Today's weirdness
Dec. 2nd, 2010 11:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
twirlgrrlSo, yesterday on the way home from Blue's school I stopped at a little market and got a bunch of produce. They have a lot of cool stuff so I just kindof got one of everything that looked good. I got two different kinds of persimmons, one of each. Lonnie makes this certain salad with persimmon slices in it that I love, so I thought I'd try to figure out which kind of persimmon she uses. It's firm and delicately flavored, whereas the persimmons I remember from my youth were mushy and perfume-sweet; I hated those.
So today, I sliced the larger persimmon up and started eating it. It was firm, not soft, and it didn't taste like much of anything, very bland but just a touch of sweetness. But the weirdest thing happened as soon as I chewed up the first bite. My whole mouth got super DRY inside. Like, the persimmon coated my tongue, my cheeks, my gums with something that just evaporated all moisture right out of my mouth, and all the parts of my mouth started sticking together. It was a most unpleasant sensation. So, so, so odd. I went to the mirror a couple of times to verify that indeed, my mouth was totally dry, and there were little hairylike bits of dry persimmon pulp stuck to my tongue.
It was odd but it was also fascinating, and the persimmon didn't taste BAD. So I ended up eating an entire half of the persimmon. When I was nearly done, I started wondering if whatever made my mouth so dry and adherent could also do that to my intestinal tract, and if in fact that could end up being a very bad thing.
After a while I went to look it up. I found that this type of persimmon, the hachiya variety, when anything less than mushily ripe, exudes an astringent substance that can be harmful in large quantities. In fact, it is possible to get a bezoar from eating too much hachiya persimmon. A bezoar is a stone-like lump of matter that collects in the stomach, too hard to be dissolved or even biopsied, and can obstruct the GI tract. Bezoars often require open surgery to remove. In parts of the world where persimmons are prominent, persimmon bezoars are not uncommon.
So of course I got a little nervous about that half persimmon I ate. Sure, it's not LIKELY that I'd get a bezoar from just that. But it's not IMPOSSIBLE. And I did feel kinda bloated.
Then I stumbled across some articles about bezoar researchers in Japan. Do you know what they have been using in studies to try to dissolve these bezoars?
Coca-Cola.
And it's working.
I found an article, a case study of an 82-year-old man with a 7cm persimmon-based bezoar. Normally the doctors would place a nasogastric tube and pipe Coke directly into the stomach, but this guy apparently was not keen to be irrigated by NG tube, so they had him straight-up DRINK Coke before each meal. And in a couple of months, this stone in his belly went from 7cm to 4cm, and softened. Then they busted up the rest with lithotripsy.
I have long maintained that I love a good tall cup of Coke after eating movie theater popcorn covered in the molten sludge that passes for "butter," because it cuts the grease. But really, I had no idea.
So because I am still feeling slightly irrational about the half persimmon I ate, I have decided to drink a goodly amount of Coca-Cola over the next week or so.
Oh, and: The authors of that last article noted that they were able to write publicly about the 82-year-old because they had obtained written permission from his mother. :)
So today, I sliced the larger persimmon up and started eating it. It was firm, not soft, and it didn't taste like much of anything, very bland but just a touch of sweetness. But the weirdest thing happened as soon as I chewed up the first bite. My whole mouth got super DRY inside. Like, the persimmon coated my tongue, my cheeks, my gums with something that just evaporated all moisture right out of my mouth, and all the parts of my mouth started sticking together. It was a most unpleasant sensation. So, so, so odd. I went to the mirror a couple of times to verify that indeed, my mouth was totally dry, and there were little hairylike bits of dry persimmon pulp stuck to my tongue.
It was odd but it was also fascinating, and the persimmon didn't taste BAD. So I ended up eating an entire half of the persimmon. When I was nearly done, I started wondering if whatever made my mouth so dry and adherent could also do that to my intestinal tract, and if in fact that could end up being a very bad thing.
After a while I went to look it up. I found that this type of persimmon, the hachiya variety, when anything less than mushily ripe, exudes an astringent substance that can be harmful in large quantities. In fact, it is possible to get a bezoar from eating too much hachiya persimmon. A bezoar is a stone-like lump of matter that collects in the stomach, too hard to be dissolved or even biopsied, and can obstruct the GI tract. Bezoars often require open surgery to remove. In parts of the world where persimmons are prominent, persimmon bezoars are not uncommon.
So of course I got a little nervous about that half persimmon I ate. Sure, it's not LIKELY that I'd get a bezoar from just that. But it's not IMPOSSIBLE. And I did feel kinda bloated.
Then I stumbled across some articles about bezoar researchers in Japan. Do you know what they have been using in studies to try to dissolve these bezoars?
Coca-Cola.
And it's working.
I found an article, a case study of an 82-year-old man with a 7cm persimmon-based bezoar. Normally the doctors would place a nasogastric tube and pipe Coke directly into the stomach, but this guy apparently was not keen to be irrigated by NG tube, so they had him straight-up DRINK Coke before each meal. And in a couple of months, this stone in his belly went from 7cm to 4cm, and softened. Then they busted up the rest with lithotripsy.
I have long maintained that I love a good tall cup of Coke after eating movie theater popcorn covered in the molten sludge that passes for "butter," because it cuts the grease. But really, I had no idea.
So because I am still feeling slightly irrational about the half persimmon I ate, I have decided to drink a goodly amount of Coca-Cola over the next week or so.
Oh, and: The authors of that last article noted that they were able to write publicly about the 82-year-old because they had obtained written permission from his mother. :)
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no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 07:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-06 01:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 08:05 am (UTC)I would have totally freaked out about the persimmon (because I am weird like that). But I'm almost 100% sure you can't get a bezoar from half a persimmon. Fun fact? I heard 'bezoar' the first time in one of the Harry Potter books (maybe 6).
You might be looking for 'fuyu' persimmons. (Unless they were brown inside? Wikipedia has good persimmon info.) I love persimmons. Especially the firm ones.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-06 01:57 pm (UTC)How did they pronounce it in Harry Potter? Funny that that's where you heard it. I've known the term for a long time due to my medical-field education, but this was the first time it's ever come anywhere near me personally, LOL.
I had a fuyu and a hachiya. I ate the fuyu yesterday and it was fine, if practically tasteless. I've decided persimmons really aren't my thing, although they are very pretty.
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Date: 2010-12-06 01:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 08:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 01:29 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-12-03 12:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-06 01:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 01:28 pm (UTC)do you have a BJs or a costco near you? If so I highly recommend you looking for a wonderful thing referred to as "Mexicoke." all the bubbles, cane sugar sweetened!
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Date: 2010-12-06 01:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 01:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-06 02:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 02:03 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2010-12-03 02:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-06 02:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 03:50 pm (UTC)Miss R and I often discuss the benefits of drinking Coke(in moderation) for our various digestive issues. I have taken to drinking 1/2 a Coke when I take any meds as I do not have the digestion for well, digesting capsules. I have taken to drinking one a day. They are neither raw, nor vegan(well, actually...they are! Chemical free...maybe not so much, lol)
Drink Coke for your health. :)
no subject
Date: 2010-12-06 02:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 05:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-06 02:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-06 02:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-03 06:58 pm (UTC)I got talked into buying a persimmon once at the market -- a mom and daughter were telling me how delish they were and how you could just bite into them like an apple...
I must've bought a hachiya, because the exact same thing that you describe happened to me. Only, after one bite I was too freaked out to eat any more, because that mouth-drying feeling also felt like it could maybe be a swelling thing, and the last thing I wanted was my throat closing up.
Well! Mystery solved!
no subject
Date: 2010-12-06 02:06 pm (UTC)I know for sure they don't do that when they are super overripe and pulpy and puddingy, but, you know, yuck!
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Date: 2010-12-03 07:06 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-12-06 02:06 pm (UTC)