Justin pointed out to me a rather interesting clinical observation from the notes for one of our lectures.
Generally speaking, first- and second-year lecturers don't spend an awful lot of time focusing on clinical issues, because that's what later years are for. Hence, this little observation wasn't covered in class, but is hidden in the summary notes made available to us.
I refer, of course, to the latest entrant in David's All-Time Diseases Not To Get, in the Awesomely Uncool category: Explosive Acid Diarrhoea.
Basically, if your small intestine doesn’t digest carbohydrates fully, you end up with disaccharide molecules in your colon. If these reach a high enough concentration, you get osmotic movement of water from the bloodstream into the colon, and you also have frenetic bacterial activity digesting this large energy source. These bacteria produce - you guessed it - gas and acid.
The result? It sounds like BOOM-SPLAT-SCREAM.
3 comments
Sheeba :: Thursday, April 7th
...*shudder* you get points for imagery...
N@ :: Sunday, April 10th
Dude that's cool!
who wants to be a guinea pig???
Kit :: Monday, April 11th
Hrm.... it's more the name that's disturbing
