospitalized Friday in stable condition at a local hospital.
The boys were arrested after a crime spree that included auto theft, burglary and vandalism, authorities said.
According to Chamberlin:
The injured woman was found in her home by deputies responding to call; nearby were two knives and a sword with a bent handle. After deputies found no sign of forced entry into the woman's house, a manhunt was launched for the two teenagers.
Deputies were called to the home of the 14-year-old's father when the man realized his 2005 Dodge Durango SUV was missing, and shortly afterward a call came in about a vehicle hit-and-run. The Durango was found at the accident scene but the teenagers were not.
Deputies then received a call of a residential burglary in process.
"The place was damaged. There were kicked holes in the wall," Chamberlin said, "Just malicious mischief."
A state patrol trooper spotted the two teens running from the scene of the burglary, they were caught and arrested.
The teens, whose names were not released, were booked on juvenile charges of second-degree assault, taking a motor vehicle without permission, residential burglary , second-degree malicious mischief and hit-and-run, Chamberlin said.
The son of the injured woman later told deputies that he had been taking "blue pills" and would never do anything like the alleged crimes while sober," according to Chamberlin.
"It could be anything, it could be ecstasy, it had to have been some type of opium, hallucinogen...We were never able to collect any (pills)," Chamberlin said.
Both teens have been appointed public defenders.
CNN did not receive an immediate response from the Spokane County public defender's office Friday.

......

[Krandor]

It's Spokane, weirder things have happened out there.

[Ksandra]

repost? probably.

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/08/19/he...tum/index.html

'The man with the 132-pound scrotum': Unraveling the medical mystery

Imagine carrying a bowling ball between your legs that weighs close to 200 pounds. If that image is too much to stomach, continue reading with caution.

Wesley Warren, 49, spent more than four years with this extra burden before having surgery to repair the damage from a rare medical condition called scrotal lymphedema.

When doctors placed the swollen mass they had cut from Warren's scrotum on the scale, it weighed 132 pounds. That's not counting the fluid or smaller pieces of tissue the surgeons had also removed from the Las Vegas man.

"There are a lot of people that will look and laugh and stare in shock and awe and amazement," Warren says as he walks down the street in a preview for TLC's upcoming show "The Man with the 132-Pound Scrotum." The one-hour special airs Monday at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

"It's tough to deal with it, you know, because essentially, this is a sort of living and breathing freak show."

It began in 2008, Warren told TLC, when he awoke to a shooting pain in his testicles. The tissue around his penis soon began to swell, eventually growing at an estimated rate of 3 pounds per month.

One doctor told Warren that it might be necessary to castrate him to fix the problem; others told him that he would probably die on the operating table. And the cost of the surgery alone would be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. After Warren appeared on the Howard Stern radio show, appealing for help, a fellow scrotal lymphedema sufferer referred him to Dr. Joel Gelman, who offered to do the surgery for free.
Doctors weighed the mass they removed from Wesley Warren; it came in at 132 pounds.
Doctors weighed the mass they removed from Wesley Warren; it came in at 132 pounds.

Gelman, director of the Center for Reconstructive Urology at the University of California, Irvine, specializes in urethral and penile reconstruction surgery.

Although the headline of TLC's special is catchy, scrotal lymphedema is a very real condition, Gelman said. He hopes media attention surrounding the show will encourage other men with the problem to seek treatment.

Here are some more answers about this condition:

What is scrotal lymphedema?

Scrotal lymphedema, also known as scrotal elephantiasis, is a "massive enlargement" of the scrotum due to thickening of tissue and accumulation of fluid, Gelman said.

What causes it?

Outside North America, scrotal lymphedema is often caused by a parasitic infection called lymphatic filariasis that's spread by mosquitoes. "Thread-like worms" lodge themselves in the lymphatic system, according to the World Health Organization, where they can interfere with a person's immune system.

But lymphatic filariasis is virtually unheard-of in the United States, Gelman said. Most cases of scrotal lymphedema here are caused by blockages in the lymphatic vessels that prevent fluid from draining from the area. Doctors are unsure what causes this blockage; in Warren's case, Gelman believes it was an injury or trauma to his scrotum.

What are the symptoms?

The most obvious symptom is a large scrotum; this can range in size from a grapefruit to a basketball. But the mass doesn't "max out" at any particular size, Gelman said. It will keep growing until the patient seeks treatment.

Warren's scrotum was the largest Gelman had ever seen.

"(Warren) didn't report that he was always in pain, but I think the biggest problem is that the sheer size of the mass made it very uncomfortable for him," the surgeon said. "It's like lifting weights to take a step."

Warren's penis was "buried" about a foot under his skin, Gelman said, but fully functional. A tunnel of sorts had formed from the tip to the top layer of his swollen skin, allowing Warren to urinate without assistance.

How common is scrotal lymphedema?

It's rare, especially in the United States. Definite numbers are difficult to come by, and the condition may be underdiagnosed due to physicians' lack of awareness, Gelman said. Many patients with the condition are also obese and are simply instructed by their doctors to lose weight.

How do you treat it?

Surgery is usually the best option to remove the swollen tissue, Gelman said. A surgeon who specializes in this type of procedure will cut a T-shape in the mass, identify the penis and testicles to make sure they aren't harmed and then excise the excess tissue. The surgeon will then use undamaged tissue to cover the penis and scrotum.

How is Warren doing now?

Warren is walking again and enjoying life, Gelman said. He'll need a follow-up surgery to remove some additional skin that was damaged by his condition. Gelman will perform a skin graft to cover the penis and scrotum.

Um, what if I think I have it?

If you are experiencing the symptoms noted above, see a doctor as soon as possible. Ask for a referral to a specialist if your primary care physician is unfamiliar with these types of conditions.

An unusually large scrotum can have a variety of causes, Gelman said. One of the most common is a hernia, in which a small part of the intestines enters the scrotum. Another cause is fluid buildup on one side of a man's body between the testicle and the skin; this is called hydrocele. All are treatable and usually not life-threatening unless left too long.

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...-story-top.jpg

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/dam/ass...story-body.jpg

[Tajin]

4 years of that shit? fuck that.

[Blubbartron]

There's only one question I have - did he try to bounce around on it like a hippity hop?

[Cyn]

It's good to see that he had the balls to go through with the operation.

[Callisto]

That story was nuts

[Melena]

There's only one question I have - did he try to bounce around on it like a hippity hop?

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/8530/bounce3.gif

[Salodin]

How old is this? I saw a documentary on this guy yearsss ago. At the end though he was still contemplating surgery; glad to know the dude is gonna be OK.

[Ksandra]

How old is this? I saw a documentary on this guy yearsss ago. At the end though he was still contemplating surgery; glad to know the dude is gonna be OK.

huff post had a video today of him talking about the surgery. When I went to find a written article it was posted back in august. So ya, I think it was known about awhile ago, but it's resurfacing because of his recent surgery.

[bluefan]

http://www.opposingviews.com/i/socie...counts-stores#

Goodwill Industries says its mission is to help people, but sometimes there’s a limit on how much good will is enough.

When an employee at Goodwill’s store in Naples, Fla., started handing out freelance discounts to the shops poorest customers, Goodwill not only fired the young man, the company called the cops and now has him up on felony theft charges.

"I wasn't actually stealing,” 19-year-old Andrew Anderson told TV station WBBH. “Goodwill is a giving and helping company, so I took it upon to myself to be giving and helping because I feel people deserve it.”

Anderson worked behind the counter at the Naples Goodwill outlet. He would often see the community’s poorest people come into the store, looking to buy clothes but with only a few bucks to their name.

"My heart was in the right place, my head was in the wrong place," Anderson told the TV station.

Most second-hand clothes and other items sold by Goodwill were donated to the company for free.

When his compassion got the better of his judgments, he would simply cut prices in half, then watch the delight on the faces of underprivileged people and families as they were actually able to afford to buy clothes for themselves and their kids.

"It makes you feel amazing, makes you feel like that you can actually be the person to help them," said the ex-clerk

His bosses at the charitable organization didn’t feel very amazing about Anderson’s one-man half-off sale.

"Our stores are not around to give a hand out, they're around to give people a hand up by providing funding," said Goodwill Spojesperson Kirstin O'Donnel. "In incidents like this, we always prosecute and the reason why is when people steal from Goodwill, they're not stealing from the company, they're stealing from the mission of our organization."

But not everyone in Naples thinks Goodwill is doing any good by their hardline stance.

"He shouldn't be let go, especially when you think you're doing something right in your heart," said Naples resident Judy Shaffer.

“They should've sat him down and explained to him what he was doing wrong instead of firing him." said another, Dale Shaffer.

While Goodwill on its own web site pledges, “We treat all people with dignity and respect,” the company had little respect for Anderson. Goodwill is pressing grand theft charges against him, even though he’s not accused of taking any property or money for his own use.

"I'm not a bad person, what I did was with all good intentions," Anderson declares.