You did what?!?

I frequently have to deal with patients that have either tried to commit suicide or are thinking about doing so.  Some of these situations are very sad, but others are frustrating because I have seen the people multiple times previously and it feels that they are just looking for attention.  There are the serious attempts with weapons and overdoses which can be very sticky situations.

The other day I saw Mr. DePressed.  He had recently discharged from a mental health institute for severe depression.  When he got out, he found out that his daughter had been killed in a car accident.  This would cause anyone some serious mental anguish.  His response was to try to kill himself.  He came in for help after his attempt.  He told me that he had just swallowed about 60 thumb tacks.  I had to ask him again to make sure that I had heard him correctly.  This was not something that I had encountered previously.  I ordered an x-ray to see if this was indeed the case, and if so, any internal damage was evident.  When I looked at the x-ray, there was indeed several metallic objects in the stomach that looked like tacks.

Mr. DePressed did not succeed in killing himself from this.  He did earn himself a trip to the operating room to have them removed.  He did earn himself a lot of attention however.  While his x-ray was up on the monitor, there were multiple people that were very willing to comment on the image and what type of person would do something like that.  All I can tell you is that tack swallowing is not the most efficient way to go.  It is very creative though!